Arsenal vs Aston Villa. 21/10/95

Arsenal (0) 2 - 0 (0) Aston Villa

Highbury, Saturday 21st October 1995 (two reports)

Teams
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Adams, Bould, Winterburn, Keown, Parlour,
         Helder, Merson, Bergkamp, Wright
         Subs: Hartson, Jensen, Bartram 

Villa:   Bosnich, Charles, McGrath, Ehiogu, Southgate, Wright, Taylor, 
         Draper, Townsend, Staunton, Yorke
         Subs: Milosevic (Draper 61), Johnson (Staunton 61), 
               Fenton (McGrath 83)
 
Result  : Arsenal               (0) 2   Aston Villa            (0) 0
Scorers:  Merson 47, Wright 78

Bookings: Wright                        McGrath
                                     
Att     : 38271
Referee : R Hart (Darlington)

A performance that didn't quite reach the heights of the previous week, but was still in the end a competent and deserved victory against a Villa side that had plainly come to Highbury with the main aim of not losing. They played their usual five at the back, but then strung another four across the midfield, leaving only Yorke up front. Arsenal were not surprisingly unchanged from the previous week.

As others have pointed out, the first 35 minutes or so were pretty uninspiring, with Arsenal seemingly unable to unlock the Villa defence. In fact during that period Villa had probably the best chances. Some nice passing engineered space for a Staunton shot from just outside the area, which was deflected wide by a desperate last ditch Adams block. A mistake by Helder let in Draper for a run down the left, and shot which I think was also deflected harmlessly into Seaman's arms.

Meanwhile the ball spent most of the time in the other half, but Arsenal struggled to produce any goal attempts of note. Bergkamp had a run back across goal after collecting a ball played down into the left corner of the pitch, and ended it with a shot which was well struck but straight at Bosnich, and I think Dixon also had a long range effort which went over the bar.

However, it really took some bizarre refereeing decisions to spark the Gunners and crowd into life. About 10 minutes from half time Townsend absolutely clattered Bergkamp, possibly in retaliation for an earlier late tackle by the Dutchman. Seemed to me the main point of interest then would be whether the ref would produce a red or yellow card, but unbelievably he didn't even give a free kick. Merson then kicked the ball out of play so that Bergkamp could receive treatment and during the break in play, Wright appeared to kick the ball at the Villa bench and was naturally booked. Villa then compounded the perceived injustice by not giving possession back to Arsenal from the throw-in.

Still, it at least got the Gunners going. Not long afterwards Keown beat Bosnich with a header from a corner only to see Alan Wright, guarding the near post, clear off the line. Then Adams chipped a nice ball forward to find Bergkamp in a bit of space about 15 yards out. His volley as the ball dropped was reasonably well hit but Bosnich got down well to beat it out, and Wright was a bit unlucky not to capitalise on the rebound. However, his namesake's clearance went straight to Parlour about 10 yards inside the Villa half, and his run took him to the edge of the box where he unleashed a superb shot which was heading for the top corner before Bosnich reacted brilliantly to tip it over the bar.

Just after half time however, for the second match in succession, Merson and Arsenal were gifted the lead by the oppostion goalkeeper. Bergkamp sent Helder away down the left with a lovely reverse pass. Helder beat Charles but then scuffed his cross to leave Bosnich with what looked like an easy collect. However, the North Bank's collective groan was quickly turned into gleeful cheers as Bosnich somehow fumbled the ball and his desperate attempts to reclaim it succeeded only in pushing it goalwards, where Merson (commendably following up) had the easiest of jobs tapping in from about a foot. Particularly galling for the Villa fans who'd been amusing themselves at the start of the half by taunting Seaman.

Just what the match needed really, as Villa were then forced to come out of their defensive shell a bit and try and push forward more, and Arsenal were able to do more in the space thus created. A sweet break down the right between Bergkamp and Merson ended with the latter chipping a cross to find Wright charging in at the far post. He did well to volley back towards the opposite post, but Bosnich twisted in mid-air and stuck out a hand to save brilliantly and earn himself partial redemption.

Little then took off two midfielders, Draper and Staunton, and replaced them with two strikers, Johnson and Milosevic. It didn't really improve their attack though, and the closest they came to a goal was when a misunderstanding between Adams and Seaman resulted in Tone heading past Spunky as he came out, and then just managing to dash back and clear from just in front of goal as Milosevic challenged.

At the other end Arsenal were putting together some nice moves, with only the end result lacking. One of the best was when Helder came in from the left, played the ball along the edge of the box to Bergkamp, who in turn dummied to leave it to Merson. He collected but, faced by a defender, then touched it to his right to leave Dixon, steaming in, with a clear chance. However, his 18 yarder from an angle was blasted a few feet wide. Dixon later had a better effort from outside the box which only cleared the bar by a foot or so.

Another good move between Merson and Bergkamp should have resulted in Merse putting Bergkamp in for a shot from about 15 yards on the right, but his pass was overhit. Bergkamp still managed to chase and retrieve the ball to chip a cross to Wright at the far post where a defender just managed to get in front of him and head out for a corner.

Eventually Arsenal did get the second goal they deserved. Taking a pass from Bergkamp, Helder went on a lovely short run down the middle, swerving past a couple of challenges before laying the ball off to Bergkamp, about 8 yards out and wide on the right. I think he was actually trying to shoot but screwed it across the face of goal and it turned into the perfect cross to the far past where Wright was once again in the right place. His tap in was slightly mishit but would have gone in anyway, and went in off McGrath as he threw himself along the line.

In the end a reasonably satisfactory performance from Arsenal, though the first half hour was rather more like the ponderous Arsenal we've been used to over the last couple of years. The defence once again looked pretty solid and Parlour again had a good game in the middle. In attack I also thought Merse had one of his best games so far this season, and Bergkamp and Wrighty did as we've now come to expect. In the first half, Helder in particular was a bit frustrating with his reluctance to get stuck in, but he too had a good second half. Let's hope Arsenal's second half form is more like what we see in our next home match.

report by Derek Brownjohn.

A very tense match where I was standing. The first half was pretty poor really, and I shan't say much about it because most of it was forgotten after the drama of the second half. There was a terrific shot from Parlour, saved by the great Mark Bosnich, very late on the half. Villa did not seem very adventurous at all, they seemed to have come to Highbury looking for a draw, as I think a lot of clubs will be doing this season. They started with both Milosevic and Johnson on the bench, which I find extraordinary.

Our team was the same as the last few. Platt was in the boxes above us at the clock end. I didn't see him but apparently he was seen to wave at the Villa fans. I hope they enjoyed it, they were in very good voice for the first half, at least.

Just for the record:

Arsenal:
    Seaman, Dixon, Adams, Bould, Winterburn,
    Keown, Parlour, Merson, Helder, Bergkamp, Wright.

Goalscorers:
    Merson 48, Wright 78.

The Villa fans (just a few yards from where I sit) were certainly still enjoying themselves tremendously at the start of the second half. As Seaman came out to stand in the goal right in front of us, they gave an excellent rendition of "Nayim from the half-way line", which was highly amusing. A few gooners joined in (which I would like to see become a regular thing) and we responded with "England's No. 1" and so on. Then they started a new one, new to me anyway, flapping their arms in the air and going "let's all do the Seaman, let's all do the Seaman, la la la la, etc". Very funny. Not as funny as what happened next. No more than a couple of minutes after they'd started doing this, Glenn Helder got the ball on the left wing, took it to the by-line, and put a cross in which was way too close to Bosnich. He only had to drop to collect the ball, comfortably in his arms. Or that's what *should* have happened. This was *not* a difficult cross to gather. What actually happened was that he dropped to the ground, falling away from the goal, appeared to have the ball under control, and then managed to push it back towards the goal! It didn't go in, but it did get caught in his legs. The ball popped out onto the goalline, where Merson showed great composure in not falling to the ground in a fit of hysterics, and put the ball where it belonged.

"Let's all do the Bosnich, Let's all do the Bosnich, la la la la, etc".

Well, you can imagine....

After that, Villa made a very aggressive double substitution, bringing Johnson and Milosevic on for Draper and Staunton. From then on, they had a lot more of the ball, and things were pretty hairy. But our defence did their job well, and were helped by the fact that Villa didn't appear to have anyone who actually wanted to score. I think their match stats were 6 shots, 1 on target. That shot was straight at Seaman early in the first half. In fact they did have another shot, their best chance of the game, which came late in the second half. It didn't appear in the stats because the shot came from the Arsenal captain, who then scrambled back superbly for a last-second goal-line clearance, under pressure from a Villa player. In terms of potential goal-scorers, that sums Villa's performance up nicely. Who's have thought they'd be missing Fashanu ?

Our second came from a nice combination of Dutchmen. Bergkamp to Helder (who had come into the centre of the pitch as he did quite a lot in this game), then back to Bergkamp who crossed to Wright who slotted it home off of a Villa defender lying prone in the goalmouth (not off Bosnich I think, as the Soccernet report said). Admittedly, the Villa defence didn't seem to do a lot in the way of trying to stop us in this attack. So really, although I thought we always looked more likely, the 2-0 win was largely thanks to some real ineptitude on the part of the opposition.

Wrighty got booked for throwing the ball away, possibly *at* Brian Little, although I didn't see this. Certainly, immediately after the booking Ian went and shook the Villa manager's hand, so I think something like this happened. McGrath also got booked for petulance at a refereeing decision, although it should be said in defence of both players that the ref was a fool. It was Robbie "not a muppet oh no not at all" Hart and he hardly put a foot right all afternoon.

A good result, but not the best of performances. The first half there wasn't much for anyone to cheer about, but in the second everyone did their job reasonably well. Keown in the opposition half continues to be a liability. The defence were all their usual selves defensively, except that perhaps Nutty and Dixon were better than they have been of late, in this respect at least. Parlour looked very good, and showed some real touches of flair at times. We were continuing the practice of playing the ball out of defence quite a lot, often at times when it really didn't seem appropriate. Merson at one point practically dribbled the ball through our own crowded penalty area, and there were a lot of one-twos and so on being played in this kind of dangerous position. But they all came off and it was great to see so many of our players being prepared to use the ball rather than just hoof it. Merson had the best game I've seen from him this season. Bergkamp and Helder both looked good, and Wright was Wright. All over the place, chasing lost causes and finding spaces, scoring a goal and getting booked stupidly. Seaman had almost nothing to do but seemed happy. :-)

We're still 3rd. Newcastle won 6-1 at home to Wimbledon (not much chance of us winning the title on goal difference, I suspect :-) ). Man U beat Chelsea 2-0 at the Bridge. Boro won too (1-0), so are behind us only on Goal difference. Boro play MoanU next weekend (live on SKY on Sunday, Juninho's debut if his permit's sorted out). Then we go to Bolton on the Monday. The Saturday after that we're at home to MoanU. So it's a big couple of weeks, as periods this early in the season go.

report by Rupe.

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