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Tottenham Hotspur pulled off an incredible comeback to win 3-2 at the Emirates Stadium and claim their first Premier League victory at Arsenal since 1993.

Arsenal led 2-0 at half-time thanks to goals from Samir Nasri and Marouane Chamakh, but Spurs levelled it up through a fine Gareth Bale finish and a Rafael van der Vaart penalty.

Younes Kaboul scored a late glancing header to complete an astonishing turnaround and silence the Emirates.

Tottenham came into the game without an away win against the 'Big Four' in a staggering 68 attempts. And it looked like that run would continue as the Gunners eased into a commanding position.

There was a suitably combative start. After Nasri refused to shake his former colleague William Gallas's hand in the pre-match formalities, the Arsenal man was released in the first minute, only to be dispossessed by a muscular Gallas challenge.

The pair apparently did not speak during Gallas's final season at the club, when he was relieved of the club captaincy, and the defender inadvertently caught his rival in the face with a flailing arm in the act of winning the ball.

But Tottenham's optimism soon turned into a familiar sinking feeling as Arsenal seized control of the game and the visitors went behind to an eminently avoidable goal.

Heurelho Gomes had already flapped at once cross when Cesc Fabregas sent Nasri through the middle with a fine, raking pass.

Nasri's first touch was heavy and Gomes appeared to have the situation under control as he slid out to claim the ball - but his challenge was limp, the ball squirted free and Nasri finished from an outrageous angle, rolling the ball in deftly from the left.

Arsenal grew in confidence, and exploited a Tottenham side missing a designated defensive midfielder with some slick passing.

One particularly excellent move was started and finished by Fabregas, as Arsenal worked the ball from left to right and back again, before the Arsenal skipper dragged his shot wide.

It was two on 27 minutes as the home side launched a magnificent counter-attack that culminated in Andrei Arshavin crossing low from the left and Chamakh touching the ball neatly past Gomes from eight yards.

Tottenham eventually grabbed a foothold in the game, even though Bale found his space restricted and Van der Vaart cut a frustrated, unhappy figure.

The Dutchman had a couple of long-range sighters while Luka Modric shot straight at Lukasz Fabianski, and a succession of corners came to nothing.

Jermain Defoe, returning from an ankle injury, replaced Aaron Lennon at half-time and Spurs attacked with a narrower formation as Van der Vaart cut inside from the right.

Within five minutes the move paid off as Defoe surprisingly won a header in midfield. It fell for Van der Vaart, who chested down and played in Bale, who steered a delightful finish past Fabianski into the left corner.

Arsenal continued to dominate possession, but they failed to test Gomes, and were made to pay following an inexplicable act of stupidity from Fabregas on 67 minutes.

Van der Vaart hit a free-kick towards the wall, and the Arsenal captain raised his arm to stop the ball. A blatant and unnecessary handball, and a penalty.

The Dutchman stepped up and sent the ball into the left corner as Fabianski dived the other way.

Arsene Wenger responded by replacing Chamakh with Robin van Persie, and his team soon had the ball in the net through Sebastien Squillaci, though it was rightly chalked off for offside.

Fabregas volleyed over from the edge of the box, and finally worked Gomes with a curling 20-yarder that looked destined for the right corner before the keeper tipped it athletically behind.

Laurent Koscielny was then guilty of a terrible miss, sending a free header over from six yards after a Van Persie cross.

And Kaboul made the Gunners pay, with Van der Vaart again the creator. His curling free-kick from the right was glanced on by the Frenchman, and it nestled in the left corner of the net past Fabianski's desperate dive.

Manchester United beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 at Old Trafford in a match marred by a farcical second goal scored by Nani.

Spurs' woeful record when visiting the Red Devils was maintained thanks to Nemanja VIdic's header on the half-hour mark.

Nani then doubled the lead late on in farcical circumstances. Goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes placed the ball down inside his box in the belief that Spurs had been awarded a free-kick for what he thought was a dive by the Portuguese - but referee Mark Clattenburg, who never blew his whistle, allowed the forward to casually trot up to the ball and knock it into the unguarded net.

The linesman raised his flag to disallow the goal, but Clattenburg overruled his assistant, despite Nani handling the ball after hitting the ground under pressure from Younes Kaboul, believing play had stopped. The goal stood, and the incident can now be added to the list of controversial events in the recent history of this fixture.

However, for all the mentions of incidents involving Pedro Mendes, Howard Webb or anyone else, the fact remains that the last time the Londoners won at Old Trafford, Gary Lineker scored the winner.

Spurs winger Gareth Bale, 21, was just five months old when his club claimed that 1-0 win, whilst the United full-back who did such a good job of controlling him, Rafael da Silva, had not even been born.

Despite Rafael managing largely to neutralise the Welshman's threat, Spurs still offered plenty in this match with, predictably, Rafael van der Vaart at the heart of all that was good about their play.

After a bright start from United - in which Park Ji-sung struck the post with a fierce low 20-yard drive - the Dutchman responded by hitting the woodwork at the other end with a rasping shot that crashed off the crossbar with goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar well beaten, before flashing another strike over the target.

Park bent an effort wide of the Spurs upright, and Rafael did likewise after a slaloming run into the area but, before the skill and guile on show, it was the most basic of goals that broke the deadlock.

Javier Hernandez drew a foul from Spurs defender Younes Kaboul out on the right, and Nani's inviting free-kick was met by a timely run from the unmarked Vidic, who glanced his header past Gomes for his second of the season.

Unperturbed by going behind, Spurs continued to threaten, and a smart corner from Van der Vaart was clipped back to Luka Modric, who forced a decent save from Van der Sar - who became the ninth player over 40 years of age to play in the Premier League with this appearance.

After the break the match began to lose much of the preceding tempo and attacking ambition, with United gradually putting the squeeze on Spurs.

Bale marauded across the pitch before flashing a strike wide of the far post, before substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko's shot from distance deflected off Vidic and almost beat Van der Sar, but in general chances were at more of a premium

After Nani's comical goal doubled United's lead, the Portuguese seemed determined to score a genuine strike, and fired in a dipping rocket from distance that clipped the top of the crossbar.

To compound Tottenham's misery at yet again leaving Old Trafford with nothing save for frustration and a sense of injustice, Van der Vaart was substituted in the latter stages after feeling a twinge in his hamstring, a worrying sign ahead of their Champions League clash with Internazionale in midweek.