Chelsea have more to worry about today than the refereeing of Mike Dean, from whom their coach Luiz Felipe Scolari is demanding an apology over Robin van Persie's offside equaliser.

Chelsea squandered the chance to put Arsenal out of the title race yesterday by allowing Van Persie to score twice in three second-half minutes as the Gunners pulled off a 2-1 Premier League win at Stamford Bridge.

Scolari's side had taken the lead with a Johan Djourou own goal in the 29th minute, but Van Persie's rescue act made a nonsense of the dressing-room turmoil allegedly caused by an outspoken public outburst from defender William Gallas.

Arsenal's victory probably pleased the returning Gallas the most.

The former Chelsea player, who claimed Arsene Wenger's young squad did not have the stomach for a title fight, was stripped of the captaincy by the Arsenal boss
as punishment.

But there was no hint of unrest as Van Persie swooped in the 59th and 62nd minutes to turn the game on its head and cut the gap between his team and Chelsea to just seven points.

Afterwards, Scolari spent much of his time bemoaning Van Persie's opener and berating Dean and his assistant.

Chelsea have failed to beat any of their top three rivals at home; they still have to win their last group game to qualify for the Champions League knockout stage — and have been knocked out of the Carling Cup by Burnley.

"We have now lost three points — and in the last five games we have not played well. But that is my mistake and the players' mistake," admitted Scolari.

"The players are very angry about the first goal — but they understand they have not played well. Now I have a week to work with the players and try to make it better to get in a good position. When we play away against our title rivals, we need to win.

"The gap will sometimes be six points, sometimes three — and in the last two or three games of the season, that will decide who is the champion."

Van Persie was clearly offside when he collected a pass from Denilson and fired the equaliser — so it was no surprise that Scolari could not hide his anger.

"I want the referee and the linesman to see they are wrong, and they say 'sorry'," he demanded. "That is all I want, no more — because they were not good and made a mistake, which I understand.

"I do not want three points; all I want is them to say 'sorry, it was a mistake' — because in the first half, the same linesman made a mistake against us with (Salomon) Kalou.

"He is a man and he can make a mistake, but the offside killed my team."