Festa, on for the injured Ugo Ehiogu, diverted Thierry Henry's 39th-minute corner past Mark Schwarzer.

Both sides started brightly and Thierry Henry found space down the left in the fifth minute and fed Sylvain Wiltord at the far post, only for the shot to skim across the face of goal and out of play.

Boro hit back when Allan Johnston ran and crossed for Alen Boksic and Sol Campbell needed to be alert to block the Croat's attempt on goal.

Then Gareth Southgate was forced to concede a corner under pressure from Fredrik Ljungberg and after Franck Queudrue headed the ball straight up in the air, Dennis Bergkamp unleashed a powerful strike which Mark Schwarzer did well to claim.

Play moved from end to end with Dean Windass forcing Richard Wright into a fine one-handed save with a powerfully-struck effort and then Henry shot from distance after a run at the defence.

Boro created the first real chance with 23 minutes gone when Windass headed on to Boksic and he turned Campbell superbly to home in on goal.

Campbell got in a good recovering tackle but the ball ran to Luke Wilkshire, who cut inside on to his right foot but shot into the side-netting.

Arsenal broke at pace two minutes later when Patrick Vieira and Henry combined to put in Wiltord down the right, but Johnston got back well to concede a corner.

Both sides were dealt blows within seconds as first Ehiogu and then Oleg Luzhny limped off to be replaced by Festa and Lee Dixon respectively.

Disaster struck soon after for Festa when he attempted to clear Henry's driven cross but only succeeded in thumping the ball into his own net with Schwarzer stranded.

A deflated Boro tried desperately to re-group as the Gunners went for the kill, but Bergkamp's 43rd-minute chip from the edge of the box, which sat up nicely for Schwarzer, was as close as they came to extending their lead.