London: Tottenham scored with five minutes left on Saturday to beat Arsenal 3-2 for a first away win at its fierce north London rival in 17 years.
Spurs had trailed 2-0 to goals by Samir Nasri and Marouane Chamakh but Gareth Bale reduced the deficit five minutes after halftime and Rafael van der Vaart finally scored away from home with a 67th-minute penalty that Cesc Fabregas conceded when he needlessly blocked the Dutchman's free kick with his forearm.
Arsenal still had chances to win the game through Fabregas and Laurent Koscielny but Younes Kaboul headed in a free kick to complete the comeback.
The win denied Arsenal the chance to go top of the Premier League and ended the visitors' 68-match run without an away win against the established powers of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.
"I wasn't here for 65 or 66 of those games, so I can't take the blame for those ones," Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp said. "But we can give anyone a game. To come here and turn the tide as we did today is a fantastic result and showed good courage."
The Tottenham fans were still celebrating wildly 15 minutes after the final whistle in the corner of an otherwise empty Emirates Stadium but Van der Vaart was already looking ahead to Wednesday's match against Werder Bremen — when victory could put Spurs into the second round of the Champions League in its debut season.
"Today's a great day but it's just three points," Van der Vaart said. "We want to win the next Champions League game."
The comeback had looked impossible when Arsenal dominated the first half comprehensively, with Alex Song, Nasri, Andrey Arshavin and Fabregas combining so fluidly in midfield that one of them always seemed free to collect a pass.
Tottenham's halftime introduction of striker Jermain Defoe for his first appearance in more than two months following an ankle injury changed that, evening the balance of play by keeping Arsenal's defence busier and denying the Gunners so much time to build moves from the back.
Bale raced from left to right to collect a pass by Van der Vaart and shot low past Lukasz Fabianski before Luka Modric won a free kick by drawing an unnecessary foul from Song.
Fabregas was on the end of the wall and blocked Van der Vaart's free kick with his arm for a penalty that the Netherlands international smashed in for his eighth goal of the season and first away from White Hart Lane.
With five minutes left, Koscielny brought down the charging Bale on the right with a late foul 40 meters (yards) from goal. The free kick sailed into the area and Kaboul leaped to head past Fabianski and send the visiting supporters crazy.
Redknapp said the victory confirmed his belief that, with United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City all dropping points, Tottenham had a chance of winning the English title for the first time since 1961.
"We can achieve anything," Redknapp said. "You've got to aim for the top. It's open. Anyone can win. We're not writing ourselves off."
The turnaround was epitomised by the performance of former Arsenal captain William Gallas, who wore the armband for Tottenham and was loudly jeered on his first match against his former club.
Aside from one extraordinary break when he intercepted and carried the ball alone to the edge of Arsenal's area, the Frenchman was mostly notable for the poor positioning and inability to keep possession that suggested Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was correct not to renew his contract at the end of last season.
But after the interval, he made several key blocks and interceptions to keep Tottenham in the game.
Even so, Arsenal had looked set to at least challenge for top spot in the standings with an overwhelming first-half performance.
Arsenal had already threatened — Nasri sending a looped pass over the defence to Fabregas for a cross that goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes saved — when it took the lead.
Nasri raced onto a pass up the middle by Fabregas and, with Gomes slow to come off his line, got to the ball just before the Tottenham goalkeeper. A deflection off the diving keeper seemed set to carry the ball out of play past the left post but Nasri got there and, lifting his standing leg out of the way to give himself space, squeezed in a shot with his left that just trickled over the line from the tightest of angles.
Fabregas then collected a first-time pass from Song to ghost past central defender Kaboul, only to shoot wide of the far post with just Gomes to beat.
The second goal soon came, from a move that began with the breakdown of a rare attack by the visitors.
Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko kept the ball in play rather than allow it to roll out for a corner but there was no teammate to collect it so Arsenal was able to swiftly move possession up to Fabregas in space on the edge of the center circle.
As Tottenham's defence retreated, Fabregas slipped the ball left to Arshavin, who crossed low for Chamakh to touch in from close range for a ninth goal of the season — 12 seconds after Spurs lost possession.
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