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Terry: Title ****nal's or ours Chelsea, Sunday December 12 2004 Chelsea captain John Terry believes the 2-2 draw with ****nal showed the two sides will be the ones contesting the Barclays Premiership title. http://www.itv-football.co.uk/media...john150x100.jpg Thierry Henry scored a brilliant opener just two minutes into the highly-anticipated clash, sweetly volleying the ball beyond Chelsea `keeper Petr Cech. Terry powered home an equaliser from a corner but the talismanic Henry was on hand to restore the Gunners' lead before the half-hour mark, only for Eidur Gudjohnsen to deftly flick the ball beyond Manuel Almunia with his head to draw the Blues level again. "We felt we were a little bit unlucky to be 2-1 down at half-time and the manager showed his frustration. We came out and responded well and a draw was not a bad result," Terry told Sky Sports. Terry also paid tribute to Henry, who ensured the England defender worked tirelessly for the entire game. "Someone like that, no matter how much you work on it you have to respect him, he is a world-class player but we were disappointed defensively with the goals." ****nal's failure to capture all three points ensured Everton retained second place in the Barclays Premiership, but Terry insisted his side and their hosts remain the teams to beat in the race for the title. Terry said: "I would have thought so. No disrespect to Everton, they're on a great run at the minute and it's great for football if they are up there and I wish them all the best. "But on paper, the two teams playing today will be the two teams up there." Henry revealed match official Graham Poll had asked him whether he wanted to take the free-kick which resulted in ****nal's second goal. The French star told Sky Sports: "He asked me `do you want to wait for the whistle and for the players to go back 10 yards?'. He said `you can have a go' and I was just waiting for Eidur Gudjohnsen to move out of the way. "I thought it would be be enough for us to win but once again we conceded two goals from set-pieces." ****nal's midfield had an inexperienced look to it without Patrick Vieira, Gilberto Silva, Edu and Freddie Ljungberg but Henry paid tribute to Cesc Fabregas and Mathieu Flamini, who he felt coped well against Chelsea's better-versed midfielders. He said: "We competed with their midfield, Flamini and Fabregas did quite well against Frank Lampard and Claude Makelele. The win would have been better but the draw isn't bad, it's a fair result." Asked about the possibility of winning the FIFA World Player of the Year award, Henry responded: "The most important thing for me is to win things with the team - you can't play alone on the pitch. Without them I can't express myself." |