Pompey punish Gunners

Portsmouth 1 Arsenal 1

Veteran England defender Sol Campbell made his first appearance in 10 weeks, but picked up a cut just above his eye early in the first half, and then had to be replaced late on following an accidental clash with substitute Svetoslav Todorov, which left the Arsenal man clutching a cloth to a bleeding nose.

Thierry Henry’s sublime finish had given Arsenal a deserved half-time lead, but they were made to pay for missed chances, notably through Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor.

Lomana LuaLua equalised with a flashing header, and it was Pompey who finished the stronger, as their fight to beat the drop was boosted by what could prove to be a precious point to move them level with fourth-bottom Birmingham.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes Sol Campbell has got what it takes to return to the England squad.

Wenger, though, feels Campbell, 31, showed enough to display his international credentials had not been hampered by a 10-week lay-off, for a combination of a leave of absence and injury.

“He has a cut on his eyelid, and a bloody nose as well, I do not know if it is broken or not, we have to check that,” said Wenger.

“I do not know if he will be available for Saturday, and do not know what I will do. I will change the team for every game now.

“He played very well physically in the first half, he was handicapped a little bit in the second half by his injury.”

Wenger declared: “I feel he has proven tonight he is fit to play for England, I will leave the rest to Sven.

“I believe he will be available for England.”

The result leaves Arsenal trailing Tottenham by four points in the race to finish in the Champions League qualifying places.

But Wenger declared: “It is not over. We have to keep going.

“Overall I feel sorry for the team. You cannot fault them for effort, or desire.

“The players are disappointed because they are not rewarded for the efforts they put in tonight, and for what they rightly feel they deserved.”

“Portsmouth made a minimum risk and got maximum out of it.

“We did maximum risk and got minimum out of it.

“It is disappointing to only come back with one point.

Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp paid tribute to his side’s battling performance but insisted they must maintain that form if they are to win their battle against the drop.

“It was a great point. To go behind to Arsenal and to come back and take a point was a great performance.”

“We kept going and deserved a point in the end. We’ve been on a great run of five games unbeaten.

“It’s going to be tough - Middlesbrough are bang on form and then we go to Charlton but we’ve put ourselves in a great position.

“There is still a lot to do.”

Arsenal went ahead after 37 minutes. Henry won the ball from Sean Davies in midfield, and played a quick one-two with Adebayor before dispatching a perfect 18-yard strike off the foot of Dean Kiely’s left-hand post.

At the start of the second half, Campbell was caught by a leading arm from Mwaruwari - which left the luckless England centre-half with blood streaming from a cut just above his right eye.

The game was held up for several minutes, with Campbell eventually leaving the field to be patched up.

Portsmouth pressed - but just as in the first half, they lacked quality delivery from the flanks.

The Gunners soon settled again, and as the hour mark approached the unmarked Adebayor headed wide from a corner.

And the Gunners were made to pay when Pompey levelled on 66 minutes.

A free-kick on the right from Andres D’Alessandro was whipped into the penalty area, where LuaLua got up ahead of Abou Diaby to flash the ball past Lehmann and breathe life back into the match.

With the Fratton Park faithful now in full voice, the home side were spurred on.

However, it needed a good save from Kiely, denying Ljungberg at the near post with his legs, to earn Pompey what could be a precious point.

PORTSMOUTH: Kiely, Priske, Primus, Stefanovic, Taylor, O’Neil, Davis (Routledge 57), Pedro Mendes, D’Alessandro, LuaLua (Hughes 69), Mwaruwari (Todorov 66).

ARSENAL: Lehmann, Djourou, Campbell (Eboue 89), Toure, Flamini, Ljungberg, Song Billong, Diaby, Reyes (Hleb 80), Henry, Adebayor (Van Persie 75).

Referee: U Rennie (S Yorkshire).