Chelsea boss Avram Grant

Chelsea boss Avram Grant defended his record in high-profile matches this season after Chelsea lost ground in the Barclays Premier League title race with a thrilling draw at Tottenham.

With Manchester United defeating Bolton, Grant's men are now five points behind the league leaders with eight games remaining following Robbie Keane's dramatic late equaliser.

Grant still has an impressive percentage of victories but is yet to win a 'big' game - against Manchester United or Arsenal in the league, Barnsley in the FA Cup or Tottenham in the Carling Cup final.

The 4-4 draw at White Hart Lane came after Chelsea opened the scoring and led 3-1 and 4-3.

'Every game in which we drop points is a big game,' said Grant. '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 is a big game.'

Despite putting in an impressive performance in front of England boss Fabio Capello, Cole was taken off towards the end as Chelsea looked to defend their lead.

Grant said: 'We wanted to play more in midfield, have one more in midfield because we knew they would play a direct ball. We wanted to pass the ball better. That's why we took him off.'

Grant was disappointed with his side's defending from set-pieces, adding: 'In the last two games Tottenham have scored six against us and five were from set-pieces. It is unusual for us.

'There are many positives to take from the game but we didn't win, which is disappointing. We showed a great spirit and, of course, we will continue to fight.' The Blues face Arsenal at the weekend, where they can overtake their title rivals with a victory.

'We're closer to Arsenal now than we were before,' Grant said. 'We'll be at home and we'll come to fight to win the game.'

Grant claimed his view was blocked for an incident just before the break when Ashley Cole caught Alan Hutton with a high tackle, earning the Chelsea full-back a yellow card.

'In this case the referee said it was a yellow card,' said Spurs head coach Juande Ramos.

'But I've seen much less serious tackles that have seen players sent off, like Robbie Keane earlier in the season.'

Grant added: 'The referee was two or three metres from it so we have to respect that.'