Confidence flowed back into Arsenal's football yesterday as Arsene Wenger's team beat Leeds United with the relieved look of men awaking from a bad dream.
Arsenal may still be some way off leading the Premiership, but at least they played like a side who had again become fully conversant with the art of the possible.
For the youngsters of Leeds, the afternoon offered a singular lesson in the perils of getting up the noses of talented opponents. David O'Leary's players gave Arsenal the respect that might have been expected from South Park juniors by cocking a snook at Tony Adams and winding up Emmanuel Petit like a clockwork mouse.
But in the end they were given extra tuition by Patrick Vieira and Nwankwo Kanu, who, with Thierry Henry and Fredrik Ljungberg, increasingly dominated the game.
Vieira was back after a combination of suspensions covering seven matches, during which time Arsenal's vigorous pursuit of another championship had begun to show signs of strain. Held to 1-1 at home by Wimbledon and then beaten 3-2 at Coventry on Sunday, they went into yesterday's game knowing a failure to win would jeopardise their title chances.
The way Vieira controlled the pulse of Arsenal's football was an apt reminder of how much they are going to depend on the Frenchman staying out of trouble. He strolled through the game with an independent air, playing his football in another dimension.
"Vieira was very controlled," said Wenger. "In fact I was surprised at how controlled he was. It shows he is learning."
At the same time, the Arsenal manager admitted he had considered taking off Petit at half-time after a series of fouls clearly designed to test a fragile temper.
Alan Smith, Leeds' aggressive, 19-year-old striker, laid into both Adams and Petit with impunity, and was fortunate that Graham Poll was prepared to be lenient with heavy and occasionally ill-timed tackling from both teams.
Eventually Poll cautioned three Arsenal players and four from Leeds, but his readiness to allow the match to develop a flow without frequent stoppages did improve the spectacle.
On their previous visit to London, nine days earlier, Leeds had been out-passed at Chelsea but still won 2-0. Yesterday, while still enjoying an abundance of possession early on - when with Lee Dixon, Martin Keown and Nigel Winterburn rested Arsenal's game was under repair and Petit's protests were stretching even the benign Poll's patience - they never established a lasting grip on events.
The first hint of what was to follow came midway through the half when Henry and Vieira combined to send Marc Overmars to the left-hand by-line from where his low centre reached Kanu, standing in the goal-mouth. The Nigerian's impudent flick of an instep did not come off but the Leeds defence had been warned.
Shortly before the half-hour Michael Bridges caught Gilles Grimandi painfully off the ball but Poll waved play on. Bridges duly advanced on the left before crossing low and only David Seaman's alertness in flicking the ball away from David Smith, plus Silvinho's goal-line clearance, denied Leeds the lead.
Five minutes later Kanu turned beautifully to go past Lucas Radebe in the Leeds penalty area, and although Nigel Martyn reached his shot he could only pat it on to Ljungberg, who scored for the second time in three days.
After that Kanu ruled the approaches to goal. In the 58th minute, Henry won the ball in the air and ran on to receive a Kanu's return pass before side-stepping Radebe to increase Arsenal's lead.
"Kanu was marvellous," O'Leary conceded, but Vieira's return lay at the heart of this Arsenal win.
Arsenal: Seaman, Luzhny, Grimandi, Adams, Silvinho, Ljungberg, Vieira, Petit (Winterburn 88), Overmars, Kanu, Henry (Suker 74). Subs Not Used: Dixon, Manninger, Barrett. Booked: Ljungberg, Overmars, Kanu. Goals: Ljungberg 32, Henry 58.
Leeds: Martyn, Kelly, Radebe, Woodgate, Harte, Bakke, McPhail, Kewell, Bowyer (Jones 79), Bridges, Smith (Wilcox 79). Subs Not Used: Robinson, Mills, Duberry. Booked: Kewell, Smith, Bridges, Kelly.
Referee: G Poll (Tring).
