Samir Nasri was the toast of the red half of north London as his two goals, one in each half, helped Arsenal seal a memorable home win against Manchester United and revive their title ambitions at the expense of the Premier League champions, whose late goal by substitute Rafael Da Silva could not quite provide the platform for a fightback.

While Nasri's opening goal took a fortuitous nick off Gary Neville's leg there was no doubting the quality of his second, which gave Edwin van der Sar absolutely no chance, and was the culmination of a fine interchange of passing midfield. In a fantastic exhibition of open football, chances abounded for either side, but Arsenal, and in particular their manager Arsène Wenger who has come under fire this week, will feel vindicated that an insistence on purist values, has kept them in the title race. The win takes Arsenal two points clear of Sir Alex Ferguson's men, who have a game in hand, and puts them three points behind the joint-leaders Chelsea and Liverpool.

Although Arsenal had already created two presentable goalscoring chances, squandered by the profligate Nicklas Bendtner, their opening goal came against the run of play as United overran the Gunners' five-man midfield in the early stages. Initially, Anderson and Park Ji-Sung easily had the measure of Denilson and Cesc Fábregas and Arsenal began nervily, Manuel Almunia picking up Gaël Clichy's underhit backpass in the third minute to gift the visitors an indirect free-kick inside the penalty area. Anderson's shot was blocked and Michael Carrick fired the rebound only narrowly wide of Almunia's upright.

It set the tone for a rampant start by United, who had the ball in the net four minutes later only for Dimitar Berbatov's strike to be ruled out for offside. Cristiano Ronaldo, deployed on the right flank, flew past Clichy, before cutting the ball back for Park, whose clever step-over gave Wayne Rooney the first of several attempts on goal. Almunia parried the shot, Berbatov slotted in the rebound but the Bulgarian was clearly offside.

Undeterred, the champions continued to swarm forward, earning several free-kicks in Ronaldo range, the first of which flew narrowly wide, the second, an in-swinger from the left, saw Clichy nearly put through his own goal. Having survived the onslaught Arsenal finally came forward themselves, Bendtner heading Clichy's precise cross over from 10 yards out on 11 minutes, and failing to reach Nasri's cross after the Frenchman had turned Neville inside out. In an incredibly open game the hosts fluffed a further chance to take the lead when Van der Sar failed to deal with Fábregas's centre, punching it into the path of Diaby, whose shot was blocked by Rio Ferdinand.

United surged forward down the right, again, Ronaldo, Anderson and Berbatov combining beautifully to carve out a chance for Rooney, who blazed over from 10 yards. With such fearless attacking football and questionable defending on display, it was only a matter of time before someone scored, and the breakthrough came midway through the half, as United again failed to adequately clear a Fábregas cross and the lively Nasri fired low through a crowded area, his shot deflecting past Van der Sar via Neville.

United poured forward again, Park cutting inside from the right and forcing a fine save from Almunia before Anderson slalomed his way into the area before shooting straight at Almunia. The hosts, though, should have extended their lead before half-time, catching United on the break on three occasions, Fábregas first shooting wide, Mikaël Silvestre then scrambling a low shot straight at Van der Sar and Theo Walcott missing the best chance of the lot, firing a shot into the ground and over the bar when picked out at the far post by Clichy.

With Ronaldo's pace providing such a threat, Arsenal knew they couldn't afford to sit on their slender lead and so, after the break, took the game to the visitors with immediate rewards. A delightful pattern of short passing between Nasri and Fábregas, gave the Spaniard time to carve open United's rearguard with an incisive, diagonal pass, and Nasri finished with aplomb, blasting across Van der Sar into the far corner from 16 yards.

Ronaldo should have reduced the arrears within minutes, when the industrious Park picked him out at the far post, but atypically for the unmarked Ballon d'Or winner-elect, Ronaldo sidefooted agonisingly wide of the far post. Rooney, too, should have done better, when he headed Berbatov's cross too close to Almunia. The Arsenal goalkeeper was rarely troubled thereafter, save for a kick to the head delivered by Carrick, which forced the Spaniard off the field with concussion.

For all of their possession, substitute custodian Lukasz Fabianski also had a relatively easy time of it until Rafael gave United hope with a wonderful late strike. The introduction of Carlos Tevez and Ryan Giggs gave United renewed impetus and an outswinging Giggs cross was cleared to the edge of the area, and Rafael, on for Neville, controlled the ball before firing it sumptuously into the net. Suddenly, mindful perhaps of two late goals conceded in their 4-4 draw with Tottenham, Arsenal feared the worst and could not hold on to the ball at length to run the six minutes of added time down. This time, though, they managed to hold on for a crucial win.