Tottenham 2 Arsenal 2: Julio Baptista continued his fine goalscoring form in the Carling Cup to put Arsenal in the driving seat to reach next month's final.
The Brazilian, who scored four against Liverpool in the previous round, scored an unfortunate own goal as rivals Tottenham stormed into the two-goal lead before half-time in the semi-final first leg.
But Arsene Wenger's loan signing from Real Madrid then pulled his side back into the tie by using his power for his first goal then taking advantage of poor positioning from goalkeeper Paul Robinson to level.
Theo Walcott missed a glorious late chance to establish a lead to take to next week's second leg but the England Under-21 forward stabbed wide and Arsenal settled for a draw.
It denied Spurs their first win over Arsenal since 1999 after they initially took the game to Arsenal and grabbed the lead through Dimitar Berbatov and Baptista's unfortunate own goal.
Kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes as Arsenal's bus waded through sticky traffic in north London.
Spurs were ahead in the 12th minute when Berbatov headed home to add to his tally this season. Pascal Chimbonda shifted the ball wide to Jermain Defoe, who crossed from the right and Bulgaria striker Berbatov had the simplest of tasks to head past Manuel Almunia.
However, it was Berbatov's last significant contribution and he was taken off in the 18th minute for Robbie Keane after appearing to pick up a groin injury.
Spurs were not knocked off their stride, though, and doubled the lead two minutes later. Tom Huddlestone fizzed in a free-kick from the left which flew in off Baptista's heel.
But Baptista handed Arsenal their lifeline after 63 minutes, receiving the ball from Eboue and bundling his way through Spurs' centre-back and finishing.
Sensing the next goal to be the most important of the tie, Arsenal attacked and levelled through Baptista with 13 minutes remaining, with Robinson rushing out and Hoyte crossing for the Brazilian to tap in.
But for Walcott's miss, Arsenal would have completed the most remarkable of comebacks.