Pires caused uproar last weekend when he fluffed a penalty against Manchester City when he attempted to pass the ball to Thierry Henry, but got his studs stuck in the ground.
The French midfielder suffered more agony when he was dropped to the bench by Arsene Wenger for the clash against their arch-rivals.
But he was handed a lifeline when Wenger introduced him to the action at half-time and stole all the headlines 13 minutes from time when he capitalised on a mistake by Paul Robinson and fired the ball into the corner of the net.
As expected a capacity crowd packed the rafters at White Hart Lane to see who would come out on top in the battle for north London supremacy.
The opening quarter of the game was a scrappy affair and referee Steve Bennett was kept busy inside the opening 15 minutes.
Gilberto Silva was first booked for a lunging challenge on Jermaine Jenas and then Mathieu Flamini was cautioned following his late tackle on Teemu Tainio.
But it was Tottenham who gave the home fans something to shout about when they broke the deadlock on 24 minutes.
The ever-impressive Michael Carrick delivered a pin-point cross which picked out Ledley King inside the box.
The Spurs skipper rose the highest and saw his close-range header flash past Jens Lehmann into the back of the net.
Mido could have made it two for the home side just 60 seconds later when he attempted a 30-yard lob which dipped just over the crossbar.
The home side continued to mount pressure on the Arsenal goal and Jermain Defoe's ball on 28 minutes picked out Jenas whose fierce drive was superbly tipped over the bar by Lehmann in the Arsenal goal.
Former Spurs defender Sol Campbell almost put through his own goal on 34 minutes when Paul Stalteri's inswinging cross caused all kinds of problems for the England star. Campbell mis-hit the ball and it flew just wide of the post.
Campbell, who faced a barrage of abuse on his return to White Hart Lane, then left Tainio pouring with blood following a strong challenge on the Finnish midfielder.
Wenger knew he had to change things around if his side stood any chance of getting back into the game and brought on Pires at half-time.
Freddie Ljungberg had a golden chance to snatch an equaliser on 47 minutes, but his close-range shot produced a fine save from Robinson diving away to his left.
Pires almost made an immediate impact on 57 minutes when he saw his free-kick from the edge of the box sail just wide of the post.
Defoe was desperately unlucky not to get his name on the scoresheet on 59 minutes when he weaved his way into the box and saw his low drive kept out by the legs of Lehmann.
Robinson then had to be at his very best on 66 minutes to keep out a low drive by Arsenal substitute Robin van Persie.
But the England keeper had a moment to forget on 77 minutes when he could only parry a free-kick from Dennis Bergkamp.
The ball fell kindly to Pires who made no mistake firing the ball into the corner of the net to earn Arsenal a share of the spoils at White Hart Lane.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Michael Carrick (Spurs) - Enhanced his England hopes with another assured display at the heart of a disciplined Spurs midfield display.