Theo Walcott came to Arsenal's rescue as his late goal frustrated Tottenham and earned a 1-1 draw in the League Cup semi-final first leg here on Wednesday. Juande Ramos's side looked set to end a nine-year winless run against their north London rivals when Jermaine Jenas scored in the first-half at the Emirates Stadium.
But the Gunners hadn't suffered a defeat in this fixture for 20 matches and they extended that run thanks to Walcott's equaliser with 11 minutes to play. It was cruel on Spurs after they dominated for long spells but at least they have the consolation of going back to White Hart Lane for the second leg on January 22 with the tie still in the balance.
The pre-match headlines were made by Ramos, who finally lost patience with Paul Robinson, dropping the goalkeeper to the bench after his latest error-strewn display against Reading on Saturday.
Robinson, who has already lost his England place this season, is reportedly on Ramos's list of expendable players and the Spurs manager hand Czech keeper Radek Cerny only his fifth appearance of the campaign.
As usual in the League Cup, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger fielded a mixture of precocious youngsters and experienced reserves, with Robin van Persie, back from a knee injury, in the starting line-up for only the second time in three months.
After public transport problems delayed the kick-off for 15 minutes, van Persie helped create the first clear chance with a clever reverse pass to Justin Hoyte.
The right-back's cross picked out Nicklas Bendtner but his header was pushed away well by Cerny as a grim-faced Robinson looked on. If the prospect of losing to Arsenal's understudies in the League Cup semis two years in a row wasn't motivation enough, Spurs were also trying to reach their first cup final since 2002.
After a slow start they turned the screw on Arsenal with Dimitar Berbatov again the catalyst. Berbatov has repeatedly been linked with a move away from Spurs and the elegant Bulgarian showed why he is such a tempting target. His superb control and run ended with a crude block by Philippe Senderos and, although Jamie O'Hara curled the free-kick wide, Spurs were on top.
They should have been in front when Berbatov's pass picked out Robbie Keane. Senderos's challenge only deflected the ball to Steed Malbranque, who had an open goal to aim at but somehow shot wide. Malbranque headed wide from Keane's chip to the far post moments later before Berbatov's long range strike forced a fine stop from Lukasz Fabianski. For once, Wenger's boys looked their age. Spurs were counter-attacking with menace and they got the goal their play deserved in the 37th minute.
Keane beat the offside trap to meet Berbatov's pass. He slid a square pass to Jenas and the flag stayed down as the England international slotted a low shot past Fabianski. Facing only a second defeat at the Emirates, Wenger sent on Eduardo and Bacary Sagna at the break to try to revitalise the hosts. Usually so fluent on the ball, Arsenal were guilty of squandering possession with alarming regularity, but Tottenham couldn't deliver the killer blow and they were punished in the 79th minute.