Dennis Bergkamp's brilliance kept Arsenal on Manchester United's heels just when it looked as though the Gunners' indiscipline had cost them dear.

The Dutchman struck twice for Arsene Wenger's side, the second after Arsenal had - once again - been reduced to 10 men, and provided an all-round breathtaking display of skill.

Matches involving Wenger's men never seem to be straightforward affairs and this was par for the course as far as the north Londoners are concerned.

From cruising 2-0 up through Bergkamp and Thierry Henry and with Blackburn looking woeful, the Gunners allowed the home side to draw level and then saw Oleg Luzhny put the seal on a nightmarish match for him personally by being sent off for two rash challenges.

Luzhny became the 43rd Arsenal player dismissed during Arsene Wenger's five-and-a-half-year reign, and on this form they could have the half-century by the end of the season.

The unluckiest man of the night however was Matt Jansen, who scored twice to put Blackburn level at half-time and he for one did not deserve to end up on the losing side, the fate which befell him after Bergkamp's second clinical finish of the match.

Arsenal had started with purpose from the first whistle, and Blackburn cautiously, but that caution was undone in the 14th minute when Bergkamp pounced to put the visitors in front.

A sweet passing move saw Robert Pires feed Sylvain Wiltord, playing as a right winger, and though his cross looked to be going nowhere Martin Taylor just got a touch on the ball while attempting to clear, redirecting it to Bergkamp who finished with a clean left-foot shot.

Rovers were caught napping seven minutes later as Arsenal went 2-0 up thanks to a quite sublime goal by Henry.

Richard Wright clutched a Blackburn free-kick, threw out to Pires who looked up and clipped a long ball over the flat home defence. Henry took the pass in his stride advanced and from a difficult angle curled a low shot passed Brad Friedel into the corner of the net.

Only an offside flag - a bad decision, television pictures showed - prevented Arsenal going three-up when Tugay was robbed and Wiltord burst through to put the ball in the net.

Ray Parlour blasted way too high after Bergkamp and Wiltord had contrived him a shooting chance on the edge of the box, but in the 31st minute Blackburn pulled a goal back from their first decent chance of the game.

A short-corner routine saw Craig Hignett bend in a wicked cross and Matt Jansen made the important contact to glance a header past Wright, who found himself in no man's land.

Jansen then forced Wright into a sprawling save with a powerful low strike from distance, and suddenly it looked as though the home side believed in themselves again.

That was emphatically the case when a dreadful slip by Oleg Luzhny presented Duff with the ball and he crossed to the far post for Jansen - scorer of a hat-trick against the Gunners in the Worthington Cup - to crash a shot past Wright for his fifth Premiership goal of the season.

Pires drifted a shot over the crossbar in the first minute of the second half, but Rovers had an early chance too when Duff tormented Luzhny down the left only for his dangerous cross to be blocked by Keown.

Six minutes into the half Duff once more got the better of Luzhny, who hacked the winger down unceremoniously, earning himself a caution.

Twelve minutes into the second half, the match turned into a personal nightmare for Luzhny when he committed a second bookable offence by fouling Tugay and was sent off, becoming the 43rd Arsenal player dismissed during Arsene Wenger's reign.

The match then went through a nasty patch, and Jansen was lucky not to be sent off himself when he was caught by a crunching Keown tackle and then appeared to swing at the Arsenal defender.

The sending off ruined the match as a spectacle, with Arsenal retreating into a defensive shell and relying on Henry, Pires or Bergkamp to come up with something spectacular.

With 16 minutes left, those tactics paid off as Pires shimmied past Garry Flitcroft and slipped a perfect pass into Bergkamp, who had stayed onside, and the Dutchman finished low with his left foot for the second time of the evening.

There was a hectic end as Andy Cole and Jansen tried desperately for another goal but Arsenal, marshalled by Sol Campbell and Patrick Vieira, held out.

Teams:

Blackburn: Friedel, Neill, Bjornebye (Hughes 80), Johansson, Taylor, Hignett (Gillespie 62), Tugay, Flitcroft, Duff, Jansen, Cole.

Subs Not Used: Berg, Mahon, Kelly.

Booked: Jansen, Tugay.

Goals: Jansen 31, 39.

Arsenal: Wright, Luzhny, Campbell, Keown (Upson 67), Cole, Pires (Grimandi 80), Vieira, Wiltord (van Bronckhorst 62), Parlour, Bergkamp, Henry.

Subs Not Used: Edu, Stack.

Sent Off: Luzhny (58).

Booked: Luzhny, van Bronckhorst.

Goals: Bergkamp 14, Henry 21, Bergkamp 75.

Att: 25,893

Ref: D Gallagher (Oxfordshire).