Arsenal (1) 4 - 2 (2) Sheffield WednesdayHighbury, Tuesday 21st November 1995
Teams
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Adams, Bould, Winterburn, Keown, Platt,
Helder, Merson, Bergkamp, Hartson
Subs: Dickov (Helder h-t), Jensen, Hillier
Sheff W: Pressman, Atherton, Briscoe, Watts, Nolan, Sinton, Pembridge,
Hyde, Waddle, Hirst, Whittingham
Subs: Degryse (Pembridge 14), Bright (Degryse 75), Linighan
Result : Arsenal (1) 4 Sheffield Wednesday (2) 2
Scorers: Bergkamp 3, Winterburn 53, Hirst 9, Waddle 20
Dickov 64, Hartson 86
Bookings: Winterburn Briscoe, Watts
Att : 34556
Referee : L Dilkes (Mossley)
A highly entertaining game at Highbury last night, and in the end a
satisfactory result, but a lot of Arsenal fans will have been a bit
disturbed at the continued disarray in defence. As others have noted, it
was all a bit surreal. On the day the Evening Standard ran an article on
the Fabulous back Four, they handed Wednesday opportunities as if it was
already Christmas, particularly in the first half. At half time it
looked likely that the Gunners would lose, but then they storm back with
three goals from sources that you'd have got the longest odds on a
couple of weeks ago.
The first half was a bit reminiscent of black Saturday. A short period of early dominance rounded off with a stunningly easy goal. Hartson took down a long ball forward beautifully and was then held back as he tried to turn the defender just outside the area. Bergkamp strolled up and curled the 25 yard free kick round the wall and just inside the bottom of Pressman's left hand post. 1-0, simple really and everybody settled back to watch the rout. However, it was not to be. Waddle had already been causing Winterburn problems, and in the 10th minute the presence of Helder and Keown to help Nutty out only served to confuse matters. Waddle played a one-two with Nolan I think, and was allowed to continue unmarked to the by-line where he lofted over a lovely cross to the back post. Hirst climbed above Adams and headed powerfully past Seaman. Soon afterwards it should have been 2-1. More confusion down Arsenal's left let in Nolan for a clear run in the area at goal. He lifted his shot over Seaman but fortunately it smacked against the crossbar and rebounded to safety. A couple of minutes later it should have been 2-1 at the other end. Platt picked up Dixon's run with a beautiful pass, and Dixon in turn crossed along the ground to pick out Bergkamp unmarked at the far post. On his left foot though, the Dutchman tried to control it and the ball just ran away from him to allow Pressman to make a brave save at his feet. Wednesday eventually did take the lead about midway through the half. Winterburn again dithered over clearing a long ball forward close to the touchline and allowed an opponent to stab the ball towards the area where somebody, Waddle?, dribbled into the box. However it ran away from him and Bouldy collected the ball and started to carry it out of danger. However, he then promptly slipped and fell over, Whittingham gained possession and squared it back to Waddle in the middle of the area. From about 15 yards he whacked his shot through Adams? legs to give Seaman no chance. Not long afterwards Arsenal had Seaman to thank for keeping the deficit to one goal. More slack marking allowed one of the strikers, I think it was Hirst, a free run into the area but Seaman made a great save with his legs when it looked almost certain to be 3-1. Meanwhile at the other end Arsenal could have had an equaliser. Merson and Helder had swapped sides, possibly so that Merse could give Winterburn better protection, and a promising break down the right by Helder broke down when he squared the ball almost exactly between Hartson and Bergkamp. However, the defender's mishit clearance was picked up by Merson on the left and he chipped in a diagonal ball which found Hartson unmarked in the middle of the box about 12-14 yards out. He appeared to be put off by the defender's jump in front of him and ended up stooping and completely mistiming his header. At the break it was clearly time for Rioch to earn his corn, and this he did commendably, bringing on Dickov in place of Helder (who was possibly still feeling the injury picked up on Sat) and reorganising so that Arsenal were playing a sort of 4-3-3. It seemed to help tighten things up in midfield, where in the first half it seemed to me that both Platt and Keown were playing too deep. At times they were both just in front of the defence which left Wednesday plenty of space to exploit in the middle of the park. The atmosphere in the ground was helped when Arsenal got the equaliser fairly early on, and it was Winterburn who redeemed himself with his first league goal since August 92. Platt found Bergkamp wide on the left with a glorious cross field ball. Bergkamp cut into the area and held it up before setting Winterburn up with a lovely little ball into his path as Nutty charged forward. From an acute angle he lashed it past Pressman and into the net. The Owls could have regained the lead not long afterwards when, for the second time in two games, Bould lunged in on the edge of the area and uncharacteristically completely missed his tackle to leave Hirst, this time, free in the area. Fortunately he was rather wide to the left and Seaman was able to scramble his near post shot round the post. So it was to great relief that a few minutes later Arsenal regained the lead. Hartson got up well to nod on a long ball forward and leave Dickov clear in the area. He dragged the ball wide of Pressman's dive and had just enough room left to hook it inside the near post from an angle on the left. More confident now Arsenal began to dominate, to the extent that we even saw two creditable shots from the edge of the area by Martin Keown. The first flew a few feet over the bar, and the second following a lovely touch back by Bergkamp, was well hit along the ground but straight at the keeper. However at the other end Wednesday were still creating good chances to equalise. First Waddle took a quick free kick just outside the area to find the head of Bright completely unmarked on the penalty spot, but he put it fractionally wide. Then Hirst had space for a shot from the edge of the area which required another good save from Seaman, and finally Hyde hit the bar with a tremendous 30 yard shot which had Spunky beaten. Arsenal continued to press forward though, and after one or two more close shaves eventually got the fourth, with Martin Keown providing a lovely little cameo of skill to help set the goal up. I kid you not. First he flicked a volley with the outside of his foot on to Winterburn, and then when he got it back played a superb first time pass to find Platt out on the left wing. Platt cut back onto his right foot and bent in a cross to the middle where Hartson got his head to the ball and guided it just inside the far post. All a bit unbelievable really. The final five minutes then saw the Gunners and crowd enjoying themselves with some nice one touch passing. In fact I think Dixon was lucky not to go into the book (assuming he didn't), because after he'd hacked down Sinton, the ref played advantage and when Arsenal regained possession there was no break in play until the final whistle, a period of almost five minutes. In the end rather a flattering result I think. It was nice to see Arsenal score four, but equally worrying to see them concede two and be lucky it was only two. Winterburn was as bad in the first half as he was against Spurts. Waddle caused him great problems but faded somewhat in the second half. Adams and, particularly, Bould were also unusually uncertain, but hopefully it is only a temporary blip. A similar performance against Shearer et al on Sunday could be embarrassing. I also thought Keown had another good game particularly in the 2nd half, while Platt still seems a bit behind the pace but did play some lovely long passes. Hartson again seemed a bit heavy legged at times but did score and help set up two of the other goals. It'll still be a relief to get Wrighty back. And once again, as someone else said, Bergkamp was sheer class, even doing some good tracking back and tidying up in defence in the 2nd half. report by Derek Brownjohn copyright belongs to original author where credited. otherwise © Rupert Ward, ArseWeb MMV ArseWeb is NOT the official Arsenal site. The (excellent) official site is here |