Spurs gatecrash title party

For 45 minutes, it had been like watching Ali toying with Richard Dunn. No team had given Arsenal a two-goal lead this season and pulled it back; it seemed only a question of how Arsenal would apply the knock out blow. What we saw instead was what David Pleat hailed as "a tremendous response" from a team which had been utterly deflated by Vieira's early strike.

"Listen, we never set off to think of looking down rather than forward but it's easier said than done when you're in the spiral of defeat. If we had some fortune in the end, we deserved it," said Pleat, noting how Spurs had been deprived of two clear penalties in their last two home matches against Chelsea and Manchester City.

Still, nobody can pretend that the last-minute gift of a penalty yesterday was merited. A bit of wrestling and pushing between Keane and Jens Lehmann - really, six of one, half a dozen of the other - and Mark Halsey awards a spot-kick.

Even though the German does himself no favours with his "thou shalt not invade my personal space" growls at strikers - and even Wenger, usually so defensive of his players, admitted Lehmann would have to stop getting wound up so easily - Halsey's seemed a very poor decision.

It cost Arsenal victory but it would be hard to begrudge Spurs their reward for battling in the manner which has, ironically, served their opponents rather better than them this season. In the second half, they even had Arsenal rocking on occasion.

When he picked up his PFA player of the year award for the second year running last night, Thierry Henry paid tribute to his colleagues, saying: "It's like we are a family, willing to do things together and fight for it." For once, led by the feisty Michael Brown, Jamie Redknapp and the talismanic Keane, Spurs demonstrated what is possible when they too make it seem like a family affair. Nobody, least of all the beleaguered Pleat, is pretending that they belong anywhere near the same plane as Arsenal at the moment but it was a stirring effort to get the caretaker enthusing about the future.

Wistfully admitting that some players needed to find a more aggressive streak and better leadership qualities (that's what an afternoon drooling over Vieira's dynamism does to you) he concluded with the upbeat note: "They are good players, make no mistake about that."

The best players, though, still reside four miles down the road. Wenger said only this week that Tottenham, as a club, had the potential to match Arsenal. He was too polite to suggest that, as a team, they just don't have the raw material any more to do anything but prove the most minor irritant to their allconquering neighbours.