LONDON, England (AFP) — Robin van Persie returned to frustrate Arsenal as the Manchester United striker rescued a 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium, while Reading and QPR were relegated from the Premier League yesterday after playing out a 0-0 draw.

Van Persie was making his first appearance back at Arsenal since last year’s 24 million ($37 million, 28 million euros) transfer to United and he was given a hostile reception from home supporters.

But, after Theo Walcott gave Arsenal a second-minute lead, the Dutch forward silenced the boo-boys when he fired home from the penalty spot after being fouled by Bacary Sagna in the 44th minute.

United manager Alex Ferguson saluted van Persie for keeping his composure and took a dig at the Arsenal fans in the process.

“It takes bottle to take a penalty when the crowd are booing,” Ferguson said. “We have a great spirit of applauding players when they come back to our club. I expected the booing to be honest with you.

“Walcott apparently was offside for his goal. The referee apologised to (United centre-back) Rio Ferdinand saying he got it wrong.

“It wasn’t his fault, it was the linesman’s. It was an uphill fight for us after losing the first goal.”

With the title already wrapped up, champions United were happy to settle for a draw, but the result was a setback for Arsenal, who dropped down to fourth place following Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Swansea.

A win for either Reading or QPR at the Madejski Stadium would have kept alive their slender chances of staying up at least until Aston Villa’s clash with Sunderland today.

But both looked wracked with nerves during a goalless stalemate which condemned Nigel Adkins’s Reading and Harry Redknapp’s QPR to starting next season in the Championship.

Bottom club Reading and second bottom QPR are both nine points behind fourth from bottom Aston Villa with three games remaining, but a complicated equation influenced by Villa’s meeting with Wigan on the final day of the season means there is no chance of either avoiding the drop.

QPR have been backed heavily by Malaysian owner Tony Fernandes over the last 12 months, but Redknapp concedes their expensively assembled squad won’t find it easy to win an immediate return to the Premier League.

“Next year it will be very difficult to get promoted, there are some good teams,” Redknapp said.

Reading return to the Championship just 12 months after being promoted as second-tier champions and Adkins wants them to learn the lessons of their top-flight failure.

“I have told the players to bottle up the feeling as it is never nice to get relegated and make sure they never feel that way again,” he said.

At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea cruised to a comfortable victory over Swansea which lifted them into third place and one point ahead of Arsenal.

Rafael Benitez’s side showed no signs of tiredness despite their recent gruelling schedule and Oscar gave them the lead with a fine finish from Frank Lampard’s pass in the 43rd minute.

Lampard, who had come on as a substitute for the injured Ramires, netted the second goal in first half stoppage-time.

The England midfielder took his Chelsea career goal tally to 201 — within one of Bobby Tambling’s record — when he drove home a penalty after Leon Britton had fouled Juan Mata.

That was enough to move Chelsea three points clear of fifth-placed Tottenham in the race to qualify for the Champions League.