LONDON, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Arsenal are back in the English Premier League title race after Robin van Persie's double in three minutes helped stun leaders Chelsea 2-1 on Sunday.

    Wayne Rooney's 100th career goal settled the Manchester derby as United won 1-0 at City despite Cristiano Ronaldo's dismissal on a second yellow card.

    The defending champions, with a game in hand, are now only five points behind Chelsea and Liverpool, who could move three points clear at the top of the table given a home win over West Ham United on Monday.

    Arsenal's title hopes were thrown into even more serious doubt when Johan Djourou turned Jose Bosingwa's cross into his own net after 31 minutes at Stamford Bridge to give Chelsea the lead.

    But Van Persie delivered two crucial blows in the second half to earn Arsene Wenger's side a priceless victory, which reduced their deficit to seven points behind the leaders.

    Elsewhere, Tony Adams enjoyed his first home win as Portsmouth manager after a thrilling 3-2 victory over struggling Blackburn while Spurs boss Harry Redknapp suffered his first defeat at WhiteHart Lane with Steven Pienaar on target to give Everton a 1-0 win.

    A fuming Chelsea coach Luiz Felipe Scolari claimed that van Persie was well offside when he drilled home the equalizer after 59 minutes and demanded apology from the referee Mike Dean.

    "Van Persie was one meter in front of our players," the Brazilian complained, "If a referee makes a mistake, sometimes it's difficult to win."

    "I want only after tomorrow that he (Dean) looks at the TV and the referee and the linesman see they are wrong, and they say sorry," he added.

    Van Persie produced a remarkable second just three minutes later as he hit a low finish after Adebayor rose to head down CescFabregas' free-kick.

    United were dominant early on at the City of Manchester Stadium but the hosts could have opened the scoring when Stephen Ireland's shot clipped the outside of the post.

    Rooney followed up Michael Carrick's shot to break the deadlock on 42 minutes before Ronaldo was sent off for a second booking after inexplicably raising his hands to stop Rooney's corner.

    Although City were against 10 men for the last 20 minutes, Richard Dunne's shot was the only time City came close to breaking down a well-organized United defense in that period.