• ‘Terry showed great personality’ – Emmanuel Adebayor
• Chelsea captain made late saving clearance in 1-1 draw

Tottenham Hotspur’s Emmanuel Adebayor and Ledley King have expressed admiration for John Terry’s strength of character after the Chelsea captain excelled in Thursday’s draw at White Hart Lane on his first appearance since the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed he has a case to answer over an alleged racist remark directed at Queens Park Rangers’ Anton Ferdinand.

Terry was subjected to prolonged abuse from the home support during the 1-1 draw but, after a shaky start, stamped his authority on the game and conjured a fine goalline clearance in added time to deny Adebayor a winner. The Chelsea manager, André Villas-Boas, claimed afterwards that the 31-year-old had “grown in terms of performance” since the alleged incident with Ferdinand at Loftus Road on 23 October. Terry, who denies any wrongdoing, will appear at West London magistrates’ court on 1 February to be formally charged, when a date will be set for trial.

The strength of his display was acknowledged by his opponents in the wake of Thursday’s derby. “There are a lot of problems for Chelsea, around players like John Terry, but I think we are human beings and we all have problems with our family, problems at home, things like that,” said Adebayor, who had opened the scoring for Spurs early on. “But when you pull the shirt on, you just have to manage. It’s difficult in your mind, to be honest, but you have to try and manage and put the problems behind you and work for your team.

“You have another 10 players who are there alongside you and you have to show them respect by working hard and doing whatever it takes. John Terry showed great personality, great character and did very well. You learn to deal with things through experience. It’s not the first problem he’s had in his life or in his career. He has had a couple of problems already and he knows how to deal with them.”

Those sentiments were echoed by King, the Tottenham captain and a former England team-mate of Terry’s. “He played well today, as did the rest of them,” said King. “But he’s a top player. He’s got himself in the right position and saved his team at the end [after Adebayor's shot bypassed Petr Cech]. He’s a strong character and lets his football do the talking out there. It doesn’t surprise me that, with all that’s happening off the pitch, he’s able to put in performances like that.”

The draw left Tottenham and Chelsea in third and fourth place respectively in the Premier League table, with each retaining hopes that they can mount a coherent title challenge in the new year. Chelsea’s Ashley Cole said “five teams still have a chance”, an acknowledgment of Arsenal’s recent resurgence, and King admitted that Spurs find themselves in an unaccustomed position as challengers.

“Chelsea have been there before and that counts for a lot,” said King. “They know what it takes [to win the league]. I don’t remember going into Christmas in such a good position and it’s a bit new to us but we’re enjoying it. We’re going out on the pitch and playing our football, confidence is high and we think we can beat everyone. Maybe the pressure’s off us to just go out and play and surprise a few people.

“But we would definitely be disappointed if we didn’t finish in the top four from here. With the squad we’ve got we’re more than capable of that. I’m confident we can keep going and produce the results for the remainder of the season. It’s very tight in the top four. Chelsea beat Manchester City [this month] and that was a good result at the time. It’s swings and roundabouts. The only thing you can do is take care of your own form but we’ve got the players and the squad to give it a good push.”

Both clubs will assess the fitness of key players over the Christmas weekend before next week’s fixtures. Chelsea are without Mikel John Obi, most likely for three weeks, because of a hamstring injury sustained at White Hart Lane, and are braced to be without Branislav Ivanovic against Fulham on Boxing Day for the same reason.

Villas-Boas is also waiting on an assessment of David Luiz’s recovery from a knee complaint. The Brazilian has missed the recent draws with Wigan and Spurs but will be needed in Monday’s derby, for which his compatriot Ramires is suspended.

Tottenham lost Younès Kaboul and Rafael van der Vaart to hamstring trouble, problems that have also afflicted Jermain Defoe and King, leaving Harry Redknapp juggling his resources before Tuesday’s trip to Norwich.

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André Villas-Boas and Chelsea’s trickiest task is to rebuild while trying to get the best from the old brigade

André Villas-Boas may be loth to admit it but even eye-catching victories and progress into the Champions League knockout phase generate problems these days. The Portuguese will break away from revelling at having “slapped” down Chelsea’s critics to concentrate on his task of revitalising this club in the weeks ahead. Yet, in the long term, the trickiest obstacle hindering the overhaul of this team may actually prove to be the continued excellence of the old brigade.

The dismissal of Valencia on Tuesday night felt reassuringly familiar. The London side were back at their resilient best, allowing Spanish opponents the ball before hitting hard on the break. Guus Hiddink’s Chelsea might have hoped to have secured a similar result when confronting Barcelona in the 2009 semi-final second leg of this competition but Villas-Boas’s charges, with no dubious refereeing decisions to undermine them, were better rewarded for their efforts. There was strength stiffening the spine of the team and, at its head, a battering ram of a forward who would not be denied.

Didier Drogba, like his fellow forwards Nicolas Anelka and Salomon Kalou, had appeared to be playing out the final days of his Chelsea career with his contract due to expire at the end of this campaign. The club have been in talks over an extension, but the 12 months they have been offering fall short of the two years the Ivorian wants. A lucrative free transfer move to the Middle East has been mooted, offering the 33-year-old one last colossal payday. Yet, if Drogba can reproduce performances as reminiscent of his pomp as that against Valencia on a regular basis over the months to come, then pressure will mount for his services to be retained.

The forward has already contributed 36 goals in 69 Champions League games and believes he should be a part of his club’s future. “I hope I’ve got at least a couple of years left in me,” he said. “I started [playing professionally] late. I was 25 when I played my first Champions League games. Really I don’t know [how long I can carry on playing]. I feel happy, I feel good on the pitch, I really enjoy my football and when we are winning like this I’m really delighted. I don’t calculate. All I want to say is that my future is not so important. When the time comes, we will speak about my future. But at the moment there is no need to.”

Joe Cole and Michael Ballack used to say similar things way back in Carlo Ancelotti’s first season at the club, with the experienced pair eventually leaving under freedom of contract rules in the summer of 2010. But Drogba, whose attitude this term cannot be questioned, still has the ability to make the very idea that he could walk away for nothing in June unthinkable. There had been a hint of a return to his rampaging best in the fixtures leading up to the final group game. The defences of Bayer Leverkusen and Newcastle had been breached, with the brace against the Spanish – with each goal so smartly taken – leaving him a tally of four in as many matches.

There was strength, power and presence to his display on Tuesday, with Adil Rami and Victor Ruiz shrinking in his shadow. Markers bounced off him as he stampeded all over Valencia’s feeble resistance.

The player does not believe he is fully fit, with the perfectionist in him demanding further improvement. “The knock on the head [against Norwich City], the red card [at Queen's Park Rangers], the surgery on my arm [to remove pins applied before the World Cup finals] all didn’t help to get my fitness,” Drogba said. “Now I’m having more games and it’s going to come back. I hope quick, but it is going to come back. I’ve lost a lot of goals and this is something I hope my fitness will help me to improve. When I get to 100% fit there are a few mistakes I will try to rectify.”

Villas-Boas’s dilemma, if he considers it one, is that offering Drogba more than a year may feel rather regressive when everything the Portuguese is hoping to implement at Stamford Bridge is aimed at the long term. Kalou and Anelka will leave, the latter next month with the Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua hoping to see off the new Major League Soccer franchise in Montreal to secure his signature, but the enigma of Fernando Torres’s form still has still to be addressed. Romelu Lukaku may be raw but he, too, will need greater involvement over the next two years. Drogba may actually block the path to progression.

With that in mind, one blazing performance against Valencia is unlikely to dictate the club’s policy over further contract negotiations. Yet should he consistently deliver such explosive displays, along the lines of those mustered en route to the Double two years ago when he scored 37 times, then that stance may shift. The manner of Tuesday’s qualification was a reminder that, while Chelsea continue to adapt to the style Villas-Boas so craves, they can still flourish playing the way they know best. An approach in which Drogba is key.

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• Striker starred in Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Valencia
• Has only been offered a one year contract extension

Didier Drogba has claimed he still has at least two years left to give at the highest level after rescuing Chelsea from the prospect of Champions League elimination.

Drogba was at his best in the 3-0 win over Valencia on Tuesday, which ensured they avoided going out of the competition before Christmas for the first time ever. With four goals in four games, he has once again established himself as Chelsea’s first-choice centre-forward, strengthening his position should talks over a new contract continue.

The 33-year-old’s current deal expires in the summer and he is free to sign a pre-contract with a rival club in less than a month’s time. He has already pledged not to walk away in January, despite reports that he is unhappy only to have been offered a one-year extension.

When asked if he still had a couple of years of top-level football left in him, Drogba said: “I hope so. I started late at a high level. I was 25 when I started to play my first Champions League games. I feel happy, I feel good on the pitch, I’m really enjoying myself, my football. When we’re winning like this, I’m really delighted.”

Drogba refused to elaborate on the prospect of him staying beyond next summer, though.

“My future, really, is not very important. When the time will come, we’ll speak about it. But, at the moment, we don’t need to.”

The Chelsea winger Juan Mata, who set up both of Drogba’s goals, wants his team-mate to stay, saying: “It is an individual decision between the club and Didier but for us it is important to have strikers like Didier, Fernando Torres and Salomon Kalou.

“Didier is a super striker. He is strong and fast, scores goals and makes assists. He is very important for us and, against Valencia, he showed it.”

Two weeks ago, the club appeared to hold all the aces in contract negotiations, with Drogba having scored just once in a season that included a sickening head injury, a red card in the west London derby and arm surgery.

Drogba said: “Injuries didn’t help, the knock on the head, and the red card. And the surgery on my arm didn’t help me to get my fitness. But now I’m having a little bit more games so I hope it’s going to come back quickly.”

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