Arsenal (1) 1 - 1 (0) Blackburn RoversHighbury, Saturday 19th April 1997FA Carling Premiership
scorers:
Platt Flitcroft
Arsenal:
Seaman
Winterburn Adams Keown Bould Dixon
Platt Vieira Hughes (Parlour)
Wright Bergkamp
A sickening day at Highbury as Blackburn came to spoil our
party and did so in shameful style. I won't knock them for
coming with the aggressive tactics they did: their players
clearly aren't that good so you do what you have to. But
the manner of their equaliser left all of us with a very
familiar and nasty taste in our mouths.
Tim Sherwood, supposed Arsenal supporter and one-time target, showed the way with an awful challenge in the first few minutes which earned him a booking. A few times after that in the first half he was lucky to stay on the pitch, but in particular just before half-time he caught Stephen Hughes badly and must have been extremely relieved when the referee failed to show the card. Then, around the 90 minute mark, he felled Hughes again and play went on for a while as our man writhed on the ground calling for assistance. Eventually Vieira got ahold of the ball and played it out to let the stretcher on to carry Hughes off. Parlour came on to replace him. Then, after a lengthy stoppage, Blackburn threw the ball back to Arsenal to continue the game. Except they didn't. The ball was thrown towards Winterburn (and it's quite possible that the thrower thought he *was* giving it back to us). But Nigel had to turn back to collect it, and already Chris Sutton was on his back. He chased our fullback into the corner where Winterburn waited till he was pushed in the back whereupon the referee gave a corner. Flitcroft met the corner at the edge of the box to put it over the defence. A well taken goal it must be admitted, and perhaps Blackburn might feel they deserved something from the game after rallying in the second half. However... It was bad enough when Tottenham came earlier in the season and did the same thing. Then we rubbed their faces in it with two superb late goals. This time however it was all too late and although we nearly did grab the winner afterwards it coiuld just as easily have been won by Blackburn in the extended period of injury time. Arsenal had been completely dominant in the first half. Platt scored the goal following in after a Keown header from Bergkamp's cross had come back off the post. The other chance particularly deserving of mention was a fantastic unexpected shot from Bergkamp which was heading just inside the top corner till Flowers pulled off a great save. Their was a lot of niggling right from the start. Wright and Berg were all pver each other and often ended up in a heap together. Wright was in playful mood, tickling Flowers in the box, shadowing and hugging Berg all over the place. But it didn't look particularly friendly, especially the few times Wrighty appeared to kick out at Berg. Berg got Wright booked in the end, after an incident where Berg appeared to be the one holding on to Wright he jumped up and started complaining to the ref whereupon the card came out. The referee had had words with Wright earlier so perhaps he was asking for it a bit. In the second half Blackburn were much better and caused us problems, but without ever really worrying Seaman until the goal. Arsenal should have made the game safe earlier with the dominance we had. We created far more clear-cut chances. One in each half fell to Winterburn (a perfect long diagonal ball from Vieira creating the first) but both times his left footed shot was straight at the keeper. Mn Utd would have been home and dry by the end, leaving the conroversial goal as a mere annoyance. So the equaliser, which came from what to all intents and purposes was blatant cheating on Sutton's part, has to be seen in that context. But it is a very sad day when the title is effectively won because of an incident like this. I'd never seen it happen before the Tottenham game and now it's been twice in one season. While at Highbury this season we have seen the good face of sportmanship in Robbie Fowler and his penalty denial, it's sad that what will stick in the memories of Arsenal fans is the disgraceful behaviour of specific Tottenham and Blackburn players. We always hated Tottenham, but I have a feeling that matches between Blackburn and Arsenal will never be the same again. Man Utd beat Liverpool 3-1 this morning which together with our draw makes them hot faves (Ladbrokes have closed the book). But we have to keep fighting to hang onto second place and the chance to beat ManU in the Champions cup next season. At the moment we're just above Liverpool on goal difference. Games coming up against Coventry (still not safe from the drop) and Newcastle (still with an eye on second place) will not be easy. I hope things didn't turn too nasty afterwards. You can't expect the supporters to come down to London from Lancashire and then not celebrate a last minute equaliser at Highbury, regardless of the circumstances. But if Chris Sutton's career is finished with a painful injury in the near future I for one would be only too happy. As the players were going in for that Blackburn corner Vieira made a bee-line for Sutton and shoved him for which he got a yellow card. But Sutton also got a card at the same time and I couldn't see why. It'll be very interesting to find out.
Pos TEAM P W D L F A PTS
1 [an error occurred while processing this directive]34 20 9 5 69 39 69
2 [an error occurred while processing this directive]35 18 10 7 58 29 64
3 [an error occurred while processing this directive]35 18 10 7 58 33 64
4 [an error occurred while processing this directive]34 17 9 8 67 40 60
5 [an error occurred while processing this directive]35 16 9 10 44 31 57
6 [an error occurred while processing this directive]34 14 14 6 47 40 56
7 [an error occurred while processing this directive]35 14 10 11 55 51 52
8 [an error occurred while processing this directive]34 13 10 11 45 43 49
9 [an error occurred while processing this directive]35 12 7 16 41 47 43
10 [an error occurred while processing this directive]35 11 10 14 27 37 43
11 [an error occurred while processing this directive]36 10 12 14 43 53 42
12 [an error occurred while processing this directive]35 10 12 13 42 54 42
13 [an error occurred while processing this directive]33 10 9 14 38 48 39
14 [an error occurred while processing this directive]34 8 14 12 36 36 38
15 [an error occurred while processing this directive]35 8 13 14 34 50 37
16 [an error occurred while processing this directive]35 9 10 16 32 51 37
17 [an error occurred while processing this directive]35 8 11 16 47 55 35
18 [an error occurred while processing this directive]33 8 11 14 33 43 35
19 [an error occurred while processing this directive]33 9 9 15 44 53 *33
20 [an error occurred while processing this directive]35 6 14 15 30 53 32
* Middlesbrough deducted 3 points
FA Carling Premiership
Arsenal vs Blackburn Rovers Sat Apr 19th 1997
Result : Arsenal (1) 1 Blackburn Rovers (0) 1
Scorers: Platt 18 Flitcroft 90
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Bould, Adams, Keown, Winterburn, Platt,
Vieira, Hughes, Bergkamp, Wright
Subs: Parlour (Hughes 90), Marshall, Merson, Anelka, Lukic
Booked: Wright, Bergkamp, Vieira, Dixon
Blackburn: Flowers, Kenna, Hendry, Berg, Pearce, Wilcox, Sherwood,
McKinlay, Flitcroft, Gallagher, Sutton
Subs: Pedersen (Kenna 81), Croft, Donis, Warhurst, Given
Booked: Sherwood, McKinlay, Pearce, Sutton, Wilcox
Att: 38086
Ref: M Riley (Leeds)
A disappointing and frustrating day, as Arsenal's slim hopes of the
league title were dashed first by Liverpool, and then by Blackburn's
injury time equaliser at Highbury. Rovers scored from a corner won by
ignoring football's unwritten rules on fair play, but in truth Arsenal
could really only blame themselves for not having made more concerted
efforts to wrap up the points earlier in the game.
Blackburn came to Highbury still desperate for points to ensure safety from relegation, and were clearly prepared to use physical intimidation as a means of getting their way. In the first five minutes Sherwood was booked for clattering Winterburn and the Blackburn defence in general handed out some uncompromising treatment to Bergkamp and Wright. However, it was the visitors who manufactured the first real threat on goal. Keown gave Sutton a bit of space and the striker was able to volley a cross from the right goalwards, and Seaman was forced into a good save, falling to his right. At the other end Arsenal were putting together some nice moves. One of these culminated in a superb volley from Bergkamp which was matched by an even better save from Flowers. A Dixon cross from the right was headed clear, Keown won a header from the rebound and the ball dropped to Bergkamp in the area. As it bounced against his chest he turned and whipped in a volley which was bound for the top corner before Flowers somehow got a hand to it and tipped it over. Soon afterwards Arsenal did go in front. In what now seems almost a pre-planned routine, Bergkamp mishit a near post corner, Hughes returned the rebound to him and the Dutch master's second attempt at a cross was perfect, finding the head of Keown about 10 yards out. His header beat Flowers but bounced back off the post, and Platt was quickest to react, turning the rebound back into the net with Flowers helpless. Arsenal's other golden opportunity in the half was set up by Vieira. He received a throw-in in the middle of the Blackburn half, and then played a brilliant defence-splitting pass into the area to pick out Winterburn's run in from the left. Nutty tried a side-footed shot from the corner of the 6-yd box, and Flowers was able to make a good save, albeit at the 2nd attempt. In the meantime the match was getting more niggly. Henning Berg appears to be one of those defenders that Wright doesn't like, and the two conducted a running feud all afternoon which eventually got WWW booked, though bizarrely, not Berg. Bergkamp also got booked for a bit of retaliation after being continually hacked at and pushed all through the half. Blackburn did have a couple of long range shots from Gallacher and Flitcroft, but didn't further trouble Seaman. At the other end Wrighty produced a nice moment when he decided to concentrate on football. He twisted and turned a defender 3 or 4 times before passing out to Winterburn, and Nutty's pass appeared to have sent Bergkamp through for a shot which screamed just over the bar, but the linesman's flag was up. The visitors came more into the match in the second half, during which Arsenal appeared more inclined to sit on their lead rather than going for more goals. That said, possibly because of Blackburn's more adventurous approach, the Gunners did still carve out the occasional good chance. The best of these again fell to Winterburn as he made a run into the area from the left. This time it was Platt who chested down a clearance just outside the area and held the ball before playing a clever little ball inside a defender for Winterburn to run on to. Nutty rode the challenge and then fired in a shot, again from an acute angle, and Flowers was lucky to see the ball cannon off his legs, against the post and straight out to Hendry who put it behind for a corner. Adams was instrumental in setting up another good opportunity, dispossessing Sutton on the half way line and charging forward before laying the ball off to Bergkamp. He then continued his run which left space for Wright to receive Bergkamp's return ball, but the striker's attempt from the edge of the box went a couple of feet wide. Wrighty also missed what looked a reasonable chance, completely missing an attempted volley when a Bergkamp corner cleared everybody else and dropped to him at the far post. However, WWW did set up two reasonable chances on the break. First he did well, nipping in to get his head to the ball as it bounced in front of Hendry. He took it on, and crossed into the area, but Hughes was the only one to get close to keeping up with Wright, and the cross was just too far in front of him. Then Bergkamp and Vieira combined well in the Arsenal half as a Blackburn attack broke down. The young Frenchman played a good first time ball out to pick out Wright as he made a run out to the right, and then charged forward to receive the return cross from WWW. Unfortunately he misjudged the flight of the cross somewhat and had to use an arm to control it, so despite finishing superbly with a left foot shot, the goal was ruled out. As the minutes ticked away at the end of the match, Blackburn brought on Pedersen for Kenna and began to look likely to snatch an equaliser. It was Pedersen who slipped a ball into the area for Sherwood to run on to an square across the face of goal. Gallacher ran onto it unmarked and looked certain to score until Dixon threw himself in front and pulled off a brilliant block. The 90 minutes were virtually up when Sherwood once again clattered Hughes with a nasty late challenge. When Vieira eventually regained possession he put the ball out of play to allow Hughes to receive treatment and eventually be carried off on a stretcher. Sutton roused the ire of the home crowd by flouting the rules of fair play and pressurising Winterburn into conceding a corner after collecting the throw-in. Vieira and Sutton got booked for a bit of pushing when the former quite understandably remonstrated with the latter over this bit of unsportsmanlike behaviour. I believe Vieira will now be suspended for the Newcastle match. Anger turned to fury when the corner was eventually taken by Gallacher and it dropped to Flitcroft who swung a desperate boot at it and connected with a half-volley which flew into the far top corner. The ref played enough injury time to have satisfied Alex Ferguson and Arsenal almost took advantage with a free kick on the edge of the Blackburn box. From a position which would have suited the left-footed Hughes, Bergkamp chipped into the box and Bould's header bounced just wide of the post. Overall, a rather disappointing performance from Arsenal, though the manner of Blackburn's equaliser left a rather bitter taste in the mouth. To be fair to the player who took the throw-in (Pearce?) I think he was giving possession back to Arsenal, but in addition to Sutton, most of the rest of the Blackburn team took up positions to pressurise Arsenal straight away. I note Sutton and Parkes are today both justifying their team by claiming that Hughes and Winterburn were timewasting. If Hughes just had cramp why is he now doubtful for today's game? I usually find getting studs raked down the side of my leg fairly painful - if he did have cramp it was a secondary effect. And Winterburn was hardly given a chance to do any timewasting. Having said all that Arsenal should not have been in a position to concede a last minute equaliser. In the 2nd half particularly they didn't in general display enough ambition I thought.
Seaman 7.0 One good save but little else to do otherwise.
Dixon 7.0 Not a bad game with that goal saving block, but didn't
see much of him in attack in the 2nd half.
Winterburn 7.5 Again ran all day, though if only his finishing had been
a little better we wouldn't have been rueing that
equaliser.
Adams 7.5 Another typical performance.
Keown 7.0 Perhaps slightly less secure than usual.
Bould 7.0 Another reasonably solid game.
Platt 7.0 Played reasonably well, particularly in 1st half.
Vieira 7.0 Also had a good game early on, but again give the ball
away more than usual in the 2nd half.
Hughes 7.5 Pretty good game again, looking sharper with each game.
Bergkamp 7.0 Looked reasonably on form again, but had to continually
struggle against physical intimidation.
Wright 7.0 I thought he had quite a good game away from goal, but
in front of goal missed the couple of half-chances he
had. Was a bit lucky not to be sent off during the
of his battle with Berg.
Report by Derek Brownjohn
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