Sunderland defender Paul McShane was shown a straight red card by referee Rob Styles in the final minute at Emirates Stadium on Sunday after clattering into the Belarus midfielder, catching him in a particularly painful spot.

The Arsenal winger had been stretchered off in his last Premier League appearance at West Ham, following an overzealous challenge from Mark Noble which left him with a severely bruised knee.

Fortunately Hleb - who quickly recovered last week to play in the Champions League against Steaua Bucharest - showed no initial ill-effects from his latest bruising encounter in a game which Arsenal won 3-2 with a late goal from Robin van Persie, having earlier thrown away a two-goal lead in front of their own supporters.

McShane will now serve a three-match ban, and Sunderland manager Roy Keane has promised to further sanction the player if the club deem the challenge - which happened right in front of the away dugout - was "out of order".

Toure - standing in as skipper for William Gallas, who is on the comeback trail from injury this week with France - was less than impressed by the whole incident.

"When I saw that on the replay, I thought the intention was bad," said the Ivory Coast defender.

"He did not get to Hleb and I think sometimes it is better to relax (when a player is coming towards you).

"It can make something worse happen. The referee did well to send him off."

Toure quipped: "I spoke to Alex afterwards and I said 'they want to kill you' - but I was just joking!

"Alex is such a great player. He is okay, all right."

The victory was the 10th in a row for Arsene Wenger's emerging side, who are now on the club's best run of results since the unbeaten campaign of 2003/2004 when they last won the league title.

Wenger continues to call for a reality check on the achievements so far this season, insisting Arsenal must remain "humble" as they look to mount a sustained assault on the championship once again.

Toure, 26, played in those great sides which vied for domination of the English game, containing the likes of Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires and Thierry Henry, who left for Barcelona in the summer.

The softly-spoken defender, however, is keen to avoid making comparisons just yet.

"For the minute, we don't talk about it (winning the title)," he said.

"We just focus on what we are doing well, enjoy it and make our fans happy.

"At the end we will see how far we go. The season is really long."

Toure added: "It is really important for the team to keep on winning because the confidence is going higher and higher.

"At the moment we are doing that very well. The hardest thing is just to keep going.

"We are just focusing on every game as it comes and forget about the past."

Nevertheless, Arsenal head into the international break sitting proudly on top of the Premier League table, two points clear of Manchester United and with a game in hand.

Struggling Bolton are next to visit the Emirates in a fortnight's time, before the resumption of European competition against Slavia Prague.

Wenger, though, knows his cosmopolitan squad will have little down-time between now and then as they jet off around the world.

The Arsenal manager said: "I would prefer a complete break, and not an international break for the players.

"They will come back after playing two games with a lot of pressure on because many countries now play decisive games.

"Then when you come back, you play straight away in the championship and the Champions League again. It is too much."