Harry Houdini, again

New Tottenham manager, Redknapp, pulls out another trick from his hat as his side comes back from the dead to score twice in the last minute, sharing the spoils with London rivals Arsenal

LONDON: Harry Redknapp might as well be Harry Potter as far as Tottenham Hotspur fans are concerned after his new side achieved the near-magical feat of securing a 4-4 draw away to Arsenal in the north London derby despite being two goals behind with a minute left of normal time.

The former Portsmouth manager, who last weekend guided Spurs to a first league win of the season, could have been forgiven for thinking the game was up when Arsenal led 4-2 heading into the 89th minute. 

But goals from Jermaine Jenas and Aaron Lennon gave the visitors a remarkable share of the spoils.

Tottenham took a 13th minute lead in spectacular fashion when, from fully 40 yards out, England midfielder David Bentley flicked the ball up and lobbed a swerving volley over the head of Manuel Almunia. 

However, Arsenal were in front after headed goals either side of half-time from French central defenders Mikael Silvestre and William Gallas.

Emmanuel Adebayor made it 3-1 before Darren Bent scored Spurs’s second. Arsenal’s two-goal lead was then restored by Dutch striker Robin van Persie before Jenas and Lennon turned the match on its head

Elsewhere, Liverpool maintained their three-point lead over Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table. But it was not until 14 minutes from time, when Reds captain Steven Gerrard scored from the penalty spot, that Portsmouth, with Tony Adams now in charge were on their way to a 1-0 defeat at Anfield.

“It took a long time, but we had to be patient,” said Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez.    An upbeat Adams added: “I was very proud of the side, on another day we may well have come away from Anfield with a 1-0 win.”

Chelsea, having surrendered their 86-game unbeaten league run at their Stamford Bridge home, kept the pressure away to surprise package Hull, who dropped down to a still impressive fifth place.

“After we lost against Liverpool our reaction was very good,” said Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari. Defiant Hull boss Phil Brown said: “It is a kick in the proverbials but we have got to dust ourselves down and prepare for it.”

Meanwhile Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Manchester United beat West Ham 2-0 at Old Trafford.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was far from satisfied with this display. “The first-half was magnificent but the second was disappointing. “I felt we were going to add to our goal tally, which could be important at the end of the season, but we didn’t capitalise.”

Aston Villa went fourth with a 3-2 win at home to Blackburn Rovers. At the other end of the table, top-flight new boys Stoke climbed out of the relegation zone with a 1-0 win at home to Sunderland when Ricardo Fuller got on the end of a trademark long throw from Rory Delap 17 minutes from time.

Fulham too pulled clear of danger with a 2-0 win over Wigan, both goals coming from Andy Johnson, the first his 100th in the league, as the visitors dropped into the bottom three.

In other matches, Middlesbrough beat Manchester City 2-0 while Everton record signing Marouane Fellaini left it until the 90th minute to score as the Merseysiders  ended a run of nine games without a win against fellow strugglers Bolton Wanderers.