IT was one of the defining matches of a thrilling season, pivotal in Wanderers’ quest for survival and decisive in the title race.

When Sylvain Wiltord and Robert Pires put Arsenal two up after a scoreless first half, the Gunners thought they were on course for a significant victory in their duel with Manchester United.

But in the end they were lucky to get away with a point as Wanderers, with their gutsy, never-say-die approach for which they became famous under Sam Allardyce, stormed back to secure a draw that was to prove vital in their battle to beat the drop.

The legendary Youri Djorkaeff pulled a goal back 16 minutes from the end, and, by the time Martin Keown deflected a Djorkaeff free-kick past David Seaman for the equaliser 10 minutes later, an exasperated and simmering Arsene Wenger had yanked off his red tie.

Allardyce has always maintained that had Florent Laville not been sent off in the last minute of normal time for a second bookable offence – his only two fouls of the game – Wanderers would have won.

As it was, the result kept the Whites out of the bottom three, two points ahead of nearest rivals West Ham while handing Manchester United the initiative to go on and regain the Premiership title.

The Reebok experience left deep scars on Wenger and led to a simmering feud with Allardyce that rivalled some of his famous psychological spats with Sir Alex Ferguson.

Wenger accused the Bolton boss of putting pressure on referee Andy D’Urso with his pre-match comments about officials “favouring” the bigger clubs and slammed Wanderers for the tackles that put Lauren, Freddie Ljungberg and Pascal Cygan out of the game.

“They were put out by bad tackles,” Wenger moaned as he left the Reebok.