Arsenal and Leeds produced the familiar mixture of red meat and gristle last night in a match which thrived amid another welter of bookings.
Despite Arsenal's dominance Leeds took the lead through a cheeky free-kick from Ian Harte and regained it through Mark Viduka soon after half-time after Sylvain Wiltord had headed the scores level. Towards the end Leeds's Lee Bowyer was sent off for a second bookable offence.This fixture looked ripe for the peace process, last season's two Premiership games having produced a total of 88 free-kicks and 15 yellow cards, 10 of them shown to Arsenal.
Common sense demanded cooler heads all round. Not that common sense demanded Jeff Winter should interrupt Vieira's first surging run in order to give Dacour t a lecture for an illegal but unsuccessful attempt to stop him.
Nevertheless the evening did need firm control from Winter and this manifested itself in three Leeds players, Eirik Bakke, Dacourt and Bowyer, being cautioned in the space of five minutes for fouls on Ray Parlour, Vieira and Lauren.
Offenders were clearly going to feel Winter's chill. Soon Danny Mills became the fourth Leeds man to be booked after he had brought down Frederik Ljungberg.
These encounters are invariably tight affairs and the only sign of an early goal came when Nigel Martyn pushed wide a swerving shot from Wiltord in the second minute.
Midway through the half Adams met a Pires corner with a strong header that Martyn touched over and thereafter Arsenal's precise, fluent passing began to unravel the opposition's cover. Only a timely interception by Rio Ferdinand denied Parlour a shot after Pires and Thierry Henry outmanouevred the defence.
Yet, after 28 minutes, it was Leeds who moved ahead. Quick thinking by Harte did the trick after Mills had been brought down near the penalty arc. While David Seaman, at the near post, was still lining up the defenders Harte clipped a shot beyond the wall and past a bemused goalkeeper into the far corner of the net.
But soon the scores were level. Four minutes later a pass from Pires released Cole on an overlapping run along the left wing. The full back's cross evaded Leeds's central defenders but found Wiltord, who had sneaked into their midst and now glanced a sharp header past Martyn.
Leeds needed to break up the passing combinations which Vieira and Pires were instigating from midfield. So O'Leary allowed only a minute of the second half to pass before bringing on David Batty, taking off a striker, Alan Smith (who had hurt an ank le). Robbie Keane would have been a stronger attacking option. While giving themselves a better chance of a point Leeds appeared also to have lessened the likelihood of their taking all three.
How deceptive appearances can be: by the 53rd minute O'Leary's team were back in front. Again Kewell swept past Lauren on the left before squaring the ball to Viduka, who turned inside Tony Adams before beating Seaman with a low shot. The scoreline made little sense, yet Leeds had taken their chances well and deserved credit for the way they had kept their shape and tactical discipline in the face of Arsenal's abundance of possession and territorial superiority.
ARSENAL: Seaman, Lauren, Campbell, Adams, Cole, Ljungberg (Jeffers 77), Vieira, Parlour (Bergkamp 66), Pires, Henry, Wiltord (van Bronckhorst 77). Subs Not Used: Grimandi, Wrig ht. Booked: Henry, Cole, Pires, Jeffers. Goals: Wiltord 32.
LEEDS UNITED: Martyn, Mills, Ferdinand, Matteo, Harte, Bowyer, Bakke (Kelly 89), Dacourt, Kewell (Woodgate 89), Viduka, Smith (Batty 47). Subs Not Used: Keane, Milosevic. Sent Off: Bowyer (79), Mills (87). Booked: Bakke, Dacourt, Bowyer, Mills, Viduka. Goals: Harte 29, Viduka 53.
Referee: J Winter (Stockton-on-Tees).
