In the battle of the teams lying second and third before this Old Trafford encounter, Tottenham stood one point ahead of Manchester United.
Although a draw was a fair result, Spurs would have been by far the happier with the point. In past seasons Tottenham have often been sensational going forward, but have struggled badly in defence.
But the central defensive combination of Ledley King and Michael Dawson has changed all that.
Against United, Dawson was superb but King was magnificent, yet their start was less than auspicious with both playing their part in United's goal after seven minutes.
Dawson cynically blocked Wayne Rooney's dazzling run down the left. Paul Scholes curled the free-kick 25 yards out into the centre of the box where King was as culpable as everyone else when Ruud van Nistelrooy jumped highest to head the ball down. Spurs keeper Paul Robinson failed to gather a simple ball cleanly and it bounced off him to Mikael Silvestre six yards out, who turned his shot home.
After that, both defenders were near faultless. King blotted out the threat of van Nistelrooy and Dawson capped a fine display with a brilliantly timed tackle on Ji-Sung Park in the Spurs box when the South Korean looked certain to score in the 54th minute.
When Rio Ferdinand brought down Jermain Defoe just outside the D 18 minutes later, Jermaine Jenas stepped up to curl a delicious right-foot free-kick past keeper Edwin Van der Sar and into the top right corner of the net for a deserved equaliser.
The closeness of the sides was reflected in the lack of chances at either end.
Robinson made amends for his earlier error in the 10th minute. Scholes found Darren Fletcher on the right and his fine chip sent Alan Smith racing into the box. Smith connected perfectly 12 yards out but Robinson did well to turn it away.
John O'Shea fluffed an easy chance for the Red Devils in the 21st minute when he mishit a far-post shot at the keeper from another Fletcher cross.
Rooney fired a weak 20-yard effort at the keeper soon after while Spurs had a good shout for a penalty turned down by referee Uriah Rennie after 16 minutes when Young-Pyo Lee went down following Phillip Bardsley's challenge.
Tottenham's only real chance of the first half came a minute before the break. King found Mido and his lay-off teed up Defoe, whose 25-yard shot bounced awkwardly in front of Van der Sar, forcing the Dutchman to make a fine save.
While United were the better team in the first half Spurs commanded the second.
Defoe's shot across the six-yard box was deflected narrowly wide seconds after the restart.
King headed a Michael Carrick corner straight at Van der Sar in the 49th minute and Spurs turned the screw until the leveller.
Although it didn't prompt the usual charge from the home side, United created several good chances late on.
Silvestre had another header scrambled clear and the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo as a 75th minute sub for Fletcher sparked an exciting finale.
Robinson saved well at full stretch from Park and in injury time Scholes saw a 25-yard free-kick deflected just wide.
From the resulting corner by the former England man, Ronaldo planted a free header wide.
Spurs almost snatched a second when Carrick's 80th minute inswinging free-kick from the left hit the bar with the keeper beaten.
Man of the Match: Ledley King - Blotted out United's Ruud van Nistelrooy effectively and was a colossus at the heart of the Spurs defence.