Tottenham Hotspur continued their revival under Harry Redknapp, coming from 4-2 down in the 89th minute to snatch a 4-4 draw at Arsenal in a pulsating north London derby on Wednesday.
Spurs, bottom of the Premier League despite beating Bolton Wanderers in new manager Redknapp’s first game on Sunday, led with a stunning David Bentley volley, but needed late goals by Jermaine Jenas and Aaron Lennon to claim an unlikely point.
An inexplicable handball by Portsmouth’s Papa Bouba Diop enabled Steven Gerrard to score a late penalty to earn a 1-0 home win that maintained Liverpool’s three-point lead.
Second-placed Chelsea, beaten at home by Liverpool at the weekend, recovered well with a convincing 3-0 victory at Hull City highlighted by a superb Frank Lampard goal.
Manchester United were 2-0 home winners over West Ham United, both goals by Cristiano Ronaldo, while Aston Villa moved into the top four when they came from behind to record a 3-2 home victory over Blackburn Rovers.
Liverpool have 26 points from 10 games and Chelsea 23 points. Arsenal, Villa and Hull have 20 with sixth-placed Manchester United on 18.
Spurs got off to a stunning start when Arsenal old boy Bentley teed up and crashed home a dipping 40m effort.
However, Arsenal soon took charge with headers by centre backs Mikael Silvestre and William Gallas either side of half-time, and a third by Emmanuel Adebayor.
Darren Bent made it 3-2 but when Robin van Persie banged in Arsenal’s fourth after 68 minutes it looked all over.
Stoppage time
Jenas, though, struck in the 89th and, after a Luka Modric volley came back off the post, substitute Lennon swept home the equaliser four minutes into stoppage time.
”It was amazing, a throwback to the old days,” Redknapp told Sky Sports television.
”It’s been a good week so far after a good win on Sunday,” said Redknapp, who took over from Juande Ramos at the weekend.
Spurs remain bottom on six points but the whole mood around the club has changed in a matter of days.
”There are some good players here but certain parts of our game let us down,” said former Portsmouth manager Redknapp. ”The dressing room is buzzing and we go into Saturday’s game against Liverpool with some confidence.”
Bentley said: ”We showed character and spirit, a lot of people have questioned that over our recent games, but we showed there that we are willing to fight for every point.
”Certain things have gone on, we’ve sorted them out now and are all pulling in the right direction.”
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger sank to his knees as Lennon’s goal hit the net.
Wenger said: ”I’m angry because we produced an outstanding performance but got the minimum result. We were at a level above Tottenham but got only one point.
”They were there for the taking, we could have got five or six but we tried to keep the ball negatively and paid for it.
”The team has outstanding potential but we are immature and need to be guarded in the decisive moments.” — Reuters