Arsenal needed a late equaliser from Theo Walcott to salvage a 1-1 draw against arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur in a pulsating League Cup semi-final first leg at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.
Tottenham took the lead after 37 minutes when Robbie Keane squared for Jermaine Jenas to score with a first-time, right-footed shot despite looking to be offside.
Spurs, who had not beaten Arsenal for 20 matches since November 1999 and have not won an away match against them for nearly 15 years, came within 11 minutes of ending that barren spell before Arsenal equalised.
Eduardo, who replaced Robin van Persie at halftime, found Walcott with a clever through ball and while Spurs defender Lee Young-pyo appeared to have stifled the effort, the ball bounced off him, onto Walcott's chest and into the net.
Tottenham coach Juande Ramos dropped England goalkeeper Paul Robinson for the match and his replacement, Czech Radek Cerny, and the Spurs defence needed to be at their best to survive an opening 30-minute onslaught from Arsene Wenger's young team.
Ramos was non-committal about whether Robinson was still his No.1 choice and whether he would play against Chelsea on Saturday.
"He is a good goalkeeper and shown what a good keeper he can be," he told a news conference. "I have to pick the team though, and the best players for each match."
He added that he was disappointed with the result.
"I think we deserved a better result than the one we got tonight," he said. "If we had been a little more accurate in front of goal we would have done."
ONLY ATTEMPT
Despite dominating much of the first half, Arsenal's only serious attempt on goal was Nicklas Bendtner's powerful 14th-minute header, which Cerny dived to his left to save.
Spurs, knocked out by Arsenal in the semi-finals last season, gradually began to assert themselves and Steed Malbranque squandered an excellent chance to give them the lead after 32 minutes, firing wide with only goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski to beat.
A minute later Malbranque headed wide under pressure and Dimitar Berbatov, the outstanding player on the field, forced Fabianski into a fine save with a long-range shot.
Spurs were enjoying a rare spell of domination when Jenas gave them the lead.
Keane had a chance to increase Spurs' lead but shot wide early in the second half. Jermain Defoe, who came on as a late substitute, went close to winning it for the visitors only to fire high and wide.
Arsenal manager Wenger was a relieved man afterwards.
"It was a good result for us considering Tottenham made more chances than us. In the second half I felt we were better defensively, but we didn't create much.
"If they had made it 2-0 it would have killed the game for us, but at 1-1 we are in a good position for the second leg."
That game takes place at White Hart Lane on January 22 with the winners meeting either Chelsea or Everton in the final at Wembley on February 24.
More from rediff