Manuel Almunia save keeps Arsenal at top

Juande Ramos has joined the list of the not so magnificent seven Spurs managers who have failed to lower Arsenal's colours during the reign of Arsene Wenger.

But his first attempt brought a lot more frowns from Wenger than usual on these occasions and Ramos will be quietly confident of turning over their old rivals when they return for next month's Carling Cup semi-final, especially as Arsenal will not field anything like as strong a team as they did here.

Under Ramos, Spurs have started to flow and while everyone goes on about Arsenal's youngsters, they have found a little Irish gem themselves in Jamie O'Hara, 19, who has already played for England Under-18s but is now having his grandfathers checked out by the Football Association of Ireland. The FAI are not known as Find Another Irishman for nothing.

O'Hara made his debut as a substitute at Portsmouth last week and played as though he had been in the side for years. After another sub's role against Manchester City in midweek, he was given his first start here, a sign of how much faith Ramos has in him, and he promptly upstaged senior midfield men like Steed Malbranque and Kevin-Prince Boateng. Mind you, a lad who has spent most of this season on loan at Millwall was never going to be frightened of a north London derby.

The bad news for Spurs when the Carling Cup comes around is that they are certain to face young Dane Nicklas Bendtner, who trotted off the substitutes' bench as Arsenal prepared to take a corner and promptly headed in the ball delivered by Cesc Fabregas for the winner. As Ramos said: "To concede a goal from a corner when you have got all your outfield players in the penalty area is unusual. Those sort of mistakes should not happen."

Bendtner now has four goals after making just six starts, which is not too shabby, and this, his first in the Premier League, made him an instant hero in the eyes of Arsenal fans.

Yet three minutes earlier Arsenal had been on the verge of their first defeat to Spurs in 20 games and only their second loss at the Emirates. After Kolo Toure brought down Dimitar Berbatov referee Rob Styles pointed to the spot, and with Robbie Keane normally lethal from 12 yards it looked as though, at the very least, Arsenal would need to make one of their late recoveries. Yet goalkeeper Manuel Almunia guessed right and made a fine stop, all his defenders rushing to congratulate him at the end.

Arsenal were a long way from their imperious best, even Fabregas struggling to get his passes to his intended colleagues. And without Robin van Persie, who has picked up another minor injury, Arsenal continually relied on long balls to lone striker Emmanuel Adebayor. Even more galling for the Emirates faithful was that, for a spell near the end of the first half, it was Spurs playing the pretty football.

Just when Arsenal seemed to be running out of ideas, however, a delightful piece of football at the start of the second half gave them the lead. Fabregas exchanged a one-two with Tomas Rosicky before playing in Adebayor with a back-heel, the finish across Paul Robinson showing how much he learned from Thierry Henry. He must love these rivals, having scored six in five games against them.

Tottenham's Aaron Lennon and Arsenal's Gael Clichy were involved in a fascinating match within the match, Lennon winning round one with a cross that a watchful Bacary Sagna just managed to head out at the far post. But Clichy won most of the following rounds until Lennon stepped inside to deliver a left-foot cross in the 70th minute, Keane shooting against the crossbar when he really should have scored.