Arsenal staged a magnificent fightback to thrash Tottenham 5-2 in the north London derby yesterday as Manchester United scrambled a last-gasp 2-1 win over Norwich.

Arsenal appeared to be hurtling towards a disastrous home defeat after an early Louis Saha strike and an Emmanuel Adebayor penalty fired Spurs into a 2-0 lead.

But two goals in three minutes from Bacary Sagna and captain Robin van Persie made it 2-2 before Arsenal cut loose in the second half with Tomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott (2) completing a remarkable transformation.

At Carrow Road, Ryan Giggs – playing in his 900th game for United – struck in the 90th minute to clinch a precious victory for Alex Ferguson’s side which saw them reduce Manchester City’s lead at the top to two points.

Grant Holt had pounced for Norwich on 83 minutes to cancel out Paul Scholes’s seventh-minute opener. But Giggs stole in to save United at the death in a remarkable finale for Ferguson’s men.

Arsenal’s win eased the pressure on manager Arsene Wenger.

The Gunners’ victory also denied Tottenham their first season double over Arsenal for 19 years, and moved the Gunners back into the Champions League qualification places ahead of Chelsea.

Arsenal got off to the worst possible start when Saha fired Tottenham ahead after only four minutes.

Adebayor picked out Saha in acres of space near the Arsenal area, and as the home defence dithered the Frenchman was given time to get his shot off and it looped into the net after a deflection.

Arsenal regrouped well after that disastrous setback but instead it was the Spurs who struck next as Gareth Bale’s pace tormented the home defence.

Luka Modric found the Welshman flying into the box and the midfielder was brought down by the combined efforts of goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and Kieran Gibbs for a penalty.

Former Arsenal striker Adebayor stepped up to place his kick beyond Szczesny and Spurs were suddenly eyeing a crushing victory.

Yet the game was transformed in three remarkable minutes shortly before half-time which saw Arsenal claw their way back to 2-2.

Sagna pulled the first goal back with a looping header from Mikel Arteta’s cross on 40 minutes.

Then, Van Persie equalised with a sublime individual effort, carving out space for himself on the edge of the Tottenham area before curling beyond Brad Friedel for 2-2.

Tottenham boss Redknapp moved to stiffen his midfield at half-time, replacing Saha with Sandro and introducing Rafael van der Vaart in place of Niko Kranjcar.

But the changes were unable to halt Arsenal’s momentum, and a sweeping move ended with Rosicky making it 3-2 with a dinked finish.

With Tottenham reeling, Arsenal maintained the onslaught and Walcott – barracked mercilessly by the home supporters earlier in the game – made it 4-2 on the counter-attack in the 65th minute.

The England midfielder then bagged his second on 68 minutes as the rout continued.

Tottenham’s misery was complete when Scott Parker was sent off in the closing stages.

England’s friendly
• England caretaker manager Stuart Pearce’s selection headache ahead of his first match in charge against Holland deepened yesterday when both Wayne Rooney and Manchester United team-mate Tom Cleverley were ruled out.

Pearce had already lost striker Darren Bent, who injured an ankle in Aston Villa’s 0-0 draw with Wigan on Saturday.

Summaries

Arsenal 5
Sagna 40; Van Persie 43; Rosicky 51; Walcott 65, 68;
Tottenham 2
Saha 4; Abebayor 34 pen;

HT: 2-2. Att: 60,106.
Red card: Parker (T) 87.

Norwich 1
Holt 83;
Man. United 2
Scholes 7; Giggs 90;

HT: 0-1. Att: 26,811.

Stoke City 2
Upson 24; Crouch 39;
Swansea 0

HT: 2-0. Att: 26,678.

League One
Sheffield Wed. 1 - Sheffield Utd 0