5 of the Greatest Football Comebacks

As Arsenal's beleaguered troops went into the away dressing room at the Madejski Stadium four goals down on Tuesday night, Twitter was chock full of Gunners fans bemoaning their lacklustre side, and streams of disgusted supporters were making their way home.

How they wish they had stayed.

Nobody expected the North London side to come out in the second half of the League Cup fourth round tie with Reading and score four goals to bring the game to extra time. The odds on the Gunners then winning the incredible match 7-5 must have been slim to none.

In honour of one of the greatest comebacks of all time, here are five more sides who turned it around against all odds...

Tottenham 3 Man Utd 5, September 2001

There's rarely a dull moment when Spurs face Manchester United, as proven by their clash on Sept. 29, 2001 at White Hart Lane.

The Lilywhites faithful were treated to a masterful first-half performance against a side who had won their third successive league title a few months previously, with Dean Richards, Les Ferdinand and Christian Ziege putting them 3-0 ahead at the break.

Sir Alex Ferguson's famous hairdryer must've blown a gale in the interval, as Andy Cole, Laurent Blanc, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Juan Sebastian Veron (remember him?) and David Beckham all found the net in the second half.

West Ham 3 Wimbledon 4, September 1998

This writer was lucky enough to witness one of the Premier League's most startling comebacks first-hand on a cold September night at the Boleyn.

It took West Ham just 25 minutes to go 3-0 up, with goals from Ian Wright, Stan Lazaridis and future Wimbledon signing John Hartson.

But the spirit of the Crazy Gang soon roared into action, with a Marcus Gayle brace and a Jason Euell strike bring the game equal by the 77th minute. A late Efan Ekoku header made it 4-3, giving the Dons one of only ten wins that season. The Hammers, meanwhile overachieved with a fifth-place finish.

Manchester Utd 2 Bayern Munich 1, May 1999

On what would have been Sir Matt Busby's 90th birthday, Man Utd pulled off the kind of unlikely heist that Kelly's Heroes would have been proud of.

Deservedly trailing for the majority of the game to a sixth-minute free kick from Mario Basler, the Red Devils looked to have secured extra time when Teddy Sheringham guided a Ryan Giggs shot into the net in the 91st minute. But two minutes later Ole Gunnar Solskjær defied all expectation and toe-poked a shot into the back of the net.

It's not the best fight-back in terms of goals scored, but considering the stakes and the timing, this treble-winning Utd side cemented themselves as Comeback Kings.

Wycombe 3 Aston Villa 8, September 2005

Wycombe Wanderers have only ever played Aston Villa twice, but the games have produced 16 goals between them.

Eleven of those came in the September 2005 League Cup clash at Adam's Park, where John Gorman's Chairboys went into the second half coasting on a surprise 3-1 lead.

A giant killing wasn't to be though, as braces from Gareth Barry, James Milner and Steve Davis added to an own goal and a Milan Baros strike demolished Wycombe's hard work in the first 45.

The following season, Wycombe embarked on a longer League Cup run, making all the way to a semi-final with Chelsea.

Liverpool 3 AC Milan 3, May 2005

It took Paolo Maldini less than one minute to put Milan ahead in the 2005 Champions League Final, and the Rossoneri were cruising into half time when Hernan Crespo added two more goals.

Many expected the second half to be an exercise in damage limitation for the four-time European Cup winners led by Rafa Benitez. However, the Reds confounded expectation with goals from Steven Gerrard, Vladimir Smicer and Xabi Alonso.

After goalless extra time, the game went to penalties, where Liverpool happily debunked the English-team-shoot-out myth as Jerzy Dudek's bendy legs helped distract Milan out of what would have been their seventh European Cup title.