As football matches go, this was one excellent street fight. Keown versus Viduka; Vieira v Dacourt; Adams, Cole and Henry v Bowyer; the Arsenal fans against O'Leary. All that was missing was Hearns v Hagler.
Fists did not fly exactly, but elbows and studs did. Plus spittle and insults aplenty. Arsenal versus Leeds United has become one of the grudge matches of English football: 41 yellow and three red cards in the last six meetings. Bearing all this in mind, it was understandable that some thought it beneficial that neither Alan Smith nor David Batty was present. Neither of those Leeds figures has peacekeeping high on their cv.
Had they been here then things might have been a whole lot worse. As it is, the Football Association awaits the videotape with interest. The rest of the country awaits next season in the same way.
Because while this game had implications for the end of this season, Champions League places being top of the agenda, it was hard for the neutral not to leave a sunlit Highbury anticipating what
Leeds in particular will bring to next season's party. This is a side literally boiling with possibilities. The addition of a couple of summer signings - Rangers' Barry Ferguson admitted he was "flattered" by Leeds' alleged interest - should only increase their options.
And yet while admiration grew at the Yorkshire side's feisty recovery after Ian Harte's brilliant free-kick on the hour, and his less intentional effort 13 minutes later, the more one thought about Arsenal and what they had achieved this year and what they will do next time around.
It was not a totally convincing display from Arsene Wenger's team on Saturday. But it secured Champions League football for another season, and, as Wenger said, that has "serious implications" on two fronts: financially, of course, and also Arsenal's ability to attract new recruits.
They will have to be of the highest calibre in Europe and beyond to improve a side with arguably two of the best players in the world in Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry in it (part of the reason why Martin Keown said after Saturday's match that winning the European Cup had been Arsenal's aim this season), and yet that always begs the question as to why Arsenal fans, despite a season that includes an FA Cup final, second place in the Premiership and the quarter-finals of the Champions League, feel a sense of under-achievement.
That is because Arsenal have so much talent, and, in direct contrast to Leeds, have failed to maximise it. Consequently on Saturday that meant that while Ashley Cole, Keown and Vieira all had fine games, it was Leeds who made the game with the quality of their fight-back.
Without Batty's fastidious instinct, and with Eirik Bakke uncharacteristically sloppy, they had been more or less outplayed by Arsenal in the first half. Freddie Ljungberg had already missed a sitter by the time he opened the scoring in the 17th minute, but Leeds were then carved apart by Robert Pires and Henry. Ljungberg ran on to Henry's beautiful pass, danced around Nigel Martyn and rolled the ball home.
At that stage the nastiness was fairly restrained (Olivier Dacourt was the sole booking), but then Lee Bowyer offered Pires a handshake. Pires extended his hand only for Bowyer to withdraw his and put it to his nose. A couple of minutes later Henry launched a two-footed challenge that began in Finsbury Park at Bowyer. Had Henry connected, Bowyer would have suffered at least one broken leg. The ante had been upped.
Arsenal continued to dominate. Keown put a six-yard header two yards wide and Martyn made a superb save from a Lee Dixon volley just before half-time. Thus when Sylvain Wiltord swivelled onto a Vieira pass to put Arsenal two up in the 58th minute there was no great surprise. But that was Leeds' cue. Harte fooled David Seaman completely with his free-kick two minutes later - after Tony Adams had felled Bowyer, Adams having wrecked Robbie Keane earlier - and Stephen McPhail's introduction for Bakke soon after gave Leeds further momentum. Mark Viduka's battle with Keown heightened the tension but, as Leeds rallied, another Harte free-kick evaded everyone and struck an upright and Viduka caused the Arsenal defence much anxiety. Ultimately, though, it was not enough. Arsenal celebrated with a lap of honour. Next season should be good.
ARSENAL: Seaman, Dixon, Keown, Adams, Cole, Ljungberg, Vieira, Grimandi, Pires, Wiltord (Parlour 84), Henry. Subs not used: Bergkamp, Manninger, Silvinho, Upson. Booked: Vieira, Grimandi, Cole. Goals: Ljungberg 17, Wiltord 56.
LEEDS: Martyn, Kelly, Ferdinand, Matteo, Harte, Bowyer, Bakke (McPhail 75), Dacourt, Kewell, Keane (Wilcox 45), Viduka. Subs not used: Woodgate, Robinson, Burns. Booked: Dacourt, Kewell, Viduka. Goal: Harte 58.
Referee: P Jones (Loughborough).
