Campbell's long walk to a dressing-down

Arsenal 2 Everton 1

A splendid new idea to open up the Premiership: reduce Arsenal (plus Manchester United and Chelsea) to 10 men in every match. It did not affect the result in the end yesterday, but it made the afternoon distinctly more interesting.

The north Londoners, who had Francis Jeffers sent off in the Community Shield last Sunday, seem happy to oblige, losing the accident-prone Sol Campbell, after less than half an hour, for what was judged a professional foul by Mark Halsey - the same referee who dismissed him for elbowing United's Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in one of the defining incidents of last season's championship race. Campbell will now serve a one-match suspension, which will increase if the Football Association's video panel decide he was guilty of kicking out at Eric Djemba-Djemba in Cardiff.

Even with 11 men against 10, teams like Everton need to be at something close to full strength to take even a point from Highbury, where they have now lost on all but two of their last 12 visits. They were short in attack and midfield, Wayne Rooney appearing only as an ineffective substitute, but Tomasz Radzinski's late goal added a little tension before they too incurred Mr Halsey's displeasure and had Li Tie dismissed.

Although Arsène Wenger was incensed by the FA's decision to cite Campbell after last Sunday's episode, he had no complaints, for once, about yesterday's incident. "I can accept it, though it was not malicious," he said. Well used to playing a man short after 51 dismissals in his seven years as manager, he believes Arsenal can cope better than most, because: "We play football based on quick passing and sharp movement."

The Everton manager, David Moyes, was honest in his assessment that: "They were better with 10 men than we were with 11." Much has been made of Arsenal's problems in funding transfers this summer but Everton, widely regarded as one of the challengers to the big five after narrowly missing out on a Uefa Cup place, have not obtained a single new player and were badly under-strength yesterday.

With only a fortnight until the transfer deadline, Moyes is hopeful of pipping Middlesbrough for the Fulham midfielder Sean Davis, but less so of persuading yesterday's opponents to allow Francis Jeffers back to Goodison on loan. And why should they? Permitting rival clubs in the same league to borrow each other's players this season is one of the Premiership's more ill-judged ideas.

With the former Arsenal trier Kevin Campbell and, inevitably, Duncan Ferguson unavailable, and Rooney initially confined to the bench, Everton had to use the lively Nick Chadwick as Radzinski's partner in attack.

Arsenal decided against risking Martin Keown from the start, but Plan B was needed as early as the 26th minute. Thomas Gravesen wriggled past three opponents, the last of whom - Campbell - sent him to the floor 20 yards from goal. It was an obvious foul, and the referee decided that although other defenders were in the vicinity they would not have arrived quickly enough to prevent a clear scoring opportunity. So off went Campbell, for the third time in nine months.

Keown soon left the dug-out to play in defence, with the unfortunate Sylvain Wiltord substituted, and before Everton could press their numerical advantage they were a goal behind. Fredrik Ljungberg found Thierry Henry to the side of the penalty area, and as the Frenchman flicked the the ball forward, Alan Stubbs used his arm to block. The penalty was deemed punishment enough, all the more so when Henry calmly converted it, before provocatively celebrating in front of the Everton following. Surely he knows where the home supporters sit.

The first quarter of the game, in comparison, had been tame. Arsenal's German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann endeared himself to Highbury early in his Premiership debut, blocking Chadwick's jab with his left foot while off-balance after Radzinski had driven in a dangerous cross-shot from the right.

He was not seriously troubled again for some time. The home side, without managing to secure control of the midfield, should have scored again at the end of the first half following Gravesen's silly square pass that fell for Henry. The Frenchman committed two defenders and fed the unmarked Gilberto, whose control on his "wrong" foot was lamentable.

Patrick Vieira, committed to a new contract but a little ring-rusty after his knee operation, was almost as culpable seven minutes after half-time, failing to keep a free header low enough. Rooney, a thorn in Arsenal's side last season, came on, to the pleasure of Sven Goran Eriksson in the main stand, but before the hour the 10 men scored again.

It was hard on Richard Wright, briefly an Arsenal goalkeeper, who pulled off an unlikely double save from Henry and Vieira only to find a third musketeer, Robert Pires, lurking six yards out to knock the ball into an empty net.

Everton provided most of the incident later. After Steve Watson's diving header wide there was a yellow card for the ineffectual Rooney, for going over the top on Kolo Touré, and two yellows in quick succession for the normally inoffensive Li Tie. In between times, Arsenal were reminded of the need for tighter marking, even with 10 men and a two-goal lead, as Radzinski was allowed too much room to take Gary Naysmith's pass and beat Lehmann.

Arsenal 2 Everton 1
Henry pen 35, Pires 58; Radzinski 84

Half-time: 1-0 Attendance: 38,014