IT IS TOO EARLY EVEN TO GUESS what kind of season Tottenham Hotspur will have. They seem a club overly keen to impress, like a party host who wheels out an ice sculpture when the conversation goes flat. Only when there are no players making their debut and no prospect of yet more new signings will we see what Martin Jol can deliver.

Liverpool, on the other hand, present a less confused picture. The club’s objective is crystal clear. A top-four finish is the absolute minimum requirement and this necessitates a much improved set of results away from home.

Rafael Benítez, the manager, could have become embroiled in the heady world of player psychology. It was clear last season that, while the Liverpool players could lift their game at home or against top opposition away, there was something lacklustre about their efforts at other games. Perhaps wisely, Benítez has not tried to mess with his players’ heads. Instead he has opted for the strictly practical approach of ensuring that Liverpool are difficult to score against.

“The defence was definitely our weakness last season, especially away from home where we conceded a lot of goals and lost a lot of games,” Benítez said. “Now we are looking to control more of the games and with players like (José) Reina, (Mohamed) Sissoko and (Stephen) Warnock, we have more defensive players.”

As a consequence, Liverpool have kept three clean sheets so far this season — although that may have more to do with the fact that Jamie Carragher is on top form and his partnership with Sami Hyypia looks solid and cohesive.

But while Liverpool are a more difficult side to break down, they need to score more goals if they are to push for an automatic Champions League place. After just three games the chances of them putting pressure on Chelsea already look remote. Certainly Carragher does not believe it is possible. “I think it’s difficult for us to win the league this season because you look at the start Chelsea have made already and the signings they made,” he said. “The thing we are looking to achieve is to reduce the gap. The bar has been raised. The games we have got in hand are quite difficult.”

The fact that a title challenge appears out of the question probably says more about Chelsea, but neutrals had hoped that teams such as Liverpool and Spurs would be able to add a frisson of unpredictability to the top of the Premiership. “We are a lot better than we were last season, there’s no doubt about that,” Carragher said. “The players the manager has brought in have strengthened us. It might be difficult to win the European Cup again, although that’s one of our aims, but I’m sure we’ll do a lot better in the Premiership.”

The key to bringing in effective new players is that those players must believe that the club can achieve something. On the face of it, Liverpool, rather than Spurs, should have been the club with a hatful of players making their debut on Saturday. However, Jol has managed to make the case for Tottenham and can boast a squad brimming with options. Perhaps curiously, he opted to give four players their debut against Liverpool — a decision he labelled bold.

“We are used to playing all the players we buy,” Jol said. “I think they did fine and it will be a worry for me playing them all, but I have to make the decisions and I have to be a bit courageous.”

His decision almost paid off. Michael Carrick enjoyed sharing the centre of the pitch with Jermaine Jenas and Lee Young Pyo tried to prove that he was worth wresting from PSV Eindhoven with the sort of flamboyant footwork the White Hart Lane crowd lap up. If anything, all the players tried that bit too hard and there was a frenetic pace to the game. “There were a lot of debutants out there,” Jenas said. “The more we get to know each other’s games, the better we’ll become.” Jenas dismissed the suggestion that Spurs could finish in the top four — “It’s a bit too early,” he said.

Liverpool produced the shot of the match when John Arne Riise met Steven Gerrard’s cleared corner with a blistering volley that hit the crossbar, but both sides were denied by the woodwork and both sides had headed goals disallowed. “It is easy to talk but better to wait,” Benítez said. The trouble is, no one at either of these clubs even wants to talk big when it comes to the subject of catching Chelsea.

TOTTENHAM: Robinson 6 Stalteri 7 King 6 Gardner 6 Lee 6 Lennon 5 Jenas 5 Carrick 7 Davids 5 Rasiak 5 Defoe 5 Subs: Brown for Lennon, 82; Keane for Rasiak, 82. Subs not used: Naybet, Cerny, Reid. Next: Aston Villa (a). Form: DLDWWD.

LIVERPOOL: Crouch 5 Cissé 6 Riise 7 Hamann 6 Gerrard 6 Luis García Warnock 5 Carragher 8 Hyypia 7 Finnan 6 Reina 4 Subs: Alonso (5) for Warnock, 69; Sissoko (5) for Hamann, 46; Traoré for Crouch, 77. Subs not used: Josemi, Carson. Next: Man Utd (h). Form: DWDWLD.

Shots on target: (h) 7 (a) 7. Fouls: (h) 15 (a) 13. Offsides: (h) 9 (a) 7

Referee: H Webb 6. Attendance: 36,148