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Walcott goal earns draw for Gunners

Theo Walcott came to Arsenal's rescue as his late goal frustrated Tottenham and earned a 1-1 draw in the League Cup semi-final first leg in London on Wednesday.

Juande Ramos' side looked set to end a nine-year winless run against their north London rivals when Jermaine Jenas scored in the first half at the Emirates Stadium.

But the Gunners hadn't suffered a defeat in this fixture for 20 matches and they extended that run thanks to Walcott's equalizer with 11 minutes to play.

It was cruel on Spurs after they dominated for long spells, but at least they have the consolation of going back to White Hart Lane for the second leg on Jan. 22 with the tie still in the balance.

"Tottenham played well but we came back," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told Sky Sports. "In the second half they were on top of us because we weren't at our best physically but we came back to 1-1 so that's a positive result."

Spurs captain Ledley King, one of several young English players who would have impressed watching England manager Fabio Capello, said: "I thought we deserved to win the game. We knew they would come back at us, they always seem to come back and we are disappointed we didn't get the win."

"It's half the job done at the moment. It will be a tough game [in the second leg] but we're ready for it," he said.

Ramos finally lost patience with Paul Robinson, dropping the goalkeeper to the bench after his latest error-strewn display against Reading on Saturday.

Robinson, who has already lost his England place this season, was replaced by Radek Cerny, the Czech 'keeper making just his fifth appearance this term.

As usual in the League Cup, Wenger fielded a mixture of precocious youngsters and experienced reserves, with Robin van Persie, back from a knee injury, in the starting line-up for only the second time in three months.

If the prospect of losing to Arsenal's understudies in the League Cup semis two years in a row wasn't motivation enough, Spurs were also trying to reach their first cup final since 2002.

After a slow start they turned the screw on Arsenal with Dimitar Berbatov again the catalyst.

Berbatov has repeatedly been linked with a move away from Spurs and the elegant Bulgarian showed why he is such a tempting target.

His superb control and run ended with a crude block by Philippe Senderos and, although Jamie O'Hara curled the free-kick wide, Spurs were on top.

They should have been in front when Berbatov's pass picked out Robbie Keane. Senderos's challenge only deflected the ball to Steed Malbranque, who had an open goal to aim at but somehow shot wide.

Malbranque headed wide from Keane's chip to the far post moments later before Berbatov's long range strike forced a fine stop from Lukasz Fabianski.

For once, Wenger's boys looked their age. Spurs counter-attacked with menace and they got the goal their play deserved in the 37th minute.

Keane beat the offside trap to meet Berbatov's pass. He slid a square pass to Jenas and the flag stayed down as the England international slotted a low shot past Fabianski.

Facing only a second defeat at the Emirates, Wenger sent on Eduardo and Bacary Sagna at the break to try to revitalize the hosts.

Usually so fluent on the ball, Arsenal were guilty of squandering possession with alarming regularity, but Tottenham couldn't deliver the killer blow and they were punished in the 79th minute.

Eduardo's through ball sent Walcott clear. As he was taking aim, Lee Young-pyo tried to block but he only succeeded in diverting the ball onto Walcott's chest and past Cerny.

There was still time for one last twist as Jermain Defoe wasted a glorious chance to win it when he shot over from close range.
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