An own goal from Johan Djourou had given the home side a first-half lead, before the Gunners fought back.

Van Persie was clearly in an offside position as he collected a pass from Denilson on the edge of the penalty area, before smashing the ball past Petr Cech.

There was, though, nothing controversial about what proved to be the winning goal, when the Dutchman spun in the box to drill a low shot into the far corner.

However, the fact his team were “killed” by such a crucial decision did not sit well with the Brazilian coach.

He said: “Have you ever heard me speak about referees any time in the games I have been here? Never, in 15 in the Premier League, four in the Champions League, the Carling Cup, I have not said anything, but today is different.

“I do not want the referee to make something different - I want only after tomorrow that he looks at the television, that the referee and the linesman see they are wrong, and they say ’sorry’.

“That is all I want, no more, because they were not good and made a mistake, which I understand.

“I do not want three points, all I want is them to say sorry it was a mistake, because in the first half, the same linesman made a mistake against us with [Salomon] Kalou.

“He is human and he can make a mistake, but the offside has killed my team. I just want them to say they are wrong, because I am wrong when I put some players in, or the players are wrong when they make a mistake in front of goal or are not covering.

“These are all wrong, but the referee is never wrong.

“I do not think they came here to deliberately make a mistake against us.

“It is difficult to play for my team after this, because they lost their concentration. The offside killed my team.

“We lost today because one goal was not a goal, and it was a goal which changed the result.

“If we won, Arsenal would have been 13 points behind us and their championship would have been finished.”

While Scolari’s men remain top on goal difference from Liverpool on Sunday night, the Merseysiders will replace Chelsea if they get at least a point from their clash with West Ham at Anfield on Monday.

“We have now lost three points and in the last five games we have not played well, but that is my mistake and the players’ mistake,” said the Chelsea boss.

“The players are very angry about the first goal, but the players understand they have not played well.

“Now, I need to say, okay, this game is finished and I have a week to work with the players and try to make it better than before to get started again, to get in a good position.”

Scolari added: “Now when we play away against our title rivals, we need to win.

“The gap will sometimes be six points, sometimes three and in the last two or three games of the season, that will decide who is the champion.”