Leeds' best chance of qualifying for the Champions League again may have to be winning it after this 2-1 defeat to Arsenal at Highbury

David O'Leary backed down from a pre-match pledge to rest a swathe of first-choice players at Highbury ahead of next week's Champions League semi-final second leg in Valencia.

However, they still lost to an Arsenal side who secured their own place in the top three as Leeds came off second best in a tempestuous encounter packed with controversy.

In a fixture full of bad blood, with 34 yellow cards and two reds in the past five encounters, flashpoints abounded, with Martin Keown accused of elbowing Mark Viduka in the face and standing on Lee Bowyer's arm.

The Australian also exacted his own retribution and Bowyer was guilty of play-acting in the first-half, while six yellow cards were shown.

The game itself was deservedly won by the Gunners, with Fredrik Ljungberg putting them ahead early on and Sylvain Wiltord striking the second on 57 minutes.

Leeds struck back through Ian Harte's free-kick within two minutes and had their best spell late on, but they were largely given the runaround by Arsenal.

At Highbury, it was all blood and guts, with Patrick Vieira - banned for kicking Olivier Dacourt in the head at Elland Road, while O'Leary clashed with Robert Pires - fouled twice in the first minute by Eirik Bakke.

The tone was set yet another combustible encounter, with four players booked in the first-half - and no prizes for guessing that Dacourt and Vieira were the first two.

Arsenal were meanwhile in command as Leeds chased shadows in midfield in trying to cope with the influence of the peerless Vieira while David Batty was absent through suspension.

Nigel Martyn tipped a powerful drive by Thierry Henry behind for a corner and Ljungberg squandered a free header just a couple of yards out.

However, Ljungberg quickly redeemed himself as Arsenal made their pressure tell on 17 minutes as he played a neat one-two with Henry before side-stepping past Martyn and clipping his shot home.

The focus soon returned to the ferocious tackling, with Bowyer inflaming matters by clutching his head after tangling with Henry even though the midfielder was apparently guilty of play-acting.

With Keown and Tony Adams virtually untroubled in the Arsenal defence, Bowyer wasted a half-chance and Keane was hauled off even before half-time and replaced by Jason Wilcox.

There was little that Leeds could do to stem the tide, however, and it was only a superb reaction save by Martyn just before the break that denied Lee Dixon's acrobatic scissors-kick.

Arsenal pressed home their advantage as Wiltord linked superbly in exchanging passes with Vieira before turning and striking a first-time shot into the far corner.

Leeds' answer was immediate as Ian Harte curled a sublime free-kick into the top corner within two minutes of the restart.

Arsenal still threatened on the break, but Leeds were given fresh hope - as long as they could keep their tempers.

That was in doubt after Viduka claimed to have been elbowed in the face by Keown and, after arguing with his own team-mates and even the club's physio, he exacted revenge himself a minute later and was booked.

With Bowyer also claiming that Keown had stood on his arm, tempers were again at boiling point.

Against this backdrop, the visitors almost equalised when Harte's 40-yard free-kick flew across the face of goal, just evaded Kewell and hit the post before rebounding to safety.