If Tottenham Hotspur were looking for a spark that might just reignite their season then, in more ways than one, it might have come with a 91st-minute miracle when Hugo Lloris saved an Arsenal penalty.
Not just the save but Jan Vertonghen's lunge to keep penalty-taker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from rolling in the recycled ball.
This was one of those moments when a whole season could be compressed into a few glorious minutes, when Spurs' spiralling fortunes went from despair to more despair and were eventually rescued.
There was a red card for the substitute Lucas Torreira in the closing stages, deserved for a lunge at Danny Rose, and the penalty awarded to Aubameyang was a bad mistake by referee Anthony Taylor, the consequences of which he had Lloris to save him from.
Arsenal had been generally solid in their defence of Aaron Ramsey's early goal and they came close to a victory built on counter-attack, had Aubameyang kept his nerve from the penalty spot.
The first draw in 33 games for Spurs was less than they needed given the two league defeats that preceded it, but by the end it felt a bit more than just one point.
A mistake by Davinson Sanchez had given Arsenal the opportunity to play in Ramsey for a beautifully taken 16th-minute goal and from then it was a test for a home side.
They were up against fine performances from the likes of Bernd Leno in the Arsenal goal and the centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos.
Spurs have had every different flavour of North London derby day defeat over the years, from those that came amid eras of Arsenal dominance to others that they should have won - but this one threatened to do just as much damage.
The penalty that led to Harry Kane's goal was disputed - there was no doubt that Shkodran Mustafi barged him over as Christian Eriksen's free-kick dropped into the area, but it looked like the No 10 was offside in the first place.
Kane scored and Spurs pushed for the winner in the later stages, with Rose in midfield and Heung Min Son, poor on this occasion, replaced by Fernando Llorente.
In the end they survived that wrongly awarded penalty and a draw, when the dust settles, might not feel so bad given how it looked with the ball on their spot in injury time and defeat by their biggest rivals looming as a very real possibility.
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