Arsenal 1 Chelsea 1: Boulahrouz's blunder derails Chelsea's defence of the title

It was one last stand of defiance that typified Chelsea's season: a moment of spectacular self-destruction followed by a heroic battle against the odds to right that wrong. And as Jose Mourinho finally led his players across the Emirates pitch to throw their shirts into the crowd, so the Chelsea manager passed up the Premiership title in much the same way as he has won it in the past: with resilience, grit and a touch of the absurd.

Manchester United are the champions again and still Mourinho contrived to steal centre stage. As Sir Alex Ferguson made a mess of opening the champagne live on Sky Sports, the Chelsea manager was poker-faced in front of the Arsenal fans while his assistant, Steve Clarke, gave them the " zero" sign with his fingers to denote the amount of trophies Arsenal have won. You can imagine how well that went down at the Emirates.

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The home crowd had come here hoping to witness the final humiliation of their rivals from west London but what they got was another Chelsea performance of courage, even when they were down to 10 men and with their Premiership trophy slipping from their grasp.

With Khalid Boulahrouz sent off and Arsenal in the lead from Gilberto Silva's penalty this had the potential to be a humiliation for Mourinho, but by the end it was the Chelsea manager who could say he regretted not winning.

Boulahrouz is a footballer in danger of becoming a bad joke at Chelsea. The Dutchman was not a Mourinho signing last summer and he has been treated accordingly. A centre-back played at full-back by his manager and then, during the injury crisis, ignored altogether in favour of makeshift central defenders like Michael Essien and Paulo Ferreira. When the chance came for the man they call "the Cannibal" he made a true mess of it; a clumsy sending off that will eat away at him all summer.

That was Chelsea's darkest moment, but they fought back and could have stolen a win to keep the title race alive after Essien's equaliser.

Then, at the end, a coded message from Mourinho to the absentees, Michael Ballack and Andrei Shevchenko who have risked their manager's fury by refusing to play through injuries in the past week. This was a game, he said, that would help certain individuals to understand "why some people have success at Chelsea and other people have no success", Mourinho said.

The Chelsea manager was not prepared to expand on that point but it will be interesting to see what becomes of Shevchenko and Ballack, previously his manager's golden boy but now very much out of favour for choosing to have an ankle operation at a crucial stage of the season. Mourinho's words suggest that those two are now in serious trouble with their manager. Their long-term futures at Stamford Bridge must surely be in doubt.

Mourinho has an FA Cup final to think about in 12 days' time, Arsène Wenger has a summer in which to rebuild. Yesterday the Arsenal manager picked four central midfielders in a midfield that lacked any width and a team that lacked any bite until the closing stages of the first half.

The post-match lap of honour at the Emirates was a reminder that ­ in the likes of Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie ­ there are a lot of key players missing from Wenger's side.

Still, the XI on the pitch had 45 minutes to beat a 10-man Chelsea and they could not make the advantage count.

There was no Didier Drogba in the Chelsea side, Mourinho's decision to rest him ahead of the FA Cup final a clear indication that he considered the Premiership all but lost. But while they missed their top goalscorer, his absence did at least force Chelsea to play in a different way. Wayne Bridge scurried down the left wing, while Joe Cole was the playmaker behind Shaun Wright-Phillips and Salomon Kalou. Not so many long balls this time.

Three minutes to half-time and a mistake by Boulahrouz that may be his last for Chelsea, if Mourinho has his way.

A gentle throughball was looped into Julio Baptista's path and he muscled past Boulahrouz with ease. The Chelsea man had no real option but to drag the Brazilian to the ground and it was as clear a red card as any this season. Gilberto dispatched the penalty past the goalkeeper Petr Cech, the ninth penalty of Arsenal's season at the Emirates and they have scored them all.

There was not so much as a glance for Boulahrouz from Mourinho as he sloped off the pitch. At the start of the second half it threatened to be an ignoble end to Chelsea's defence of their title as Wenger's team at last found the urgency to take the game to the 10 visitors in blue.

A two-footed challenge from Paulo Ferreira on Denilson was unpleasant and it meant the young Brazilian was taken off on a stretcher.

With 20 minutes left, Mourinho's side drew level. Wright-Phillips, another impressive performer, picked the ball up on the right and angled a fabulous ball into the six-yard area which required just the slightest touch from Essien to direct past the Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.

There was an absorbing finish. The German Lehmann saved brilliantly from Kalou after Joe Cole's cut-back, then Alexander Hleb went up the opposing end and crossed the ball across an empty goalmouth. The efforts of Cole and Essien were impressive coming in the despair of losing the title race. With seconds to go, and Chelsea at breaking point, Fabregas spread the ball right to Emmanuel Eboué and he struck Cech's crossbar.

Chelsea did not take leave of the place without causing their usual commotion ­ they always do. There were shirts flung into the crowd, there was some provocative applause to a rowdy home support: Mourinho has an art for covering up the bad days with a bit of drama. This was his first season in five that he has not won the league title in the country he is managing ­ Portugal and England ­ but as usual you could be forgiven for thinking he had won it.

Goals: Gilberto (pen, 42) 1-0; Essien (70) 1-1.

Arsenal (4-4-2): Lehmann; Eboué, Touré, Gallas, Clichy; Fabregas, Denilson (Hleb, 59), Gilberto, Diaby (Hoyte, 79); Baptista, Adebayor. Substitutes not used: Senderos, Djourou, Almunia (gk).

Chelsea (4-1-3-2): Cech; Ferreira, Boulahrouz, Terry, Bridge; Mikel (Diarra, 74); Essien, Lampard, J Cole; Kalou, Wright-Phillips (Sinclair, 79). Substitutes not used: Makelele, Cudicini (gk), Sahar.

Referee: A Wiley (Staffordshire).

Booked: Arsenal Adebayor; Chelsea Mikel, Essien.

Sent off: Boulahrouz.

Man of the match: J Cole.

Attendance: 60,102.