Cole tackle 'could have earned red card'

Tottenham manager Juande Ramos believes Chelsea defender Ashley Cole was lucky to avoid a red card during the 4-4 draw at White Hart Lane.

Cole was booked for a lunge on Tottenham right-back Alan Hutton, which missed the ball and caught the player on the shin.

Ramos said: "The referee decided it was a yellow card, but we've seen tackles which were much less serious which have earned red cards, like Robbie Keane's this season.

"But we have to respect the officials' decisions on things like that."

Chelsea manager Avram Grant claimed he did not see the incident.

The draw leaves Chelsea five points behind the Premier League leaders Manchester United and three behind Arsenal with eight games to play.

Grant said: "We have one point. We wanted three. We are five points off the top, still in the race and we will continue fighting."

But Grant was irritated by the suggestion that he has a poor record in Chelsea's biggest matches.

Since he took charge, Chelsea have won most of their matches, but they have lost league games against Manchester United and Arsenal, while they lost the Carling Cup final to Tottenham and were the victims of an FA Cup giantkilling when beaten 1-0 at Barnsley in the sixth round.

Grant added: "Every game in which we drop points is a big game. If we won, would it have been a big game? We lost against Barnsley and it became a big game. Every game we drop points is a big game.

"I can be happy only that, in the league, we haven't dropped that many points, otherwise there would have been more big games. Every game here is big. If we didn't win, we wouldn't be in this position.

"What is a critical game? Every game at Chelsea is critical. If we'd lost other games, we wouldn't be in this position. Every game we win is a normal game. Every time we drop points it is a big game."

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.