Robin van Persie believes the title battle is down to a two-horse race after Arsenal's 2-1 defeat at Tottenham.

The Dutch striker came off the bench at White Hart Lane to end a five-month injury lay-off.

But Nicklas Bendtner's late goal was not enough for the Gunners after Danny Rose and Gareth Bale had given Spurs a two-goal lead.

Arsenal were frustrated late on by a string of fine saves from Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes and now find themselves six points behind leaders Chelsea with four games left.

Manager Arsene Wenger admitted after the north London derby defeat that Arsenal's title hopes were virtually over and Van Persie agrees.

"I don't think Chelsea will drop more than six points now," he told the club's official website.

The 26-year-old reckons Arsenal can take heart from the fact they managed to remain in title contention this long, though, given they finished 18 points off the pace last term.

Unexpected challenge

"If you look at last year, no-one really expected this," he added.

"But when you are this close you really want to win it. When you don't do that, it is frustrating.

"It felt good and I am happy to be back. But when you are there and your team is behind, you want to do something to help them.

"Unfortunately I could not do that last night."

Wenger introduced the Holland international in the 68th minute and he made an immediate impact.

Gomes kept out a volley and a free-kick by Van Persie before turning Sol Campbell's header onto the crossbar.

Crazy save

"I expected the first one to go in but somehow he saved it, which is crazy," Van Persie added.

"The free-kick was going straight into the top corner and he saved that as well. Those were big moments.

"It is a thin line between winning and losing. We had some good chances, they had some too. I felt we deserved maybe a draw.

"If you look at the second half we had a number of good chances and their keeper made a couple of unbelievable saves."

They probably are but it'll be a fight for second with Manchester United.

In the end RvP was right............