Leicester City 1 Arsenal 1: Arsenal should not pay off the exorcist just yet. The demon in their game, dormant following the Old Trafford brawl and the resulting fines and suspensions, reawoke here on Saturday and will cost them the services of Ashley Cole.
The flying, two-footed challenge on Leicester City's Ben Thatcher that saw the England defender dismissed by Rob Styles in the 73rd minute contributed to Arsenal's inability to hold the lead that Gilberto Silva's header had given them on the hour.
Their weakened defence failed to prevent Craig Hignett forcing, in stoppage time, the goal that keeps Arsene Wenger's team in second place.
Cole's apology to Thatcher and his own team, along with his admission he deserved to be sent off, only partly ameliorated the ugliness of the incident. "I didn't go over the ball and I didn't mean to hurt Ben Thatcher," he said. Which just goes to show how deceptive appearances can be.
The scene that ensued, with Styles fending off angry Leicester players and several of the Arsenal team joining in, hardly compared to the way Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy was pummelled and jostled after the final whistle in September.
Yet a club that has been fined £175,000 and warned about future conduct is now pushing its luck repeatedly.
Contrition rather than contention seems to be Arsenal's policy now, a wise course seeing that every undisciplined moment brings them closer to a points deduction that would seriously impede their chances of regaining the title.
Not that Cole looked particularly apologetic when Styles showed him the red card. In fact he appeared reluctant to leave the field despite being guilty of what was arguably the worst assault on a Thatcher since Geoffrey Howe's resignation speech.
After the game Wenger took an age to get to the press-room and one half-suspected it would be a case of long time, no see. But no, he agreed "it was a two-footed tackle that was too high", adding that "it was a red card and we have to accept it".
Like the previous 52 under his management.
Against the Leicester team's righteous indignation had to be set the late tackle by Muzzy Izzet in October that put Tottenham's Frederic Kanoute out of the game for six weeks but brought the offender only a yellow card, although Izzet was suspended on Saturday. Thatcher, moreover, is a member of the barbed-wire school of defending and earlier in the match had appeared to tread on Fredrik Ljungberg.
Not that the Leicester defender got within treading distance of Dennis Bergkamp after he had gathered a pass from Robert Pires and sped clear before producing the precise centre from which Gilberto nodded Arsenal ahead.
But for the goalkeeping of Ian Walker, Arsenal would have wrapped up the contest before Cole's departure. Walker had begun the second half by pushing wide a 20-yard drive from Gilberto, and five minutes after being beaten by the Brazilian he somehow managed to deflect a sharp hooked shot.
Without Izzet, Leicester's midfield looked even thinner than usual. Nevertheless, Callum Davidson and Billy McKinlay managed to deny Arsenal space and time, and with Thierry Henry nursing a strained hamstring Wenger's attack was short of its top gear.
In the absence of Henry's pace, Arsenal opted for concentrated defence and ultimately their concentration betrayed them.
A long high ball from Andrew Impey on the right found James Scowcroft outjumping Gilberto to head the ball down, and nobody was picking up Hignett, who guided it past Jens Lehmann.
Wenger appeared more annoyed with the equalising goal than the studs-flying Cole. Certainly Arsenal will need to keep their heads, tactically as well as temperamentally, if they are to get the Champions League point they need against Lokomotiv Moscow at Highbury on Wednesday.
