Tottenham 3 // Arsenal 3
Arsenal's anguish is increasingly familiar.
First the exhilaration, then the frustration. A side with a damaging habit of losing leads are surrendering their place in the title race.
They are a side with a destructive case of deja vu.
As on Sunday against Liverpool, a Dutchman scored the penalty to irritate Arsenal - Dirk Kuyt then, Rafael van der Vaart now.
As at the Emirates Stadium in November, Arsenal led Spurs by two goals and still couldn't beat them.
As was the case at White Hart Lane 12 months ago, their interest in the battle for the championship may have been ended by their fiercest rivals.
Yet an epic match was sufficiently breathless that it was hard to sit back and consider the consequences.
Probably the game of the season, possibly only the best north London derby since the last one, it was astonishing in every respect: the ambition of the attacking, the quality of the goals, the importance of the action.
In a game where progressive talents flourished on either side - Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott all excelled for Arsenal - it was fitting that Van der Vaart had the final say.
His penalties are becoming a constant in Tottenham's comebacks; another was an equaliser when they beat Arsenal earlier in the campaign.
Ultimately, he overshadowed Spurs' newly crowned PFA Player of the Year, Gareth Bale, as well as the phalanx of Arsenal adventurers.
They are becoming a byword for drama, much of it unwelcome.
After two goals in 12 minutes of injury-time against Liverpool came three in the opening 12 of regulation time, the start of a quite sensational first half.
During his colleagues' extended malaise, there are times when Van Persie has seemed a sole source of goals.
His 16th in as many games confirmed that his particular Dutchman is flying, but the responsibility is being shared again.
Walcott and Samir Nasri returned to the scoresheet, only for their efforts to be undermined by more frail defending.
At their finest, Arsenal are a beguiling amalgam of technique and pace, epitomised by the first goal. Fabregas proved the incisive pass, Walcott the sprinter's speed and the assured finish. He had wandered infield from the right wing to score a first goal since February 5. So, in an uncanny parallel, did Van der Vaart, some 90 yards away but only 82 seconds later. Vedran Corluka's pass was controlled and converted with expertise
Tottenham's taste of parity was short-lived.
Nasri defeated Heurelho Gomes with a low shot from 20 yards, aided by a slight deflection off Michael Dawson.
This is much the most prolific season of his Arsenal career, but a 15-game wait for his 15th goal of the season illustrated the extent to which Nasri's form had tailed off.
On the opposite flank and using his eviscerating acceleration, Walcott was inches from scoring a third goal.
Instead, he provided one: a cross of genuine delicacy was directed at Van Persie.
Gomes saved the striker's initial header but was powerless to stop the rebound, which nestled in the roof of the net.
A less-spirited side than Spurs might have abandoned pursuit then, a more resilient one than Arsenal would have held on.
Instead, a beautifully struck half-volley from Huddlestone halved the deficit and set the scene perfectly.
Van der Vaart levelled coolly after Wojciech Szczesny upended the influential substitute Aaron Lennon.
Still the chances kept coming, the young goalkeeper redeeming himself with saves from Luka Modric, Peter Crouch and Sandro.
The eventual draw might have meant there were no winners in the capital, and two among the Manchester clubs, but it was a spectacle of supreme proportions.
Incredible.
