Van Persie admits his first goal was 'a little bit offside'

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Blues coach Luiz Felipe Scolari is furious the goal was allowed to stand - and has demanded an apology from referee Mike Dean - but he could face a Football Association rap for his criticism of the officials.

Scolari accused Dean of "killing" his team but Van Persie, who went on to seal a 2-1 victory with a second goal, said: "I scored a goal against Chelsea [in a 2-0 home defeat in December 2005].

"I was onside but the ref gave it offside and it didn't count. Today was maybe a little bit offside but it counted and that's all that matters."

Hailing the Gunners' team spirit after recovering from Johan Djourou's first-half own goal, he said: "It was a big win. In the last 20 minutes we showed a lot of character so the whole team deserve a big compliment.

"When you are playing against Chelsea on their ground and go 1-0 down, you know it's going to be really difficult."

An angry Scolari said: "I want the referee and the linesman to look on television, admit they are wrong and say sorry. In the first half the linesman made the same mistake but against us [against Salomon Kalou].

"And in the second half for Arsenal's first goal it was a big mistake against us - he was more than one metre in front but not given offside. Offside killed my team."

Scolari's comments about Dean were today being scrutinised by the Football Assocation and
could land him in trouble.

Yesterday's victory puts the Gunners back into
fourth place in the League and Emmanuel Adebayor
claims it proves that they can still win title.

Having already lost five League games, Arsenal's
credentials were under a severe examination.

But Adebayor said: "We went through a lot of
difficult moments and people wrote us off. Now this is a message that we have sent out. We believe in ourselves, we can do something."