'As we say in Portugal, they brought the bus and they left the bus in front of the goal.' Jose Mourinho

When the two best defensive records in the Premier League go head-to-head, albeit after only five games of the season, perhaps there should be an air of inevitability about a 0-0 draw. That, however, would only be telling half of the story when it comes to this one-sided encounter between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.

Chelsea should have gone into this game with our 100 per cent Premier League record intact; a 0-0 draw against Aston Villa the previous week saw the Blues refused a stonewall penalty and, to add further insult, Didier Drogba was booked for simulation by referee Rob Styles.

‘With such keen eyes he should be working in surveillance for MI5,’ wrote Martin Samuel in the News of the World. ‘The Six Million Dollar Man would have been envious of his powers.’

At least referee Styles, having viewed the incident again, had the good grace to concede his error in his report for the game, which meant the yellow card was rescinded.

Even so, the loss of two points meant we dropped off the pace being set by freescoring Arsenal, who were averaging just shy of four goals per game in their blistering start to the campaign.

The Blues did get back to winning ways in the Champions League, though, recording a thumping 3-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Parc des Princes, which featured two goals from Didier Drogba. The former Olympique Marseille man was the target for PSG fans’ abuse because of his past with their huge rivals - he answered in the best possible manner and had the last laugh with his second celebration, shouting ‘Allez l’OM’ at the top of his voice in support of his former club.

Confidence was, understandably, high ahead of the visit of a Spurs side in transition following the summer appointment of Jacques Santini, the former France manager, who was working under a new director of football, Frank Arnesen. The Dane would, of course, later end up at Chelsea.

After a campaign in which they had finished 14th and suffered the ignominy of arch-rivals Arsenal securing the Premier League title at White Hart Lane, the visitors had, however, enjoyed an unbeaten start to the fledgling season. They were clearly intent on keeping it that way at a ground where they were without a victory since Gary Lineker scored the winner in February 1990.

Goals had previously been virtually guaranteed in this fixture - of the previous 56 league meetings between the sides at the Bridge, just four had finished goalless, soon to stretch to five by the end of 90 frustrating minutes.

The irony of Chelsea’s dominance, which could have seen us two goals to the good with as little as two minutes on the clock, was that the best chance of the game arguably fell Spurs’ way.

Having offered virtually nothing by way of attacking intent in the first half, the visitors almost grabbed the most undeserved opener after Simon Davies’s cross found the head of Robbie Keane. There was nothing wrong with the Irishman’s header, but Petr Cech produced an incredible stop.

Having been inactive up until that point - indeed, Henry Winter in the Daily Telegraph noted that ‘ivy could have grown up and along the woodwork such was the scarcity of visits from Spurs’ - the quality of the save was even more remarkable.

Frank Lampard, setting a new Premier League record with his 114th consecutive top-flight appearance, was one of several Chelsea players to threaten at the other end, but the closest we came to scoring was through Eidur Gudjohnsen.

Agonisingly, the Icelandic forward’s shot from the edge of the box cannoned off the post; Stamford Bridge’s biggest crowd since May 1986 would leave with little to cheer about.

‘As we say in Portugal, they brought the bus and they left the bus in front of the goal,’ said Mourinho after the game. ‘I would have been frustrated if I had been a supporter who paid £50 to watch this game.

‘We finished with all our strikers on - [Mateja] Kezman, [Damien] Duff, Drogba and Gudjohnsen. You don't finish with so many attackers on if the other team are also trying to win it.

‘Ledley King, Noureddine Naybet and Paul Robinson were good,’ said the manager of Spurs’ central defensive pairing and goalkeeper. ‘But poor Jermain Defoe. Poor boy. He was just chasing the ball.’

While there was frustration among the players, too, John Terry highlighted one positive to come out of the game - a sixth clean sheet from our opening seven competitive matches in the 2004/05 season.

‘There’s a big buzz for us lot at the at back with our clean sheets, Big Pete and Willie especially,’ said the skipper. ‘Those clean sheets are down to the whole team who are working hard and working together, but we defenders enjoy the glory of them!’

There would be plenty more to follow, although they would count for little if the goals didn’t start flowing at the other end. Fortunately, there would soon be light at the end of that particular tunnel.

- By Richard Godden - Chelsea matchday programme editor

You can watch a full recap of the 2004/05 season in Premier League Years on the 5th Stand app.