Van Persie on target against Arsenal

On the spot ... van Persie kept his goal celebrations muted against his old club. Source: AAP

Robin van Persie returned to frustrate Arsenal as the Manchester United striker rescued a 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium.

Van Persie was making his first appearance back at Arsenal since last year's £24 million ($A36.24 million) transfer to United and he was given a hostile reception from home supporters.

		P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Man United	35	27	4	4	43	85
2	Man City	34	21	8	5	30	71
3	Chelsea	34	19	8	7	33	65
4	Arsenal	35	18	10	7	30	64
5	Tottenham	34	18	8	8	17	62
6	Everton	35	15	14	6	14	59
7	Liverpool	35	14	12	9	25	54
8	West Brom	34	14	6	14	2	48
9	Swansea	34	10	12	12	-1	42
10	West Ham	35	11	9	15	-8	42
11	Fulham	35	10	10	15	-9	40
12	Stoke	35	9	13	13	-10	40
13	Southampton	35	9	12	14	-10	39
14	Norwich	35	8	14	13	-21	38
15	Sunderland	34	9	10	15	-7	37
16	Newcastle	35	10	7	18	-23	37
17	Aston Villa	34	8	10	16	-27	34
18	Wigan	34	8	8	18	-23	32
19	QPR	35	4	13	18	-27	25
20	Reading	35	5	10	20	-28	25

But, after Theo Walcott gave Arsenal a second-minute lead, the Dutch forward silenced the boo-boys when he fired home from the penalty spot after being fouled by Bacary Sagna in the 44th minute.

United manager Alex Ferguson saluted van Persie for keeping his composure and took a dig at the Arsenal fans in the process.

"It takes bottle to take a penalty when the crowd are booing,'' Ferguson said. "We have a great spirit of applauding players when they come back to our club. I expected the booing to be honest with you.

"Walcott apparently was offside for his goal. The referee apologised to (United centre-back) Rio Ferdinand saying he got it wrong.

"It wasn't his fault, it was the linesman's. It was an uphill fight for us after losing the first goal."

With the title already wrapped up, champions United were happy to settle for a draw, but the result was a setback for Arsenal, who dropped down to fourth place following Chelsea's 2-0 win over Swansea.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger said: "We gave everything and at the end of the day the regret you have is the way we conceded the goal. Just before half-time that was a serious blow to us."

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