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MANCHESTER, England (AFP) – Sir Alex Ferguson claimed Manchester United's steely will-to-win could make the difference in the title race after his side's 1-0 victory at Manchester City.

United played the final 22 minutes down to 10 men at Eastlands after Cristiano Ronaldo's red card for deliberate handball, but the champions held firm to keep the pressure on Chelsea and Liverpool.

After dominating for long periods and finally taking the lead through Wayne Rooney's 42nd minute strike, United had to endure a nervous finale and Ferguson was impressed with the way they keep their focus.

"We needed three points. We are behind Liverpool and Chelsea. We are chasing them and we needed to win the game to get ourselves near them," Ferguson said.

"We have had a significant result and I hope it makes a difference.

"Our focus was good. In some away games this season our second-half performance has been disappointing. We threw the game away at Liverpool and threw three points away at Everton.

"Last week our game dropped against Aston Villa and I think that was down to focus and our focus was great."

Even Ferguson, notoriously capable of lambasting officials for perceived slights against his team, couldn't work himself up over Howard Webb's decision to dismiss Ronaldo in the 68th minute.

Ronaldo, who had been booked nine minutes earlier for clattering into Shaun Wright-Phillips, picked-up his second yellow card of the game when he strangely handled a corner from Rooney.

Webb was left with no choice but to dismiss Ronaldo, who had earlier clapped the Yorkshire official sarcastically after being shown his first caution.

Ferguson insisted Ronaldo's dismissal had been an innocent mistake, but he refused to criticise Webb.

"I have seen the incident again on television and he's tried to protect his face from the ball hitting it," Ferguson said.

"He thought he had heard a whistle. But I'm not going to go into referees or the decision.

"Sometimes you have to overcome such adversity and that is what we did. I thought we were excellent, particularly in the first half.

"Manchester City came back at us in the second half but we showed great character and resilience, especially after Cristiano's sending off. I don't think Manchester City caused us too many problems."

City manager Mark Hughes insisted Webb had no choice but to send off Ronaldo and also revealed Robinho had been forced to have a painkilling injection before kick off to enable him to play.

Hughes said: "He hasn't trained all week so it was no surprise that he looked a little off the pace. He had to have an injection so he could play.

"I think we showed Manchester United too much respect in the first half. We lacked the energy has our play has had in recent weeks and this might be a consequence of us having had a hard week.

"United were just that little bit quicker to the ball. We had to force the issue in the second half but I think the sending off didn't help us as much as people thought it would. United got two banks of four across the pitch and they were very hard to break down.

"Good teams find a way to win and that's what United did. "Why didn't he (Ronaldo) head it? It could be viewed as a soft sending off but I don't think the referee had a choice.

"United have players with big experience of winning trophies. My players don't have this quality yet but it is something we are working towards and we are heading in the right direction.

"We have come off second best today but we can take heart from the second half performance and it's no disgrace to lose to a side of Manchester United's quality."

LONDON (AFP) – Robin van Persie rocketed Arsenal back into the English Premier League title race with a quickfire double that stunned leaders Chelsea in a 2-1 away win at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

In a keenly-contested London derby filled with end-to-end action, the Blues were 1-0 up thanks to Switzerland defender Johan Djourou's 30th-minute own goal.

But Netherlands striker Van Persie, making his 100th start for the Gunners, equalised with a controversial offside goal in the 59th minute and stunned the hosts with a second goal three minutes later.

Arsenal's title hopes would have been dealt a severe blow by a defeat that would have left them 13 points off the pace and having suffered three consecutive league defeats.

But the manner of their victory at what was the most difficult ground in England to win at will have surely sent notice to the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool that the Gunners are in no mood to give up the race.

Chelsea, who had not been beaten at home in the league for 86 games before their 1-0 defeat to Liverpool on October 26, have now lost two of their last four Premier League ties at Stamford Bridge.

The result means Arsenal are in fourth place, seven points behind the leaders ahead of second-placed Liverpool's match at home to West Ham on Monday.

Chelsea had the better of the opening exchanges and striker Salomon Kalou was played clean through on goalkeeper Manuel Almunia in the fourth minute but his run was ruled offside.

Almunia had to punch twice to clear a cross soon after and former Gunners striker Nicolas Anelka fired another early shot wide.

However, Arsenal swiftly replied and Blues goalkeeper Petr Cech did well to stop a low shot from Samir Nasri before Denilson blazed a shot over the crossbar in the 16th minute.

Chelsea full-back Jose Boswinga jinked through the Arsenal right flank but fired over the bar two minutes later.

Almunia had to be alert in the 21st minute when Deco played Kalou clean through with an excellent pass, charging out of his penalty area to clear the danger.

Frank Lampard then wasted a great chance, firing a free header from Boswinga's cross straight at Almunia.

However, the Blues did not have to wait long to open the scoring.

Almunia caught a Lampard corner and casually rolled the ball out, with Chelsea easily recovering possession. Boswinga crossed in low from the right and Djourou slid in, inadvertently sending the ball beyond Almunia.

Kalou could have doubled Chelsea's lead five minutes before the break. Anelka flicked on a header into the box but Almunia was quickly off his line to gather Kalou's shot.

Denilson then miscued a chance to equalise at the other end, firing his shot over the bar.

Lampard wasted a good chance to kill the game six minutes after the break when Arsenal failed to clear their lines, but he screwed his shot wide of the post.

But within minutes, Chelsea's hopes of sealing victory were crushed by Van Persie's rapid brace.

Chelsea were the only side in English professional football not to have conceded a second-half goal in a league game this season before the Dutchman hit the target with a controversial strike.

Emmanuel Adebayor won a header which Denilson chested down before playing Van Persie through.

The striker, half a yard offside, blasted his shot past Cech to level the match 59 minutes in.

And if that stunned the hosts, worse was to come three minutes later as the Dutchman fired in his second.

Gunners captain Cesc Fabregas played a free kick into the penalty box which Adebayor headed back across goal for Van Persie.

With his back to goal, Van Persie turned Lampard and blasted his shot in across Cech to shock Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari threw on forward Florent Malouda in place of John Obi Mikel with 20 minutes to go in a bid to force an equaliser.

The Frenchman fired a free kick over the bar in the 77th minute and Deco shot likewise four minutes later as the hosts urgently sought a leveller.

Scolari then brought on pacy winger Miroslav Stoch in place of Deco but the academy graduate could do nothing to alter the outcome as Arsenal successfully hung on to send a message to the rest of the Premier League that they are still in the title race.

LONDON (AFP) – Luiz Felipe Scolari launched a scathing attack on referee Mike Dean and his officials after Chelsea's 2-1 defeat against Arsena.

Scolari was furious that Robin van Persie wasn't given offside when he ran clear to score Arsenal's equaliser at Stamford Bridge.

That proved to be the turning point as van Persie scored again three minutes later to hand Chelsea only their second loss in the Premier League this season.

Chelsea struggled to build up any momentum for long periods but Blues boss Scolari claimed Dean and his linesmen played a key role in the defeat.

"Chelsea and the referee (were responsible for the defeat) because Arsenal scored the first goal one metre in front of our players and in the first half the same linesman gave (Salomon) Kalou offside when it was not," said the Blues boss.

"It is important to speak to the people about this. If we play and the referee gives two things against my team sometimes it is difficult to win.

"Ok I make mistakes but we needed a man to come to Stamford Bridge as a referee for both sides, not for one side."

For the third time this season, Chelsea were unable to beat one of their main title rivals at home.

After drawing with Manchester United and losing to Liverpool and now Arsenal, Scolari is becoming concerned with Chelsea's lack of cutting edge.

"It's our problem in the last three games. We score one goal but only have one or two good chances. We don't shoot in or outside the area. We don't build enough play," he said.

While Scolari was left to count the cost of a lacklustre display, Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal's victory could give a vital boost to his players' morale after a rocky period.

Arsenal are now seven points behind Chelsea and Wenger said: "We are still not close enough but we can gain belief. We have beaten Man Utd and Chelsea. That shows we have potential.

"To come here and win is fantastic for the team. We had chances and they had very few. We had the quality and we were on top in the second half," Wenger said.

"We have fantastic character in this side. We have now to be humble and come back and work hard.

"We were 1-0 down and still won the game. There is no better test of character."

Van Persie, reportedly one of the players William Gallas was most unhappy about during his recent rant against his team-mates, couldn't have picked a better moment to score his first goals in five matches.

But the Dutch striker insisted the team deserved all the credit. "It is not my day, it is the team's day. It was a big win," he said.

In the last 20 minutes we showed a lot of character and discipline so the whole squad deserve big compliments.

"Playing against Chelsea on their ground, when you go 1-0 down you know it is going to be really difficult. To come back says it all.

"If you win a game like that it gives you a lot of confidence and that is what we need at the moment."