Arsenal got a beating of their lives at an electric White Hart Lane on Tuesday night. Spurs, coming into the second leg of the competition from a fantastic performance in the opening tie at the Emirates tore their North London rivals to shreds in perhaps one of the most famous nights in the history of the club.

An early strike by England midfielder Jermaine Jenas put the home side in the lead adding an extra volt to the already energized atmosphere. The gunners found it difficult to play their usual quick-passing game as they were completely closed down by a resilient Tottneham defense led by captain Ledley King. One of comparatively few corners for Spurs put them further in the lead thanks to a misguided header by Arsenal’s young Danish striker Nicklas Bendtener in the 27th minute.

Arsene Wenger’s League Cup policy of featuring mostly fringe players was somewhat disturbed as he was forced to bring on his celebrated young Spanish playmaker Cesc Fabregas early in the first half after Brazilin midfielder Denilson pulled a hamstring. Fabregas brought some stability to the Arsenal midfield but was frustrated by lack of mobility from his strikers, Bendtener and Walcott. On the other end, Dimitr Berbatov and Roby Keane were dangerous, especially on the break. And it was the former Republic of Ireland forward that nailed another coffin to the young Gunners early in the second half.

A series of fruitless second-half corners left Arsenal’s backline vulnerable and Tottenham made full use of the absence of Ivory Coast tower Kolo Toure and his natural replacement in the name of Phillipe Senderos. The sheer speed and trickery of young England international Aaron Lennon proved too much to bear for the likes of Arman Traroe at the back for Arsenal, when Lennon scored with a striker’s instinct in the 60th minute much to the disgust of some traveling fans who at this point decided that they had had enough.

Arsenal brought on BBC’s African Player of the Year Emmanuel Adebayor and their new-found revelation Eduardo to try and shake things up upfront. It was their top-scorer this season, though, who managed to spare their blushes after a cracking effort from just outside the box in the 65th.

Surely it wasn’t going to be a spectacular comeback to prevent Juande Ramos a coveted cup-final in his first season. And it wasn’t. Relentless Arsenal pressure in the dying minutes of the match further exposed their impotent defense as yet another counter-attack led by the second-half substitutes Prince Boateng and Jermaine Defoe found Jermaine Jenas who did exceptionally well to release an unmarked Steed Malbranque to add one more to the already emphatic score line.

The demolition of Wenger’s men ends Tottenham’s unimpressive run against their neighbors, with their second victory in close to nine years. They book a place in the finals against another London rival, Chelsea, in what should be a breathtaking encounter.