LONDON (AP) -Darren Bent secured Tottenham's first point of the season in a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Chelsea, and Liverpool's perfect start to the season was ended by a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa.
Juliano Belletti capped Chelsea's early domination with a 28th-minute goal at Stamford Bridge. But Bent scored his first goal of the season in first-half injury time.
Chelsea and Liverpool had won their first two Premier League matches. But Tottenham manager Juande Ramos was under pressure after two losses and the uncertainty surrounding Dimitar Berbatov.
"We needed something to kickstart the season to lift the season and give the players some confidence," Ramos said through a translator.
Chelsea coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said his team's offense struggled to break through when Spurs packed the midfield.
"We need to respect Tottenham, they are a very good team and play very well and sometimes makes it impossible to win," Scolari said. "We had more chances but we made mistakes with the final shots. They put five, six, seven, eight, nine players in the back and it's difficult to create."
Bent operated as the lone striker - supported by Giovani dos Santos and Luka Modric - while Berbatov looks likely to wrap up his bitter move to Manchester United before the transfer window closes on Monday.
"I don't know where he was, he wasn't here," Ramos said. "He wasn't in the right state to play."
Spurs completed the signing of Russia striker Roman Pavlyuchenko as Berbatov's replacement over the weekend.
While Tottenham's creative midfielders inspired deep surges in an energetic London derby, it couldn't mask the absence of a target man with Bent still unable to rediscover his prolific offseason form.
Scolari was also short on fire power, with Nicolas Anelka spearheading the attack as he waits for Robinho to possibly join from Real Madrid and Didier Drogba to recover from injury.
Frank Lampard had a trio of chances in the first 12 minutes with an attempted chip over Tottenham goalkeeper Gomes the most elaborate.
The visitors retreated to soak up the pressure but Belletti's pass got through to Anelka in the 26th. The France striker had time to deftly control the ball, but a less impressive second touch had too much height.
