Undone by a spirited Leeds side confirming their own safety as well as Manchester United’s title, Arsenal handed the Premiership on a plate to their main rivals at Highbury.

Under-strength due to injuries and suspensions and with their morale undermined by their draw at Bolton, Arsenal twice hauled themselves back into contention at Highbury by sheer force of will.

Thierry Henry equalised Harry Kewell’s early opener and Dennis Bergkamp levelled once again after Ian Harte’s free-kick had been deflected in.

However, while Arsenal were a constant attacking threat, they were also in constant danger of self-destructing at the back as Leeds raided with menace.

Without either Patrick Vieira or Sol Campbell to steady the ship, the rudderless side careered from one potential shipwreck to another.

Eventually, they were holed below the water line and Sir Alex Ferguson, at his grandson’s birthday party, received the sweetest present of all himself with the title giftwrapped by his rivals.

While Mark Viduka’s last-gasp winner confirmed the outcome of the title race, it was invaluable to his own side as it guaranteed their own Premiership survival.

Leeds had thoroughly deserved it, Arsenal had not.

The Gunners have surrendered too many leads this season to deny Ferguson’s side a prize they have remorselessly driven towards since the turn of the year.

What should really annoy Arsene Wenger, however, is that rather than giving up the title with a bang, it disappeared with more of a whimper.

United’s convincing win against Charlton 24 hours earlier had left Arsenal with the task of beating Leeds and Southampton just to take the title race to the final weekend of the season.

But with injuries aplenty, all of Wenger’s efforts to rebuild his side’s shattered morale following their collapse a week earlier at Bolton were undermined within just five minutes.

Gilberto threatened first as he thudded a header against the bar but Arsenal were caught napping as veteran defenders Martin Keown and Luzhny showed their age as they were left trailing by Kewell.

The Australian nipped ahead of them both to control Jason Wilcox’s long ball before unleashing an unstoppable volley into the far corner from 25 yards out as David Seaman was caught off-guard.

Arsenal’s defence should have heeded the warning, but Kewell was next only denied when David Seaman forced him out wide and his shot was smashed into the side-netting.

Not that Seaman had anything resembling a defence in front of him. For Arsenal’s defending at this stage was shocking as Viduka threatened twice more.

Indeed, with Vieira absent and Gilberto fading by the minute after an exhausting midweek friendly in Mexico, Arsenal desperately needed a source of inspiration.

It came, finally, from Ray Parlour, who ran at the Leeds defence before unleashing a curving 20-yard shot that Paul Robinson tipped onto the crossbar.

Henry was nevertheless on hand to head home the rebound and, with 14 minutes left until the break, that gave the worried Highbury fans the lift they desperately needed.

Parlour was still at the centre of his team’s resurgent mood, with Michael Duberry clearing the midfielder’s next attempt off the line.

It was thrilling stuff with Henry then striking the post and Wiltord volleying home the rebound only to find the offside flag had – correctly – already been raised.

However, just when Arsenal looked to have hauled themselves back into contention, they gave themselves yet another mountain to climb.

Once Ashley Cole had brought down Kewell just 20 yards out, the home side incredibly put only two men in the defensive wall to face up to Ian Harte.

That was simply an invitation to the Leeds full-back to take aim and his goalbound effort glanced off Cole’s forehead before beating Seaman at the far post.

Arsenal again rallied, with Pires charging into the penalty area before cutting inside Danny Mills and laying the ball back rather than going for goal himself.

Bergkamp was on hand to rifle the ball into the roof of the net and, with 26 minutes left, it was, thrillingly, game-on at Highbury once again.

Arsenal poured forward in ever-increasing numbers, with players almost falling over each other to take aim inside the packed Leeds penalty area, especially with Kanu on for full-back Toure.

Bergkamp nevertheless curled an effort just over the top, while Henry struck the foot of the post

Arsenal nevertheless had to take risks and they were indebted to Seaman’s inspirational reaction save from Kewell.

While Bergkamp was just inches away from connecting with Cole’s low cross, they left gaping holes at the back.

And Viduka stormed through one of them to curl his shot past Seaman in the last act of a dramatic afternoon.

Such a spirit of generosity does not normally extend across the Pennines but, on this occasion, both Uniteds were safe.