Given the unpredictable nature of the league, one imagines that we could easily reach the end of the year before being able to identify the genuine title contenders.

For now, supporters of both these clubs will have to make do with uncertainty.

This particularly compelling contest between two clubs possessing arguably the most powerful squads in the league ended even. Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea, however, are clubs in transition, and their fans will recognise that.

There is an expectation around White Hart Lane that if Spurs don’t mount that claim for the championship this season, they must do so next year.

The record player purchases sanctioned by club chairman Daniel Levy outlined their ambitions clearly.

In this clash between these London rivals, neither Andre Villas-Boas’s men, who should have built upon a first-half lead gained through Gylfi Sigurdsson’s goal, nor Chelsea went away from their encounter having enhanced their title credentials with victory.

The visitors looked stronger after the interval, and deserved on balance to be back in the match when captain John Terry equalised for his side.

Spanish playmaker Juan Mata, frozen out this season by manager Jose Mourinho, was given his chance in the second half. He took it well.

One of the sub-plots was the relationship between the managers. Villas-Boas and Mourinho, once friends, shared a lukewarm handshake at the beginning of the match. It didn’t get much better.

They had differing opinions about the incident which led to Chelsea’s Fernando Torres being sent off late in the match. Mourinho was scathing of defender Jan Vertonghen’s role.

“The attention should not be drawn to the managers but to the game and it was a difficult, hard battle between two teams who wanted to with this game,” said Villas-Boas. “It was a fair result.”

Reconciliation between these two will have to wait for now.