Kolo adds fizz for 10-man Gunners

Chelsea 1 Arsenal 1

And just for good measure, expect an Arsenal appeal to their captain's dismissal. Vieira said afterwards he is convinced that referee Andy D'Urso will rescind the red card.

Vieira, dismissed for an eighth time in Arsenal colours, claims he never touched either Gianfranco Zola or Jesper Gronkjaer for the cautions that added up to his 50th-minute exit.

He said: ''I'm glad to hear that Gronkjaer admits it was him who kicked my foot.

''I didn't deserve to be sent off. Both yellow cards were really, really harsh and I hope the referee will change his mind when he sees the game again.

''For the first one I certainly went for the ball and Zola just jumped over me. I didn't touch him and the referee got it wrong.

''The second one when I challenged Gronkjaer he actually kicked the bottom of my foot and I understand that can really hurt. He went down screaming and it was that reaction which I believe caused the referee to show the card.

''It was not anything to do with me having a reputation. I think referees' mistakes are part of the game. We all make mistakes. I don't blame anybody. But I hope the referee can now go back on his decision.''

As things stand, Vieira faces a one-match ban having gone just over a year since his previous sending off, in company with Dennis Wise against Leicester on August 25 last year.

Manager Arsene Wenger, for whom the dismissal was the 45th since he took over at Highbury in September 1996, said: ''It doesn't improve my statistics but like Patrick I think the decisions were very harsh. I know you think I never see these things but this time I was very close on the touchline.

''Gronkjaer's reaction was certainly a little bit why the referee showed the second yellow card.

''It is a pity because with 11 against 11 I thought we had a great chance to win this match. Even with 10 men we could have done it on a few occasions.

Arsenal, without goal ace Thierry Henry who looks set to also miss France's clash with Cyprus on Saturday with a foot injury, had to come from behind to retain their unbeaten 25-match Premiership record after goalkeeper David Seaman let Zola's long-range free-kick bounce straight past him.

New boy Kolo Toure's equaliser came just before the hour mark and 30 minutes after he had gone on as substitute for injured Edu.

Wenger, who also believes Sol Campbell ''has a great chance'' of missing England's clash with Portugal through a hip injury, said: ''It is another of our fight backs and that's pleasing because we refused to give in.

''I don't know if I completely blame David for the goal. He was static when the ball came in but if he had dived and Gudjohnsen had got a touch to it he would have had no chance. He thought Gudjohnsen would make contact.

''But we were guilty of not marking properly. When Gudjohnsen moved in nobody went with him and it looked like we were trying to catch him offside.''

Wenger added: ''When we put Toure on I just told him to play with confidence and be direct. He did it well. At 21 he's got pace and power and he looked even faster after he'd scored.

Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri saw his side fail to gain revenge for last season's FA Cup final defeat despite going ahead in a match of eight bookings including Vieira's two and said: ''It is always very difficult against Manchester United and Arsenal.

'They were excellent in the first half hour, moving the ball forward for their strikers and after they went down to 10 men they did well closing us down and playing on the counter-attack."

With Arsenal, there is no such thing as a lost cause. Just before the hour Arsenal proved once again that 10 men can work just as hard and as well as 11 and they had a new name to put on the scoresheet.

Kolo Toure, Wenger's 21-year-old signing from the Ivory Coast, who had replaced limping Brazilian Edu just three minutes before Chelsea's freak goal, started and finished the equaliser in only his third appearance as a sub.

He ran strongly at the Chelsea defence, laid the ball off wide for Ashley Cole and continued his run into the six-yard box. It paid off handsomely when Cole's cross was volleyed by Sylvain Wiltord and Carlo Cudicini could only palm it out straight onto Toure's head and the rest was easy.

If anything Arsenal's depleted forces should have won it after that. With 16 minutes left, Ray Parlour was away onto Kanu's clever pass but took too long to create space away from the covering Marcel Desailly and was robbed by sub Mario Stanic.

CHELSEA: Cudicini, Ferrer, Desailly, Gallas, Le Saux (Melchiot 65), Gronkjaer, Lampard, De Lucas, Zenden (Stanic 71), Gudjohnsen, Zola (Hasselbaink 68).

ARSENAL: Seaman, Lauren, Keown, Campbell, Cole, Edu (Toure 31), Vieira, Silva, Parlour, Wiltord (Aliadiere 90), Kanu (Cygan 83).

Referee: A D'Urso (Essex).