It was a good job that new England coach Sven Goran Eriksson was not at Highbury this afternoon as David Seaman blundered to hand Chelsea a hard-won point from the London derby at Highbury this afternoon.

Arsenal should have been cruising home to a familiar win over their capital rivals after Robert Pires shot them in front in only three minutes and Thierry Henry terrorised the Chelsea defence.

But Chelsea were working their way back into the game when Seaman failed to deal with a wickedly-inswinging corner by Dennis Wise in the 61st minute.

He appeared to get a hand to it as he tried to force his way through a host of defenders and attackers in the six-yard box. But the ball dropped towards the line and although Silvinho hooked it out, Chelsea's John Terry was following up to nod it over the line for his first Premiership goal.

After that, Seaman looked completely uncertain.

He nearly missed a backpass completely and then almost let a soft shot by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink slip over the line but on this occasion, the 37-year-old keeper recovered.

Had that gone in, Chelsea would have snatched their first away win since April and few could have denied them on their second half performance, even though in the closing seconds Henry drew a wonderful save from Carlo Cudicini with a marvellous spin and shot from Sylvain Wiltord's low cross.

Arsenal could not argue with the result which leaves them even further behind Manchester United in the title race and now down to third spot behind Sunderland who are threatening to grab the second automatic Champions League place following their win at West Ham.

Yet Seaman, who has been out with shoulder and ankle injuries, showed early on that he had lost none of his razor-sharp instincts, when Gus Poyet was sure he had provided a quick answer to Pires' lightning strike.

Wise, splendidly fed by Sinisa Jokanovic with a ball played into the space behind Silvinho, cut the ball back temptingly from the right and Poyet had time to size up a firm side-footer from 10 yards.

Seaman was going the wrong way, anticipating a power-driven effort but he left a long leg trailing and it was enough to knock the ball away. Seaman also had the agility and awareness to get up and pounce on the rebound when it bounced back towards goal off team-mate Lee Dixon.

Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen had half-chances for Chelsea after that but the Blues were mainly preoccupied with the ever-present threat of the flying Henry and the persistent Freddie Ljungberg to mount many more reprisals before the interval.

Sometimes their attempts to halt the red Arsenal flow went too far and Sam Dalla Bona, Harley, and Jokanovic were all booked for untidy challenges born more of desperation than malice.

The gliding Patrick Vieira was victim of many of the crunching tackles but it didn't stop him charging forward and prompting the Arsenal attack where Henry looked in lethal form again.

The striker left Frank Leboeuf on his backside with a smart turn and a blistering run down the left before providing a perfect low cross which Ljungberg was just about to despatch before Harley came in with a vital interception just eight yards out.

Goalkeeper Cudicini also denied Ljungberg twice, once with his knee when the Swede spun on another superb cross by Henry and then with a flying dive to push away a fierce drive - just as he had from Henry a few minutes earlier.

But Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri's two half time substitutions - Albert Ferrer for the hapless Leboeuf and debut-making Dane Jesper Gronkjaer for Jokanovic - freshened up the team.

And Arsenal - fast becoming a one-half team - never looked the same again after the break.

They badly missed their two main icons, skipper Tony Adams and Dutch ace Dennis Bergkamp - both victims of illness - and although Igors Stepanovs had his most effective game so far alongside the returning Martin Keown in central defence, they were not strong enough in other departments to fully resist the Chelsea comeback.

Hasselbaink failed for the first time in six outings Arsenal to hit the target against Arsenal but his menace grew as the game wore on.

And although Pires produced a wonder strike for his first Highbury goal - a cracking drive to finish off a penetrating excursion into the box from the left after leaving Dalla Bonba and Leboeuf trailing - he faded familiarly in the second half.

Teams:

Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Stepanovs, Keown, Silvinho, Pires, Vieira, Ljungberg (Vivas 87), Parlour, Wiltord, Henry.

Subs Not Used: Manninger, Malz, Cole, Pennant.

Booked: Dixon.

Goals: Pires 3.

Chelsea: Cudicini, Leboeuf (Ferrer 46), Desailly, Harley, Terry, Poyet, Wise, Dalla Bona, Jokanovic (Gronkjaer 46), Hasselbaink, Gudjohnsen (Zola 77).

Subs Not Used: de Goey, Le Saux.

Booked: Dalla Bona, Harley, Desailly.

Goals: Terry 62.

Att: 38,071

Ref: D Elleray (Harrow-on-the-Hill).