Ten-man Chelsea held out for a 1-1 draw at Manchester United on Saturday to seal second place in the English premier league and a guaranteed slot in next season's Champions League.
Chelsea were cruising after Danish winger Jesper Gronkjaer scored in the 19th minute and keeper Carlo Cudicini brilliantly saved a penalty from United's Dutch striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy just before halftime.
But a 73rd-minute red card for Chelsea's German defender Robert Huth was followed four minutes later by a goalkeeping howler from Cudicini which handed Van Nistelrooy an easy equaliser.
United poured forward but Chelsea hung on for a draw which ensured they finish second behind champions Arsenal, with 76 points to United's 72 and just one match left to play.
United and the fourth-placed club will go into the Champions League qualifiers. Arsenal, on 84 points and bidding to finish the season unbeaten, are away to Fulham on Sunday.
Chelsea's determination was all the more impressive for coming just three days after being knocked out of the Champions League semi-finals by Monaco after a heart-breaking 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge and a 5-3 defeat on aggregate.
United's last game at Old Trafford this season ended on a low note, but Alex Ferguson's side have an FA Cup final against first division Millwall to look forward to on May 22 in Cardiff.
CHELSEA'S START
The 2003 champions will need to defend better than they did against Chelsea, who made an ideal start.
Gronkjaer, whose cross accidentally flew into the Monaco net on Wednesday to put Chelsea 1-0 up, was clearly aiming for the target in Manchester when he arrowed his shot past Tim Howard.
Ferguson threw on France striker Louis Saha for Paul Scholes in the 36th minute after the England midfielder was lucky not to have been red-carded. Scholes's bad tackle on Frank Lampard came after the England midfielder had already been booked for a dive in the Chelsea penalty area.
The switch paid dividends when Saha was tripped by Huth in the area but Van Nistelrooy, who also missed a spot-kick at home to Arsenal in September, saw his low shot blocked by Cudicini.
United's equaliser owed nothing to their numerical superiority after Huth had been given his marching orders.
Cudicini flapped at a hopeful high ball into the area from France defender Mikael Silvestre and Van Nistelrooy tucked it home from point-blank range.
