Harry Redknapp brought a much-changed side to Merseyside from the team that beat West Brom 1-0 last weekend, but was hoping the depth of his squad would compensate for the loss of Aaron Lennon and Wilson Palacios.
David Moyes made only one change from the side that comfortably won 2-0 at Sunderland with youngster Jack Rodwell replacing Lars Jacobsen, who had to make do with a place on the bench.
The game started surprisingly brightly considering the amount of rain that was falling in the opening exchanges.
Spurs were taking the game to Everton with Alan Hutton linking well with Jermain Defoe down the right.
The home side looked lively on the counter with Jo benefiting from the aerial dominance of team-mate Marouane Fellaini and the willingness of Steven Pienaar to chase every ball down.
As the half progressed though it became apparent that Everton lacked the shape and purpose of Spurs and the home defence was breached time and again on both sides of the park without ever really threatening Tim Howard's goal.
Tottenham, with Defoe, Jermaine Jenas and Robbie Keane prominent, were looking sharper while the Everton players to a man began to look jaded.
Jo did have a good penalty shout in the 32nd minute when his jersey was tugged right in front of the goal and the referee but appeals were waved away.
Tottenham could have scored earlier when Gareth Bale had two cracks at a free-kick after Joleon Lescott felled Hutton just outside the area.
However, despite Tottenham's dominance it was Everton who should have gone in ahead at half-time with Jo, Fellaini and Rodwell all going close as the Toffees rallied in the final five minutes.
In the second half, Everton could have been one up in the first minute as the excellent Piennar evaded Vedran Corluka and slipped a sweet cross into the box only for Jo to arrive a fraction to late.
The game was threatening to become a bad-tempered affair with Hutton booked for kicking out at Rodwell after being dispossessed and the sparky Pienaar generally being given a good kicking by most of the Spurs team.
Tim Cahill hit a blistering shot from 25 yards that missed Heurelho Gomes' goal by inches, but Spurs still looked the more industrious and Redknapp would have been getting worried that his team's good build-up play was not forcing Howard into a single serious save.
The game was there to be won for both sides ad Moyes made the first move on 70 minutes by bringing on Leon Osman and Louis Saha for Dan Gosling - who hit the Spurs post with a shot seconds before the change - and the ineffective Jo.
Defoe could have put Spurs a goal up on 71 minutes but his daisy-cutter just went the wrong side of Howard's right post.
The Everton substitutions had a big impact on the shape of the team and they started to get a grip of the game in the last 15 minutes, with Osman particularly catching they eye with pinpoint passing and jinking runs into danger areas.
Roman Pavlyuchenko replaced Luka Modric with 10 minutes to go as Redknapp tried to impose a scoring threat from an increasingly impotent Spurs team.
Everton were certainly on top by the closing stages but, with both teams lacking a real cutting edge, a draw was a fair result.