Having stood head to head with Manchester United all season, trading blows in a heavyweight title contest of the highest calibre and intensity, Arsenal suffered a potentially fatal knock-out blow at Leeds near the end of the final round.

For while the towel was not exactly thrown in as the Arsenal players trooped off wearily at Elland Road after succumbing to Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's 86th-minute sucker-punch, Manchester United now have one hand on the title.

Alex Ferguson's side need only four points from their remaining two games at Blackburn and at home to Tottenham to clinch the Premiership as the first stage of their prospective treble.

Of course, Brian Kidd and George Graham may still have a say in this beguiling title race but after their fingers had hovered nervously over the self-destruct button all evening against Leeds, surely Arsenal have now blown it.

They certainly had their abundant chances to win the game only to be denied by their own wasteful finishing, two goal-line clearances, superb saves by Nigel Martyn and a masterful defensive performance by Jonathon Woodgate.

But their nerves were jangling from the very first minute and it was only a penalty miss by Ian Harte, who hit the underside of the bar, in first-half injury time, that prevented former Highbury legend David O'Leary's team going ahead far earlier.

And in a ferocious and sometimes bad-tempered encounter, referee Gary Willard also risked the wrath of Alex Ferguson by denying the home side a deserved penalty when Tony Adams tripped the impudent Alan Smith.

So while the focus will undoubtedly be firmly on Arsenal due to the title implications of this result, the vibrant and determined performance of a Leeds side who might themselves contest the Premiership crown next season should not be overlooked.

The feeling had persisted before kick-off that this was the hardest of the games which either title contender had left and so it proved.

Leeds, safely ensconced in fourth place, may have had nothing tangible to play for but while they were free of any pressure, Arsenal seemed curiously paralysed by stage fright.

Indeed it was only Dennis Bergkamp's class which rose above his team-mates' mediocrity and mistakes during the opening half-hour as keeper Martyn pulled off the first of a string of fine saves to deny him.

Arsenal finally but hesitantly started came to life as Ray Parlour mis-hit a shot when clean through, Martyn twice denied Anelka and cleared a header from Tony Adams off the line with his foot, while Bergkamp shot just wide.

At this stage, the Gunners seemed destined to take the lead but their finishing was culpable and their luck dreadful.

They could not rely on a clean sheet either with Leeds pressing on the break and David Seaman brilliantly tipped a long-range effort by Lee Bowyer around the post.

Harte did oblige by missing the penalty just before the break after Martin Keown had fouled Smith near the by-line and Seaman was then equal to Hasselbaink's follow-up effort.

Still the Arsenal chances went begging after the interval, with Patrick Vieira especially guilty as he hesitated fatally after being put through by Nigel Winterburn.

The visitors looked to have escaped when referee Willard turned down what TV replays later proved to be a blatant penalty after Adams had taken Smith's legs from underneath him.

Adams and Smith's personal battle continued as the England defender produced a scything tackle on the young striker who had earned his wrath by elbowing him earlier on.

By now tempers were bubbling over as Vieira and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink squared up to each other and the yellow card tally had by now reached nine.

Amid the growing mayhem, Arsenal still had to press for victory though and Nwankwo Kanu was sent on for Marc Overmars with 25 minutes left.

The Nigerian was immediately in the thick of the action and soon afterwards, Bergkamp nutmegged Woodgate only for Radebe to clear his shot off the line and the Dutchman's follow-up from the tightest of angles hit the side-netting.

By now the game was flowing, almost frantically, from end to end but still the vital goal would not come for the visitors.

Bergkamp again had another sight of goal but was blocked out by Woodgate, Adams struck a volley a foot over the bar from a corner and Kaba Diawara was thrown on for Parlour.

It almost proved the master-stroke as, after Anelka and Kanu had both been denied, the Frenchman produced a thunderous goal-bound volley which Woodgate somehow headed off the line.

Wenger was by now fretfully pacing the touchline like a nervous father waiting for his teenage daughter to come home and Nelson Vivas was his last throw of the dice for the injured Winterburn, who was worryingly carried off with his neck in a brace.

Diawara twice more came agonisingly close to scoring, with a header hitting the top of the crossbar and the underside of Martyn's body deflecting another effort just wide.

But Wenger had been right to be worried as first David Batty almost lobbed Seaman before Hasselbaink arrived unmarked at the far post with four minutes of normal time left to head a pinpoint cross by Harry Kewell into a virtually unguarded net.

Arsenal pressed forward desperately during six minutes of injury-time, with Woodgate again denying Bergkamp, but the game and their realistic title pretensions were up.

Only George Graham and Brian Kidd can save them now.

Teams

Leeds: Martyn, Haaland, Radebe, Woodgate, Harte, Hopkin, Bowyer, Batty, Kewell, Hasselbaink, Smith.

Subs Not Used: Wetherall, Granville, Robinson, McPhail, Jones.

Booked: Hasselbaink, Batty, Smith, Harte.

Goals: Hasselbaink 86.

Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Adams, Keown, Winterburn (Vivas 81), Parlour (Diawara 71), Vieira, Petit, Overmars (Kanu 65), Bergkamp, Anelka.

Subs Not Used: Bould, Lukic.

Booked: Parlour, Petit, Vieira, Dixon, Adams.

Att: 40,124.

Ref: G Willard (Worthing).