LONDON (AFP) - Arsenal's drive to reclaim the Premier League title suffered a painful setback on Saturday when an injury-time penalty allowed ten-man Birmingham to snatch an unlikely 2-2 draw.

Theo Walcott looked to have secured all three points for the Gunners with two goals in the space of five minutes just after the break after James McFadden had given the home side a first-half lead with a superb free-kick.

But, in the fourth minute of stoppage time, Gunners left-back Gael Clichy was judged to have tripped Stuart Parnaby in the box and McFadden slotted the resulting penalty past Manuel Almunia.

It was the most unexpected of points for relegation-threatened Birmingham, who had played almost the entire match with ten men after having defender Martin Taylor sent off for a reckless third-minute lunge at Arsenal striker Eduardo, who was feared to have suffered a fracture of his ankle or leg.

The draw meant Manchester United had the chance to reduce Arsenal's lead at the top of the table to three points by beating Newcastle at St James' Park in Saturday's evening match.