Chelsea's Champions League ambitions remain in their own hands despite being held 2-2 by north London rivals Spurs at Stamford Bridge tonight.
Twice the Blues took the lead and twice they were pegged back.
First half strikes from Oscar and Ramires were cancelled out by a spectacular goal from Emmanuel Adebayor and an equaliser 10 minutes from time from substitute Gylifi Sigurdsson.
Chelsea remain in third place three points ahead of fifth place Spurs with two matches remaining.
The Blues looked tired in the second half but they started off brightly and had the first effort of note on the night, which went to Juan Mata on seven minutes.
the midfielder chested the ball down swivelled 180 degrees in one swift movement and half vollyed the ball over Hugo Lloris's crossbar from just outside the Spurs' penalty area.
The home side's dominance s in the early stages were rewarded on 11 minutes when a clipped, curling Mata corner was headed on by Gary Cahill and Oscar was at the far post, unchecked and he had the simplest of chances to nod the ball home to put Chelsea into the lead
Lewis Holtby in midfield for the visitors tried a speculative left-footed daisy-cutter from the edge of the Chelsea, three minutes later, but his effort was weak and drifted past Petr Cech's left upright.
But Spurs equalised in spectacular fashion on 26 minutes.
Ambling along from his own half, Emmanuel Adebayor could not believe his luck to not have at least one challenger as he inched towards the the Chelsea area.
Realising that eventually a blue shirt would get within closing down distance eventually, the Togo striker produced an audacious right-footed curler over the Chelsea rearguard and Cech, floating the ball into the goalkeeper's top left hand corn of the net.
The goal came against the run of play and, while it was beautifully executed it was wholly self-inflicted by the home side.
A long-range effort by Ramires seven minutes before the break sailed hogn and wide of goal.
But a minute later, and following on from good right-wing work by Fernando Torres, the Brazil midfielder latched onto the striker's defence-splitting ball and toe-poked the ball from the edge of the area across goal, across helpless Lloris and into the bottom, right-hand corner of the net to restore Chelsea's lead.
Still Spurs would not lie down, and two minutes later, excellent combination play saw Kyle Walker spring from right-back to slice a left-footer wide of Cech's right post.
Oscar had the final effort of the half of the strike of the whistle, but his curling left-footed strike was easily held by Lloris.
With no changes to players at half-time, the second half resumed along similar lines to the first with Chelsea in the ascendancy.
Two half chances fell to Torres without success, and a cross or was it a pass from Cesar Azpilicueta on 54 minutes almost fooled Lloris but the ball inched just over his crossbar.
Eden Hazard really should have put the game to bed, two minutes when following a breathtaking counter-attack, the midfielder blasted the ball over goal from close-range, albeit from an acute angle.
The first manager to blink in the substitution states was former Blues' boss Andre Villas-Boas who replaced ineffectual Aaron Lennon with Gylifi Sigurdsson on 62 minutes, but not before Ramires slipped inside the Spurs area trying to collect a slide-rule pass from Mata who had raced half the length of the pitch.
Ramires stayed down, not from any injury, but sheer embarrassment.
Spurs change number two saw Clint Dempsey come off the bench to replace Holtby with 20 minutes remaining.
Interim boss Rafael Benitez responded to this attacking move by replacing Hazard with Victor Moses two minutes later.
S
purs, sensing indecision within the Chelsea ranks saw a Dempsey shot deflect off Cahill for a corner on 75 minutes.
Spurs fully deserved their equaliser with 10 mi uses to go.
Benoit Assou-Ekotto played the ball into an offside-looking Adebayor. The striker back- heeled the ball to in-running Sigurdsson and the Iceland midfielder curled a wonderful right-footer, from eight-yards out past Cech's and into the far corner of the net.
Bemitez, to howls of derision from the Chelsea fans decided to bring on Yossi Benayoun for Oscar with six minutes of the match remaining.
Spurs went in search of their much-needed winner but I never came.
Chelsea could have effectively sealed Champions League qualification with a win against Spurs, a point will do, but it means Spurs will have to win both their remaining games and hope Arsenal, in fourth collapse.
Teams
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Cole, Luiz, Ramires, Torres, Mata, Oscar, Hazard, Cahill, Azpilicueta
Subs- Turnbull, Lampard, Moses, Terry, Ba, Benayoun, Ake
Spurs: Lloris, Vertonghen, Huddlestone, Lwnnon, Parker, Adebayor, Bale, Dawson, Holtby, Walker,
Assou-Ekotto
Subs - Friedel, Dempsey, Naughton, Defoe, Siggurdsson, Caulker, Carroll.
Referre: Mike Dean