ARSENAL...1 MAN UNITED...1: After taking possession of a new record in English football, Arsenal acted as if they had been handed the sort of birthday present picked out by a dotty aunt. They mumbled their gladness unconvincingly.

Even if they have now eclipsed the achievements of Leeds United and Liverpool by going 30 matches unbeaten from the start of a season, this was an afternoon to put statistics in their place.

The moment is everything and Arsenal were riled by a draw achieved with an 86th-minute equaliser from the Manchester United substitute Louis Saha. You could read the frustration in Thierry Henry's reaction when his team narrowly failed to recover the lead in the 90th minute. There was no trace then of his chilled-out composure.

He had delivered the delicately timed pass that sent Lauren through from the right. The full back first delayed his shot and then fired against Roy Carroll's legs when he could have pulled back a cross to give Henry an elementary finish. The Frenchman, who had hit the remarkable opener, bawled out his team-mate with fury and disgust.

So Arsenal drew and now need 18 points at most from their eight remaining fixtures in the Premiership to recover the championship. That is highly likely, but their cavalcade has paused if not ended. Their run of nine consecutive league wins could not be extended and, worse, they again revealed the lenient streak that refuses to extinguish hope in the opposition.

United were energetic and determined, yet their build-up four minutes from the end could have been thwarted. Paul Scholes found the substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on the right. Ruud van Nistelrooy, unmarked, was unable to reach the low cross; no matter, Saha was just as unattended to finish at the back post.

Arsene Wenger could have explained it easily by reference to a debilitating night at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League four days before. This, though, is far from the only occasion Arsenal have found that they cannot separate laxness from stylishness.

Almost certainly this will not lead to a repeat of last year's wastefulness. While Chelsea are now within seven points, the advantage continues to be substantial and Claudio Ranieri's team will face trials of their own, particularly when they go to Old Trafford.

This was about as pleasing an outcome as United could reasonably have expected prior to the next encounter with Arsenal: the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday. The openings they devised were never as clean as those enjoyed by Wenger's team, but they too could have conceivably have extracted a win.

With United 1-0 down, Ryan Giggs should probably have had a penalty after 54 minutes when Sol Campbell, stumbling in pursuit, clipped him on the edge of the area. Then, in stoppage time, van Nistelrooy headed a Giggs cross straight to the hands of Jens Lehmann.

United remain 12 points adrift but already knew their Premiership bid was over before the start but a show of pride is a starting point for recovery. The willpower could be felt as early as the 13th minute when Eric Djemba-Djemba struck a volley that Lehmann palmed behind.

The visitors never matched Arsenal's slickness but it was not unreasonable for them to have finished on level terms. Although there was no genuine counterpart to the mayhem when these sides met acrimoniously in September, sufficient passion was generated to ignite a mini-melée after Patrick Vieira's uninhibited challenge on van Nistelrooy on the 33 minutes. Players squared up and Alex Ferguson and Wenger yelled at each other.

The desire for success also led to unseemly diving as men like Jose Antonio Reyes and Gary Neville sought an improper advantage. Henry, however, gave Arsenal the edge in glorious manner after an interchange with Reyes in the 50th minute. His magnificently swerving drive utterly baffled Carroll, the stand-in for the rested Tim Howard.

There could have been an earlier lead for Arsenal, particularly when Reyes jinked away from the generally impressive Wes Brown after 15 minutes and merely fired against Carroll's outstretched foot. All the same, United defended with far more steadiness than they have recently and Wenger's side were not allowed to run amok.

Some of the Arsenal cameos were still beautiful, particularly when Henry swivelled to pull a fine save out of Carroll in the 88th minute. The result might be met with grudging acceptance by the Highbury side but the drawbacks involve more than the spilling of a couple of points.

In so intense a period, when Chelsea and United are both to be faced twice within a fortnight, it is success that fends off tiredness.

The Champions League draw at Stamford Bridge last week may have gladdened Arsenal but the same outcome here yesterday will have the players using up nervous energy in telling each other it is just coincidence that another set of opponents were let off the hook.