Arsenal's Denilson shoots to score against Newcastle United during an English Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium in London on Saturday. Arsenal won 3-0. - ap

london (ap)

Darren Bent delivered Tottenham's first point of the season in a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Chelsea, while 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 opener at Stamford Bridge, only to see it cancelled out in first-half injury time by Bent's first goal of the season.

Chelsea, like Liverpool, had won their first two Premier League matches. But Spurs manager Juande Ramos was under pressure after two defeats and the uncertainty surrounding Dimitar Berbatov.

Kick-start

"We needed something to kick-start 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 offence struggled to break through when Spurs packed the midfield.

Darren 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 tonight.

"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 off-season form.

Short on fire power

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.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez was taunted at Villa Park for his part in the failed pursuit of Villa captain Gareth Barry.

It was a contest of defensive quality, with Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano seeing his advance stopped by Curtis Davies' fine tackle.

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres pulled up sharply when chasing a pass and Benitez gave a debut to summer recruit David Ngog.

Neat interplay by Barry and Ashley Young created the opening for the first half's best goal scoring opportunity, but John Carew's low, sidefooted effort from 10 metres lacked power and Pepe Reina was able to save.

After the break, Villa left back Nicky Shorey deflected a shot from Xabi Alonso, who Benitez had wanted to replace with Barry, and goalkeeper Brad Friedel was at full stretch to tip over Andrea Dossena's cross.

Three days after leaving Chelsea, winger Shaun Wright-Phillips immediately reignited his career by scoring twice on his return to Manchester City in a 3-0 victory at Sunderland.

Stephen Ireland put the visitors ahead in first-half injury time, after Sunderland defender Danny Collins sent Michael Johnson's cross into his path.

Wright-Phillips opened his account within five minutes of the restart, latching onto Brazil striker Jo's pass across goal and sidefooting into an empty net.

It took Wright-Phillips, who left City in 2005, just eight minutes to double his tally, connecting with Michael Ball's lofted pass and flicking past Craig Gordon.