An event four years in the making certainly lived up to its lofty billing.

It was in 2015 when Tottenham agreed a landmark, decade-long partnership that would see the club host a minimum of two NFL games per year at their new state-of-the-art stadium.

Last October's meeting between the Seattle Seahawks and Oakland Raiders was supposed to be the first of those contests, though was eventually relocated to Wembley amid well-documented construction delays in N17.

But the Raiders were back on English soil Sunday and completed a thrilling 24-21 win over the Chicago Bears in the first game to be held at a venue built to NFL specifications outside of the United States.

To travel north on London public transport ahead of kick-off once again left no doubt as to the voracious appetite for American football in the United Kingdom that is only increasing.

Meanwhile, the absence of the official tailgates - a staple of the NFL experience across the Atlantic - due to limited space around the venue did little to quell the pre-match festivities, with fans soaking up the unique atmosphere and tossing footballs along Tottenham High Road.

As ever at these NFL London events regardless of the teams involved in the game itself, all 32 franchises were represented by the 60,463 supporters in attendance in a display of colour and unwavering allegiance.

Aside from the Golden Cockerel that sits proudly atop of the imposing South Stand, an outsider could be forgiven for being unaware that the £1billion stadium - which features bespoke NFL facilities including home and away locker rooms - is primarily used for Premier League football, with the transformation for a fortnight of gridiron action progressing quickly after Tottenham's crushing 7-2 Champions League loss to Bayern Munich on Tuesday.

The sliding grass pitch was rolled into storage underneath the South Stand to reveal the artificial NFL surface that sits below, while the huge Spurs Megastore was kitted out with merchandise from every NFL team.

Victorious Raiders quarterback Derek Carr said: “[The stadium] is first-class in every little detail in every single room — unbelievable. This is definitely one of, if not the best stadiums I’ve been in. Playing at Wembley is really cool, with all the memories of the different games that have been played there, but to be able to play here and be able to see what can be done — it’s amazing that someone’s brain can do all this. I think that’s really impressive.”

Bears coach Matt Nagy agreed. “Absolutely gorgeous,” he said. “You walk in here and you just see it is state of the art, top notch. It blows you away — phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal.”

The Bears’ enduring popularity as one of the grand old NFL franchises ensured a raucous pro-Chicago crowd, who were almost treated to a rousing comeback win.

The reigning NFC North champions fought back from a 17-0 half-time deficit to lead 21-17 with two minutes of an enthralling fourth quarter remaining, thanks to two Allen Robinson touchdowns.

However, rookie Oakland running back Josh Jacobs leapt into the end zone for his second score of the day from close range before Gareon Conley intercepted Chase Daniel’s wayward late pass to seal a dramatic, hard-fought victory.