On This Day: Arsenal edge north London thriller

Back in 2004, one of the best north London derbies of recent times took place at White Hart Lane as Arsenal secured an epic 5-4 win. There have been plenty of dramatic Arsenal-Tottenham derbies over the past 20 years but few can match the stunning 5-4 encounter at Spurs’ former home 15 years ago, which incredibly saw seven goals come in the space of 26 second-half minutes.
We’ve had memorable 5-2 victories for the Gunners (twice), a 4-2 Arsenal win and 3-3 and 4-4 draws between the two great local rivals recently. However, the game on November 13 2004 eclipses them all as Arsene Wenger’s men – still basking in the glory of their previous ‘Invincibles’ season – edged to a crazy win.
Nourredine Naybet enjoyed surely his finest moment in the Premier League when he opened the scoring for Tottenham after 37 minutes as a somewhat routine opening 45 minutes was brought to a dramatic end when Thierry Henry equalised on the stroke of half-time.
Tottenham, then managed by Martin Jol, who had only taken over as boss at the start of the month, went into the break knowing they were still well-placed to puncture Arsenal’s presumed title bid – but no-one was prepared for what was to come in the second period.
The visitors went in front for the first time in the game when Lauren struck a penalty on 55 minutes and it felt like they had eked out a telling two-goal advantage at 3-1 when Patrick Vieira struck. However, Jermain Defoe’s quick riposte made it 3-2, only for Freddie Ljungberg to keep Spurs at arms’ length with their fourth.
Again, many people at the time would have thought that was that but Jol’s men, roared on by a passionate White Hart Lane crowd, refused to give in and got it back to 4-3 when Ledley King notched one of his 12 goals for Tottenham with 16 minutes still to go.
It remained a game of ‘cat and mouse’ as every time Wenger’s men got two in front, Spurs responded. Robert Pires again took them two clear of their rivals in the 81st minute, only for Freddie Kanoute to make it a nervy finish all-round with Spurs’ fourth with two minutes to go.
Arsenal eventually held out to claim another three points, which briefly put them top of the table before Chelsea won their derby later that afternoon 4-1 at Fulham, while Spurs ended the weekend 14th, only five points clear of the bottom and nine adrift of the top four.
They would recover in part to finish the season ninth, while Arsenal ended as runners-up, 12 points behind Jose Mourinho’s dominant Chelsea.