LONDON — Arsenal’s faltering Premier League title bid suffered another blow Wednesday when it surrendered a two-goal advantage to draw 3-3 with bitter north London rival Tottenham.
As the Gunners dropped two more points, Chelsea pulled level with them on points — and nudged ahead into second on goal difference — after beating Birmingham 3-1 at Stamford Bridge. Both clubs trail league leader Manchester United by six points.
Rafael van der Vaart was the hero for Tottenham as his two goals gave them a share of the spoils at White Hart Lane in a match in which Arsenal had twice taken the lead.
The Gunners were 3-1 up in the latter stages of the game thanks to goals from Theo Walcott, Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie.
But a Tom Huddlestone strike and a 70th-minute van der Vaart penalty, his second goal of the night, made it 3-3, delivering a massive blow to Arsenal’s hopes of catching United, who had given the Gunners a lifeline by drawing with Newcastle on Tuesday.
Wenger told Sky Sports News the title race was not over.
“We’ll fight. Our mental strength is outstanding. We have faced criticism but this team deserves much more,” he said. “I didn’t see any fail in our attitude, in our determination, in our quality. We just dropped physically in the second half.”
Wenger believes his side were still feeling the effects of a tough clash against Liverpool on Sunday.
“We’ve had two games in three games, our recovery was a bit short. Tottenham are a good team and we have to accept they can score goals as well. Both sides could have won the game tonight but I didn’t see any failure in our attitude. We came here to score goals and played a team who are very good going forward.”
Redknapp said: “It was one of the great games. A real classic. We showed fantastic character to come from 3-1 down. Arsenal were top class in the first half, they had us at full stretch and were hard to live with. But in the second half the best chances were going our way, we just couldn’t get the winner.
“We came back from an almost impossible position and had chances to win it. Anyone who watched that match tonight must have loved it. I can’t ask any more. Both teams wanted to win and needed a win.”
Elsewhere in the capital, two goals from Florent Malouda and a strike from Salomon Kalou were enough to give the Blues three points and move them into second, courtesy of a superior goal difference.
And with Chelsea still due to face United at Old Trafford, the result opened up the intriguing possibility of the west London outfit edging its way back into the race for a title that most observers felt it had all-but relinquished.
Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti said: “In football, I learned that everything can happen in the game right up to the final whistle. You can win the title in the last minute and you can lose the title in the last minute.
“If we thought that one month ago we’d have a little chance to come back to fight for the title, I think that everyone could have said we were crazy. Now we are happy tonight because we’ve reached second place. We await to see what happens in the next five games.”
