Arsenal survived Emmanuel Petit's third red card of the season as Ray Parlour and Dennis Bergkamp's penalty kept the Gunners hot on the heels on Premiership leaders Manchester United.

Sheffield official Uriah Rennie also sent off Everton skipper Don Hutchison in a performance that will see another high-profile referee under the microscope.

It could see Petit facing an FA disciplinary rap, certainly at least a two-match ban, but nothing that Rennie did - however controversial - deflected the champions from another quality display.

But the FA will certainly take a dim view of another Petit brush with officialdom, and his place in the FA Cup semi-final against United at Villa Park on April 11 is clearly in doubt, depending on the severity of any extra suspension.

Rennie's display will get the full slow motion treatment, no doubt, but Everton fought for their lives. However, they were just not good enough to claw their way back in a game Arsenal looked like winning from the moment they went ahead.

The Merseysiders' relegation nightmare gets no better, and with United and Liverpool their next opponents, blood pressure in the blue half of Merseyside is not going to get much lower in the coming weeks.

A packed Goodison witnessed an explosive first half, with Rennie once again taking centre stage. With Arsenal protecting a 15-match unbeaten run, and fielding their strongest side with Petit's return, it was always going to be tough for Everton, despite the confidence boost of their midweek win at Blackburn.

But the game was turned on its head after 18 minutes when Hutchison, who could well win his first call-up for Scotland later this week, was sent off in controversial circumstances.

An off-the-ball clash between Hutchison and former Everton star Martin Keown had Rennie reaching for his red card and signalling graphically that it was for the use of an elbow.

Everton's players were enraged, and the crowd howled their disgust from then on at every decision that the official made.

Hutchison was stunned, and had to be led to the touchline by two Arsenal players, Nigel Winterburn and Lee Dixon, having turned back to argue with the referee.

It seemed that Hutchison flicked his elbow backwards and caught Keown on the chest, but the home fans reckoned the England defender had made a real meal of it.

In his defence, Rennie was close to the incident and totally unmoved by the pleadings from Everton players. Keown was jeered every time he touched the ball from then on, and did nothing to help ease the tension by stupidly turning to wave at the fuming Everton fans.

The Hutchison red card came two minutes after Arsenal had taken the lead with a devastating goal. David Seaman had hurled the ball out to the left, Marc Overmars produced a stunning 35-yard angled cross, and Parlour arrived unmarked on the right to lash the ball inside the near post.

Arsenal had been threatening such a goal, with Overmars a constant danger and the supplier of crosses that should have brought goals for Dennis Bergkamp and Nicolas Anelka.

Everton's defence was constantly caught cold by lightning quick attacks, and they only occasionally threatened. Olivier Dacourt had two low shots, substitute Tony Grant - on for Richard Dunne - also fired in a couple of efforts that worried Seaman.

The explosive collision in midfield was bound to result in yellow cards sooner or later, and Dacourt, just back from his third suspension of the season, went into the book for a late lunge at Patrick Vieira, his French pal.

Tony Adams also went into the book for sending Dacourt spinning seconds before the break, and Rennie left the pitch to howls of rage from all quarters, with Nicky Barmby and Dacourt still arguing over the sending off.

But there was more drama to come, and another red card.

Adams could well have gone for a tackle from behind on Ibrahima Bakayoko, which should have been his second bookable offence.

But Rennie enraged the Everton fans even further by just warning the Gunners skipper.

But after 61 minutes Arsenal were down to 10 men when Petit lunged at Dacourt, and saw red for the third time this season. However it was Arsenal who took the initiative and grabbed their second, after 69 minutes, from the spot.

Parlour traded passes with Overmars, was sent clear in the box only to be tripped by Unsworth, who was the last man and denied him a goalscoring chance. Strangely on this occasion, he survived with just a booking.

Bergkamp stepped up to drill home the spot-kick, his 13th goal of the season, to kill the home side off.

Unsworth hit the bar with a snap-shot after 72 minutes, and Thomas Myhre produced a brilliant save to deny Nelson Vivas.

Everton took off the tiring Bakayoko and Nick Barmby, and threw on the kids in Danny Cadamarteri and Francis Jeffers, but it was a lost cause.

Arsenal's unbeaten run had been stretched to 16 games and they remain four points behind United at the top of the table.

Teams:

Everton: Myhre, Dunne (Grant 25), Watson, Materazzi, Ball, Weir, Dacourt, Unsworth, Barmby (Jeffers 74), Hutchison, Bakayoko (Cadamarteri 74).

Subs Not Used: Simonsen, Short.

Sent Off: Hutchison (18).

Booked: Dacourt, Unsworth.

Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Adams, Keown, Winterburn, Parlour, Petit, Vieira, Overmars (Upson 88), Bergkamp, Anelka (Vivas 63).

Subs Not Used: Manninger, Kanu, Diawara.

Sent Off: Petit (61).

Booked: Petit, Adams.

Goals: Parlour 16, Bergkamp 69 pen.

Att: 38,049

Ref: U Rennie (Sheffield).