Arsenal for one are not ready yet to accept the inevitability of a fifth championship for Manchester United in six seasons. This was made plain yesterday with a victory achieved in exhilarating fashion when David Platt headed the winning goal eight minutes from the end. The moment will have sent a sigh of relief through the English Premiership. On Saturday Blackburn Rovers reduced Manchester United's advantage at the top from four points to one. Yesterday Arsenal denied United the opportunity to re-open the gap by moving back above Roy Hodgson's side into second place.

So the contest will not, after all, be over by Christmas. "I think we had many supporters in the country today, including other managers," said Arsenal's Arsene Wenger after the match. "This result is good for the English game because it will stimulate interest in the Premier League."

A little surprisingly Alex Ferguson half-agreed. "A one-horse race is not good for the game," he said, "and players can get complacent at times. Arsenal deserved to win on their second half performance."

The champions' second league defeat of the season seemed unlikely once they had wiped out Arsenal's early 2-0 lead with the nonchalance of schoolmasters dusting off a blackboard. But after half-time Ferguson's players were themselves given a lesson in resilience, tenacity and all those qualities which have served Arsenal so well down the years.

Their success was all the more surprising for being achieved without Dennis Bergkamp, who was suspended along with Emmanuel Petit. Had these two been available Platt would not have played, at least not started the match.

Exceptional circumstances often lead to exceptional performances and yesterday Ray Parlour led the second-half revival which broke up Manchester United's effortlessly superior passing patterns of the first. And when United did begin to reassert their earlier pressure the command in defence of Tony Adams was absolute.

Manchester United must still be wondering not merely how they lost the match, but why they did not win it. Until half-time, and despite Arsenal's two goals, the football was dominated by the passing of Paul Scholes and the ease with which Teddy Sheringham came away from opposing defenders to lay the ball off in all directions.

After Sheringham had found the net twice in eight minutes to make the score 2-2 at half-time visions of United's recovery at Derby, and Arsenal's subsequent 3-0 defeat on the same ground, were strong in the mind's eye. But Wenger changed his system for the second half and Manchester United never really reproduced their earlier fluency.

Fearing that the pace of Andy Cole would punish his defence, Wenger began with Steve Bould on the bench and Gilles Grimandi partnering Adams at centre-back. But at half-time Bould replaced the injured Patrick Vieira which meant that Arsenal switched to three at the back with their fullbacks, Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn, pushing on to the United wingers, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham.

The result was significant, especially for Giggs, who started to give the ball away with such regularity that Ferguson replaced him with Ole Solskjaer 19 minutes from time. In fact a match which at one time held considerable promise for United ended with them licking several wounds.

Gary Pallister aggravated his back problem towards the end of the first half and gave way to Ronny Johnsen. Pallister is out of the England squad for Saturday's game against Cameroon and Ferguson also wanted to withdraw Sheringham because of a knee injury, but Glenn Hoddle has insisted that the striker reports for international duty.

The United manager will hardly be over-joyed either at the prospect of losing Scholes to a threematch ban which will include their visit to Liverpool on December 6th. Scholes's fifth yellow card of the season followed a foul on Overmars early in the second half. In stoppage time at the end of the first, Scholes appeared unfortunate not to be get a penalty when Winterburn's challenge took his legs away.

Arsenal's first two goals surprised Highbury as much as they shocked Manchester United. After eight minutes an attempted shot from Overmars rebounded to Nicolas Anelka who cut inside before driving his first goal for Arsenal between Schmeichel and the near post. In the 26th minute Adams headed on a corner from Parlour and Vieira met the ball with a swerving shot that found the roof of the net.

Manchester United merely carried on passing. Their response was inevitable. Two minutes past the half-hour Gary Neville's cross found Sheringham perfectly placed to nod the ball past David Seaman, and eight minutes later a superb piece of improvisation saw Nicky Butt head Schmeichel's clearance down to Giggs, whose backheeled flick was met by Sheringham with a firm shot into the far corner of the net.

Compared to the first half much of the second was untidy and fitful. Then, in the 82nd minute, Christopher Wreh, who had replaced Anelka, saw a shot deflect off Gary Neville before Schmeichel, changing direction, made a masterful save.

But from the subsequent corner, taken by Parlour, Platt rose above everybody to head Arsenal's winner.

The game was soured by two missile-throwing incidents at the end of the first half. One person was arrested after Winterburn had been struck and a few seconds later Schmeichel appeared to have been hit above an eye by something hurled by person or persons unknown.

Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Winterburn, Vieira (Bould 45), Adams, Platt, Wright, Anelka (Wreh 79), Overmars, Parlour, Grimandi. Subs Not Used: Manninger, Boa Morte, Hughes. Booked: Platt, Wright. Goals: Anelka 7, Platt 83, Vieira 27.

Man Utd: Schmeichel, G. Neville, Pallister (Johnsen 38), Beckham, Butt, Cole, Sheringham, Giggs (Solskjaer 71), P. Neville, Scholes, Berg. Subs Not Used: McClair, Poborsky, Van Der Gouw. Booked: P. Neville, Scholes. Goals: Sheringham 33, 41.

Referee: M J Bodenham (East Looe).