Arsenal 4 - 0 Leicester City

	Red-carded Vieira challenges Izzet (StuForster/Allsport)

Both were sent packing in the 58th minute after appearing to clash heads - if men of 6ft 4in and 5ft 6in can clash heads - following the booking of Leicester's Damien Delaney for hacking down Robert Pires.

The double red represents a depressing start to the Premiership campaign for two players desperate to clean up their bad-boy image.

Vieira, sent off on the first day of last season at Sunderland, spent much of the summer deliberating whether he should even stay at Arsenal. This was the sixth time he has been shown the red card in five years at Highbury.

As this was a second-yellow offence, following a first-half caution for a late tackle on Muzzy Izzet, he will be suspended for only one game.

As for Wise, sent off for the 12th time in his career in only his second game for Leicester since signing from Chelsea, he faces a three-match ban for receiving an outright red card. This followed a yellow just three minutes earlier for his lunge on Freddie Ljungberg.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger defended Vieira and accused Wise of looking for trouble. 'Wise tried to wind Patrick up in the game ball after ball,' claimed Wenger.

'There were two or three challenges before from him and, in the end, they over-reacted. I expected the referee to calm things down, not send them off. It was not a major incident and I see this as an early-season decision.'

Vieira, meanwhile, was protesting his innocence. 'I don't think I deserved it,' he said. 'The first yellow card was for a late challenge and I can accept that. But it's very difficult to accept the second one.

'After the challenge on Pires, Dennis Wise went up to him shouting. I told Wise to be quiet and play football. Then we went head to head. It all happened so quickly.'

Leicester boss Peter Taylor insisted that neither should have been sent off. He said: 'They weren't even yellow-card offences. I've spoken to the referee and he told me Wise was sent off for a head-butt but I've seen the video and I couldn't see any butt at all. It was just eyeballs.

'I'll be asking the referee to look at the video in the hope he may change his mind. It's a bit silly, really. You've got to be allowed to show a few feelings in this game.'

Taylor, with his team bottom of the Premiership, could not hide his frustration afterwards. 'When you're struggling you need everyone available,' he said, aware that Frank Sinclair and Robbie Savage also picked up yellow cards.

Struggling is an understatement for a Leicester team who were outclassed by a rampant Arsenal. Taylor, the former stand-in England manager, will find himself under even more pressure this morning having guided Leicester to no points, no goals and nine against in their first two games.

Arsenal's opening goal came after 17 minutes when Tony Adams managed to keep the ball in play and Pires stroked it across the face of the goal for Ljungberg to net with ease.

In the 28th minute, a delightful Dennis Bergkamp back-heel bamboozled the Leicester defence, providing Pires with another simple cross for Sylvain Wiltord to score. Arsenal's 77th-minute third came courtesy of substitutes Thierry Henry and Kanu. It was Kanu's lay-back that gave Henry the chance to score his 50th goal for the club, although it took a significant deflection off Sinclair to beat Tim Flowers.

Kanu scored himself in the final seconds after Flowers had saved Henry's header.