Arsenal 1, Leeds United 1

Manchester United, Totten-ham and now Arsenal. The cream of English football knows just how formidable Simon Grayson’s Leeds can be in the FA Cup.

And there could be more heroics when Arsenal arrive at Elland Road for their unwanted third round replay, with a mouth-watering home tie against neighbours Huddersfield the prize should United win.

Although Kasper Schmeichel needed a world-class save from the Brazilian Denilson in injury-time to keep Leeds in the tie, the West Yorkshire side deserved immense credit for their afternoon’s work.

Praise for their character-building performance was led by Cesc Fabregas, the Arsenal captain who began on the bench but had to be introduced after Robert Snodgrass rocked the Gun-ners with a 54th minute penalty.

It was Fabregas whose 90th-minute penalty forced an Elland Road replay – the date has yet to be confirmed – and he warned: “We will have to be at our best to beat them.

“It is a very difficult place to go. We put them under a lot of pressure in the last 30 minutes but their keeper was man of the match. He was fantastic.”

Leeds manager Simon Grayson was proud but frustrated after seeing his players go so close to collecting another prime FA Cup scalp to go with Manchester United’s at the same stage last season.

Grayson’s men also held Spurs to a draw in North London last term before losing the Elland Road replay.

Grayson said: “We were under a lot of pressure at times, Kasper made some good saves and I thought it was going to be our day.

“Unfortunately the late penalty decision went against us but the players can be extremely proud. They worked hard, especially when Arsenal had plenty of possession, and we caused them a threat or two.

“Arsenal had to bring on Fabregas and (Theo) Walcott and we had a great opportunity at 1-0 when Luciano Becchio’s header forced a good save from their keeper but we had to ride our luck at times and nearly pulled off another big win. Our fans were outstanding as well. Wherever we go they back the team to the hilt and the atmosphere at Elland Road for the replay will be brilliant. ”

Grayson revealed that he couldn’t watch the penalty drilled home by Snodgrass. “I never watch penalties. I turn the other way, but I could tell by the reaction of our fans that Snod had scored,” he said.

United made three changes, Alex Bruce, Sanchez Watt and Becchio coming in for Neill Collins, Ross McCormack and Billy Paynter. As expected, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger made a host of changes, though his line-up was still packed with quality and experience.

Both keepers were needed in the opening minutes, Schmeichel standing his ground to save from Marouane Chamakh and Wojciech Szczesny denying Becchio.

Schmeichel saved a 20-yard volley from Russian Andrei Arshavin before Jonny Howson and Becchio made goal-line clearances and Bruce had to be at his best with several well-timed tackles at the heart of the Leeds defence.

Leeds’ big moment arrived as Max Gradel was brought down inside the left side of the penalty box by Denilson, and Snodgrass used his lethal left foot to blast the ball into the bottom right corner after Szczesny dived the right way but couldn’t make the save.

The din from Leeds fans was deafening and Wenger expressed his anxiety by releasing Fabregas in the 59th minute, Walcott also joining the fray nine minutes later.

United, growing in confidence, refused to retreat into their shell and could have increased their advantage when Becchio’s powerful header was saved one-handed by the diving Szczesny and Snodgrass sent a 30 yard free-kick fractionally wide.

After Andy O’Brien made a crucial tackle on Nicklas Bendtner a few yards out, Grayson replaced winger Watt with Leigh Bromby as United adopted a five-man defence to protect their slender lead.

The hard-working Becchio then gave way to fellow striker Davide Somma with five minutes left and Arsenal rescued a replay in a frantic last few minutes. First referee Phil Dowd changed his mind after pointing to the spot in the 88th minute when Walcott looked to have gone down under a challenge from Paul Connolly.

Then, two minutes later, left back Ben Parker, playing only his second game after a long injury absence, tugged Walcott’s arm and Fabregas drove the resultant penalty straight down the middle of the goal.

Arsenal could still have won it with Denilson’s 19-yard shot arrowing towards the far corner, but Schmeichel made a miraculous one-handed save to round off another page in Leeds’ fascinating FA Cup story.

Walcott later said sorry for diving after the challenge from Connolly, stating on Arsenal’s website: “I want to apologise to the managers because I actually dived. I was trying to win the penalty.

“I said to one of their players ‘would you have done it?’ and he said he probably would have.”