For a side that had aspirations of winning the Premier League title, Arsenal's form away from home during the 2000-01 campaign was rotten.
The Gunners won just five times on the road, while there was seven defeats and a further seven draws. During that time, Arsene Wenger's men found the net on just 18 occasions, with 25 goals being shipped up the other end.
In response to that, Wenger spent big in the transfer market during the summer of 2001, with the likes of Francis Jeffers, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Richard Wright arriving at Highbury. However, it was the addition of a player that did not command a fee - Sol Campbell - that caused the most controversy.
After all, the centre-back had risen through the ranks of rivals Tottenham Hotspur, but instead of committing his future to White Hart Lane, Campbell instead allowed his contract to run down. In turn, that allowed the England international to make the switch across North London as a free agent - a decision which did not exactly go down so well with supporters of the Lilywhites.
All the talking stopped 14 years ago today, though, as Campbell made his competitive debut in the heart of the Arsenal defence at The Riverside Stadium, home of Middlesbrough. Not only did Arsenal head into the encounter on the back of a sequence of poor away results from the previous term, they had also been defeated in three of their last four meetings with Boro.
But, any potential nerves evaporated as soon as Thierry Henry broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute. Campbell was actually heavily involved in the move as it was his long pass that found Sylvain Wiltord. The home defence failed to deal with the Frenchman's cross from the right flank and they were duly punished when Henry fired a volley into the bottom corner.
Just six minutes after the restart the visitors were reduced to 10 men when midfielder Ray Parlour was handed his second caution of the contest for a foul on Ugo Ehiogu. But, hosting Boro failed to press home their numerical advantage and in fact the numbers were evened up three minutes from time.
As Arsenal full-back Ashley Cole attempted to ghost into the Boro penalty area behind Ehiogu, he was clipped by the centre-back, leaving the referee little choice but to brandish the red card for a second time. The responsibility from 12 yards went to Robert Pires, who sent Mark Schwarzer the wrong way.
Wenger's men were not done there either because in the 88th minute Cole played in substitute Dennis Bergkamp to roll in their third goal, before the Dutchman then produced a similar type of finish just 60 seconds later to add further gloss to the scoreline.
After the final whistle, goalscorer Henry said: "I saw something today I never saw last season - we played as a team. It's the most important thing in football. If we're going to win the title then we're going to have to win it away from home."
Meanwhile, debutant Campbell added: "It was my first full 90 minutes since March. Being out of the England team helped me form a partnership with Tony Adams in training."
MIDDLESBROUGH: Schwarzer; Fleming, Cooper, Southgate, Ehiogu; Ince, Mustoe (Wilson), Greening, Windass (Ricard); Boksic, Job
ARSENAL: Seaman; Cole, Adams, Campbell, Lauren; Vieira, Pires, Ljungberg (Grimandi), Parlour; Wiltord (Van Bronckhorst), Henry (Bergkamp)
Liam Apicella
