Dennis Bergkamp struck the 11th-minute winner that beat battling Blackburn and took Arsenal back to the top of the Premiership.
The Gunners are a point ahead of Manchester United and two in front of Chelsea. But they had to sweat for their victory as Blackburn took charge for long periods.
Graeme Souness' side tossed aside the caution usually shown by visitors to Highbury.
Tugay and Barry Ferguson impressed in the centre of midfield. Dwight Yorke missed a good chance after 20 seconds and Jens Lehmann made crucial second-half saves from Ferguson and Craig Short.
Souness thought his side deserved a point saying: "Not many teams will come here and have as much of the ball as we did. On another day, we'd have got something." Arsenal looked like they were feeling the effects of their midweek Champions League game against Lokomotiv Moscow and manager Arsene Wenger said his team 'dropped physically' as the game went on.
They scored against the run of play. The impressive Kolo Toure burst clear of Vratislav Gresko and crossed low for Bergkamp to shoot past Brad Friedel.
Toure said: "It was a hard game. Blackburn are a good side. We were feeling a bit tired and they came at us, especially in the second half.
"We had some first-half chances, but today we didn't finish them off. But we stayed focused and our defence played well." Robert Pires came closest to a second for the Gunners. His 29th-minute curling shot left Friedel stranded but cannoned off an upright.
Patrick Vieira shot wide from a Thierry Henry pass and Henry's deflected shot bounced off the Blackburn keeper's foot.
The Gunners played on the break after half time. But they fashioned a great chance four minutes from time when Edu's cutback found Henry unmarked only for Arsenal's top scorer to shoot tamely at Friedel.