Luiz Felipe Scolari was pleased with the team's fight back against Manchester United, and praised the spirit of his men.

Having fallen behind early, as well as losing Deco and Ricardo Carvalho to injury, the players dug in and eventually equalised against the champions with 11 minutes remaining, through a Salomon Kalou header.

We got off to a sluggish start, and it was not a huge surprise when Ji-Sung Park gave United the lead after 18 minutes.

'I think when we lost Deco in the warm up, our transition for midfield and attack was lost for 15-20 minutes. They made pressure and made a goal, playing very well in this time. I think this is normal for Manchester,' Scolari reasoned.

Then came the comeback and the Brazilian was satisfied with his side's reaction, and the performances of a couple of individuals.

'I'm happy because they tried to play. They have fantastic spirit. Ballack maybe is 45 minutes, Didier is 45 minutes, and Ballack started the game and played 70 minutes and wanted to win, doing more than I expected.

'Mikel was fantastic, playing in back, in front, left side, right side, fighting, jumping. This is the spirit I want and the spirit Chelsea have, I am happy for this.'

The second half saw Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba paired together, a relationship deemed by Scolari as a work in progress.

'I tried the last two weeks in training and I am thinking when I need it in the games. They are starting to play together, in the last season they played one or two games.

'Today I wanted another player inside the area. I need training and to play more games,' he said.

The draw leaves us second in the table behind Arsenal, with United languishing six points behind. Scolari expects all three, and more to be challenging at the top of the table for some time.

'We have not only Manchester United and Chelsea, we have five or six teams and I think after maybe 20 games, [there will be] one or two teams, two or three points in front but now there are lots of teams together.'

We will have to wait and see how the season develops, and with the first clash against last season's champions ending in stalemate, it looks like being an intriguing campaign.