Ray Parlour scored his first-ever hat-trick and Thierry Henry was controversially sent-off as Arsenal surged into the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup on a night of incredible drama in northern Germany.

Parlour should have made all the headlines for his glorious goals in the eighth, 25th and 69th minutes and his unselfish set-up for another Euro-strike by Frenchman Henry which carried the Gunners through.

But once again it was Danish referee Kim Nielsen who grabbed a huge shaft of the spotlight.

The man who infamously sent off England's David Beckham in the World Cup finals against Argentina two years ago gave Arsenal's 17-goal top-scorer his marching orders in the 63rd minute for what seemed an innocuous trip on Bremen defender Mike Barten.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was fuming on the touchline, realising that his jet-heeled goal ace would be suspended for the semi-finals next month, and had to be dragged away from the fourth official by his Highbury assistant Pat Rice while a bemused Henry dodged missiles thrown from the Bremen fans as he trudged off down the tunnel.

Parlour's first-half double strike was dramatic enough and as impressive as it was surprising from the England winger - who had not scored since the Charity Shield clash with Manchester United in August.

But little did anybody guess that there were far more shocks to come in this Anglo-German contest on a sub-standard pitch at the Weserstadion.

Arsenal's first away win since December 4 was merely a statistic among all the furore.

Parlour's splendidly-taken first-half goals considerably eased Arsenal's early nerves and the game was as good as over as a contest by the interval even though Marco Bode pulled one back for Bremen before the break, beating young Austrian deputy goalkeeper Alex Manninger to the jump and heading in Andreas Herzog's corner.

The Gunners, at that stage, still had a commanding advantage from their 2-0 first leg win at Highbury a week ago.

And it should have been more even before half time because after Frank Rost saved brilliantly from Kanu and then Silvinho hit a post with a free-kick, the Bremen goalkeeper somehow smothered a close-range jab by Tony Adams, who had moved in on the end of blocked efforts by Freddie Ljungberg and Kanu for what seemed to be the formality of scoring a simple third goal.

An early error from Oleg Luzhny, compounded by a string of fouls by Gilles Grimandi, Freddie Ljungberg and Tony Adams put Arsenal under early pressure and Manninger, standing in again for injured England keeper David Seaman had to smother Ailton's low-driven cross after the Brazilian got away down the left.

But just as the German crowd was being wound up by a series of long throws into the goalmouth by Herzog plus a powerful free-kick shot from Bernhard Trares which thumped into Manninger's arms, they were stunned into silence by Parlour's eighth-minute wonder-goal.

There seemed little danger in Arsenal's first real attack as Kanu languidly laid the ball back to the corner of the penalty area from out on the right.

But Parlour strode onto it and hit a screamer which swerved out of goalkeeper Rost's despairing reach.

Arsenal could have had a second goal five minutes later when Parlour flicked back Silvinho's free-kick for Kanu to strike. Rost made a plunging save to tip the ball away for a corner.

Then Ljungberg wriggled clear in the box and had he gone down after a shove in the back it would surely have forced Nielsen to award a penalty.

As it was Arsenal had to survive a hectic scramble following a corner with Adams and the ubiquitous Parlour both blocking shots.

Then Kanu, who took a fearful battering from the Bremen defenders, was booked for a trip before Bode had the ball in the Arsenal net after 22 minutes - only to be ruled offside.

But what hurt the home side and their fans most of all was Parlour's second strike three minutes later.

This time the flag stayed down as Patrick Vieira lanced the ball through and Parlour ran free to clip his shot in off the inside of the far post.

And such was Arsenal's confidence by now that even centre-back Luzhny galloped up to join the attack, sliding his shot wide of the far post after penetrating the box on the left.

Bremen pulled a goal back four minutes before half time when Bode outjumped Manninger to head in a corner by Herzog.

But the keeper went on to distinguish himself with late saves from Ailton and Claudio Pizarro to retain Arsenal's commanding overall advantage.

In fact, they should have put it beyond doubt all over again in stoppage time at the end of the first half when Rost somehow stopped Adams' close-range shot after Ljungberg and Kanu had efforts amazingly blocked.

But the game just went into high-octane overdrive after the interval. Parlour, put clear by Kanu, unselfishly set up Henry to slot in his 17th goal of the season and seventh in Europe when a hat-trick chance was beckoning the winger just before the hour.

Substitute Rade Bogdanovic replied almost immediately again for Bremen, cracking in Ailton's cross, but Arsenal had just taken off skipper Adams - suffering a repetition of his groin injury - and replaced him with Emmanuel Petit when Henry clashed with Barten and looked in disbelief at Nielsen's extravagantly-flourished red card.

Wenger's anger soon gave way to joy again when Parlour ploughed through alone on Ljungberg's pass to complete his richly-deserved treble and Arsenal's 10 men could still have had more with near-misses by Kanu and substitute Marc Overmars.

But although victory tasted sweet there was also the bitter tang of their 28th red card in less than four years under Wenger.

And it is certainly not the last we will hear about this latest one as Gunners contemplate Friday's semi-final draw - which could pair them with Premiership rivals Leeds.

Teams:

Werder Bremen: Rost, Eilts (Maximow 46), Baumann, Trares (Bogdanovic 46), Pizarro, Wiedener , Bode, Herzog,Frings, Ailton, Barten.

Subs Not Used: Flock, Dabrowski, Tjikuzu, Schierenbeck, Brasas.

Booked: Wiedener , Eilts.

Goals: Bode 41, Bogdanovic 60.

Arsenal: Manninger, Dixon, Luzhny, Adams (Petit 62), Silvinho, Parlour, Vieira (Winterburn 76), Grimandi, Ljungberg,Kanu (Overmars 70), Henry.

Subs Not Used: Keown, Suker, Malz, Lukic.Sent Off: Henry (63).

Booked: Kanu, Manninger.Goals: Parlour 8, 25, Henry 59, Parlour 70.

Agg (2-6)

Att: 33,875

Ref: K Nielsen (Denmark).