Chelsea (1) - (1) Arsenal
Stamford Bridge. Saturday 8th September 2001
FA Carling Premiership
Scorers: Hasselbaink 31 (p) Henry 17
Arsenal:
Seaman
Lauren Adams (Campbell) Keown Cole
Bergkamp (Kanu) Grimandi van Bronckhorst Pires
Henry Wiltord (Ljungberg)
subs: Wright Inamoto Campbell Ljungberg Kanu (?)
booked: Pires 25, Keown, Cole, Grimandi
Arsenal went for an attacking line-up with Dennis
Sylvain and Wiltord all starting. Not sure how to describe
the formation but at times it looked 4-3-3 with one or
two of the strikers going deep or wide to bolster the
midfield. It was curious to see Francis Jeffers not
even get on the bench after his 4 goals in 2 games
for England U21s, but perhaps there was a fitness
question. In the end, we probably could have done
with him.
Henry skipped past 2 defenders after 5 minutes but
the shot enabled De Goey to make an easy save at
chest height.
Bronco played a nice one-two with Dennis but
Le Saux got in to tackle him on the edge of the box.
Grimandi robbed Zola on 13 but then gave the ball away.
Chelse got it forward to Hasselbaink whose shot was
deflected wide off Keown. From the resulting corner
Seaman saved well from Desailly at close range after Lauren
had allowed the French defender space..
Pires continued his great start to the season creating
the opening goal for Henry on 17. Terry gave the ball away to Wiltord near
the half-way line and he gave it Lauren on the right wing.
He took it level with the penalty spot before cutting the ball
back to Bob. He took it past
a defender and put in a shot which De Goey could only
palm to Thierry whose half-volley, after chesting it down,
gave him no chance.
A Cole ball out of defence was headed back towards his keeper by
Desailly but weakly. Wiltord nipped in to loop it goalwards
over De Goey but Le Saux got back to head it clear.
Then Hasselbaink got the ball in the net but the whistle
had gone ages aearlier for offside.
Adams peeled away from Petit at the far post at a corner
but De Goey managed to get in before him to save.
On 25 mins, Pires was booked for a foul on Zenden as
the Dutchman looked set to go clear on the break.
Then Zola won a penalty off of Adams and Keown. Adams
failed with the initial tackle then got back.
It wasn't clear whether his clumsy second challenge
or Keown's trip was the cause of Zola's going down.
Or if he just went down, if you know what I mean.
Hasslebaink drilled the penalty low past Seaman
to level the scores.
Near the end of the half Lauren and Wiltord combined well
down the flank, nice to see Lauren beating Zenden. The
Camerounian's cross found Bergkamp whose header was
well saved by De Goey who started off going the wrong
way - perhaps because of the handball by Gallas which Bergkamp
was claiming. But the hand also slowed it down enough to
make the save possible. No getting away from the fact that it was a
good chance missed.
Then Terry (not Thierry) was allowed a free header in the box from a
free-kick, but it flew over the bar. Pires should have jumped with him
but Terry was much more determined.
The teams came out unchanged for the second half.
Wiltord did well with a run and cut-back to Bergkamp
but he didn't catch the half-volley right and it
trickled harmlessly through to De Goey.
Cole was booked and then argued with the decision
giving Chelsea an extra 10 yards (a dodgy time to
be tempting a second yellow card).
Hasselbaink beat Keown easily to get onto a Zola ball
but then his first touch was awful as he received
it, and the ball came through for Seaman.
Cole blocked a Lampard shot and we were fortunate
to get some breathing space, Lauren being fouled just
outside the box as Arsenal struggled to clear.
Chelsea were having the best of it but Arsenal
looked dangerous on the break once or twice.
One time Wiltord wasted it, hitting his pass for
Henry too far behind him. Then Henry and Cole
nearly combined to create a chance down the left
but Chelsea got back to clear and van Bronckhorst
was booked tackling back to stop the Chelsea
counter-break.
De Goey punched a Bronco free kick away from Adams.
The Cole went on a strong run on the break and was
brought down cynically by Gallas: virtually identical
to the Pires booking but there was no card for the
Chelsea player.
Straight away Cole created a good chance for himself,
cutting in from the left and playing a one-two with
Henry before hitting a powerful first-time
shot with the outside of his
left foot which De Goey saved well.
15 minutes to go and Kanu came on for Bergkamp.
Shortly afterwards, Keown got tight on Hasselbaink
and, possibly after a free-kick had been given
against Martin, Hasselbaink elbowed him in the face
and was rightly sent off. Keown was booked, maybe
for shirt-holding.
Gallas made a good run in from the wing, got it
back from a neat Zola back-heel, and struck it
towards goal where Lampard got a touch under
pressure from Seaman and it went wide for a
goal kick. After that Arsenal started to take advantage
of the numerical advantage.
Then Adams limped off with Campbell coming on
to replace him.
Keown managed to scrape an excellent Le Saux cross
away from Zola for a corner (not far from an
onw goal), and then Seaman was lucky when he dropped
the ball to Desailly's feet but the Frenchman was
slow to react and Dave was able to gather at the
second attempt.
Kanu got a good shot in from a narrow angle after a brilliant turn
around Terry but it was saved well, and Kanu's second
effort after it came back to him was deflected into the
keeper's arms.
With 5 minutes to go Ljungberg came on for Wiltord
(a little surprsing that Freddie didn't start -
perhaps he was being rested for Tuesday although
with Vieira and Parlour able to return to the side
you wouldn't think it necessary).
Kanu had a shot deflected wide from 6 yards after
Cole did brilliantly to win the ball off Desailly
and Keown headed his cross on to the striker.
Grimandi had a great chance when a lob into the box
found him clear in the box but he didn't seem to
realise how much time he had and just glanced a header
through to De Goey.
Kanu created another chance for himself but hit
the shot straight at De Goey, just as the full-time
whistle went.
report by Rupe
Preview
The last 2 times we played at Stamford Bridge, we gave
them a 2-goal start.
Arsenal have not lost to Chelsea in our last 11 league meetings,
and have won more of the head-to-heads at the Bridge than Chelsea!
- Arsenal team news
Ray Parlour will be suspended following his sending off
at Middlesbrough on the first day of the season, and
we think that Vieira joins him following his red card
at home to Leicester. So will Grimandi start or will Wenger be bold
with Pires and van Bronckhorst? Lauren is another possibility
in central midfield, if Dixon is ready to return, but
my money's on Gilles.
Martin Keown is ready to return, having come through
90 minutes of reserve team action during the week. Chances
are Wenger will stick with Campbell and Adams, although he may
feel it's time to rest one of them (Campbell having just had 2
international matches in a week)
update Friday
Lee Dixon and Oleg Luzhny are both out with knee injuries,
so Lauren will have to continue at right back. Enter the
Grimster....?
Wiltord has been suffering from a tummy problem since
following the French trip to Chile. He should be ok though.
- Chelsea team news
There was hope that Hasslebaink might be banned. He was sent off
in a pre-season friendly against Udinese, but it appears that the
Italian FA have so far failed to report it to the FA. If they do,
the striker would be banned for 1 to 3 matches, so let's hope
they do report it, and soon.
Keeper Carlo Cudicini returned to action this week in a
3-3 reserve draw with Southampton. He is in contentino for
the squad to face Arsenal but if not considered quite
ready the Ogron Ed De Goey will continue to deputise.
Roberto Di Matteo is still out with the mutliple leg fracture
suffered a year ago, but he is hopeful of returning to
action soon.
We understand that Ferrer and Ambrosetti are both out injured,
although the former is expected to be returning sometime this
month. (in fact Ferrer played for the reserves this week,
but chances are he won't be brought back just yet).
Chelsea used 5 in midfield in their last game at Soton, but are
widely expected to be more attacking against us, with Zola returning
to the starting line-up. So far they've used Zenden on the left, but
perhaps they'll switch him to the right so as to put him up against
Ashley Cole - who didn't have a good time against him in the
England-Holland match.
- UK TV/Radio coverage
Our understanding is that the Norwegian channel which is
showing the game is the one which some pubs can get. See
pub list for some ideas.
- non-UK TV coverage
- USA: live on Setanta, 7am Pacific, 10am Eastern
(thanks to Lawrence for the info)
- Australia: live on Fox Sports, 11.55pm Saturday
(thanks to Jamie for the info)
- Scandinavia: it's on Canal+, possibly only highlights at half-time
and full-time of their main game. Definitely Norway & Finland,
could be available in many other countries to. Check your
local Canal+ listings.
- For details, and countries not listed above, see the
non-UK TV FAQ
- See also
Other reports
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Useful links for travelling fans
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- Football Ground Guide. Lovely site, loads of info, pics, diagrams, etc
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- Football Grounds frenzy. Wonderful photos of football grounds, with a little info too. Everything apart from
glitzy new grounds, and no Premiership ones. Might be handy for Cup games, and
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Information for travelling sports fans. directions, car parks, eateries,
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- Our own Highbury pages for useful info for Arsenal's home games.
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