Wenger and Fergie top heavyweight class

As it was, referee Steve Bennett issued five cautions, dismissed Arsenal's Francis Jeffers and could have also sent off Ashley Cole and Sol Campbell.

The dismissal of Jeffers, after just 13 minutes on the pitch, was the 50th of Arsene Wenger's reign as manager and is a timely pre-season reminder that he needs to stress to his players once again the value of good discipline.

Reckless and petulant, Jeffers was sent off for kicking Phil Neville. Well, it was hardly a kick at all, but it was enough to provoke the wrath of the referee. "He deserved to go," admitted Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. "To be honest, the last thing we wanted in that heat was to go down to ten men."

As a spectacle it wasn't much to get excited about and I wonder whether the appeal of travelling to Cardiff for this match is wearing thin. Arsenal sold only 16,000 of their allocation of 24,000 tickets, a factor in the lowest attendance - 59,293 - since 1995.

United were marginally better at keeping the ball - an essential requirement in such heat - and demonstrated that there will be life at Old Trafford after Beckham (and Veron for that matter).

"I thought it was a decent enough performance, but nothing special," said Sir Alex Ferguson.

United had Ryan Giggs with Ruud van Nistelrooy at the front, but were at their best when Giggs ran at the Arsenal defence from wide positions. Arsenal missed the experience of the injured Martin Keown and their defence may once again be the deciding element in the outcome of the new season's title race.

Wenger was disappointed with his team's defensive performance last season and will be looking for a significant improvement. "I thought we looked quite solid at the back yesterday," he said.

That wasn't the case in the 15th minute when Roy Keane, at the near post, back-headed Giggs' corner from the United right. Silvestre, playing his preferred centre-back role alongside Rio Ferdinand, timed his advance perfectly and powered his header past Lehmann.

Arsenal were not behind for long. Howard will quickly learn that he needs a big and correctly positioned defensive wall when facing a free-kick from Henry. The Frenchman spotted the flaw in the United rearguard and from 30 yards curled his shot just inside a post.

Howard, a £2.3million signing from the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, redeemed himself in the penalty shoot-out that became increasingly inevitable as the heat sapped the energy levels of the players.

"Apart from saving those penalties he didn't have a lot to do," said Ferguson.

The American's saves, from Giovanni van Bronckhorst and, critically, Robert Pires gave United their first victory in this prestigious curtain-raiser since 1997, when they beat Chelsea 4-2 on penalties.

Since then they've lost four Charity Shield matches - but won the Premiership four times. That tells you how much relevance to attach to yesterday's result.