(0) 0 - 1 (1) ArsenalVilla Park. Sunday 5th April 1998. kick-off 12 noonFA Cup semi-final
"Brian, is it my imagination, or are there four Vieiras on the pitch?" (the BFR, ITV commentary) (0) 0 - 1 (1) ArsenalVilla Park. Sunday 5th April 1998. kick-off 12 noonFA Cup semi-final
scorer: Wreh 12
Arsenal:
Seaman
Grimandi Adams Keown (Bould) Winterburn
Parlour Petit Vieira Overmars
Anelka (Platt) Wreh (Hughes)
A slightly edgy 1-0 win - it's becoming a habit (again)!
Arsenal dominated the first half totally, with Vieira in outstanding form in particular. On 12 minutes Hans Segers had to deal with a poor back-pass, and mis-hit the ball along the ground. Even so, it was heading straight for a Wolves player on the half-way line. But Vieira reacted first and stuck out a leg to intercept the ball. He then set off towards goal, beat a defender and gave Wreh a simple pass to set the Liberian up on the left-hand side of the area. He passed the ball inside the far post from 15 yards. Wolves came out fighting in the second half, and troubled us for the next half hour or so. At times our defence looked very shaky, through combinations of mis-cues, bad bounces, and dodgy handling. But they kept scrambling it away when it counted. The whole team looked completely shagged out. Seaman made a couple of good saves but at other times appeared to drop relatively easy catches (It was raining pretty hard at times). He did manage to show-off a bit too with some unnecessary one-handed ball handling, one time on the edge of the box, turning round holding the ball like a waiter with a tray so as to keep his hand in the area as his momentum carried his body out. There was one incident where Goodman appeared to touch the ball out of Seaman's hands (with his hand), and ended up with an open goal. But Petit got in to make a block, it wasn't clear if the transgression had been spotted (presumably not or he'd have been booked at least). But even in this spell Arsenal had some great chances on the break. And towards the end, they took control again. Overmars made a great run through several defenders before falling in the box. It looked a penalty but the only replay angle I've seen so far is inconclusive. Platt came on near the end for Anelka and from then on you knew that for once, crosses into the box were going to find an Arsenal player there. It was an excellent substitution and Platt did well for the few minutes he was on. Hughesy did ok too, but I wonder why it was Wreh that came off for him rather than Anelka. Under-par performances from some, including Seaman and Grimandi. Grimandi got booked fairly early and was a bit lucky not to see another one. He was getting a lot of space on the right wing early on but wasn't getting given the ball. Then when at least it was fed over to him, in acres on his own, he played the ball forward and off the pitch. Dixon would have had a lot more joy going forward, and may have helped make the defence more solid in the second half when things looked shaky. The passing from Arsenal players was woeful at times. Petit, for example, was superb in the tackle but kept giving it away. This was no classic, and the fact that Arsenal looked so much better than Wolves, on a day when Arsenal looked so much less than the team we all know they are, will come as little comfort to Wolves fans. My lasting memory will be the the sight of Nigel Winterburn at the final whistle, running about and jumping up and down like a mad thing, making windmills with both arms. In the other semi, a single goal from Alan Shearer was enough for Newcastle to beat Sheffield United. But first we have to face them in the league next Saturday, and we can hopefully forget about the FA Cup until the league season's over. In other news, Dennis Bergkamp has been named Player of The Year by the PFA. He becomes the first Arsenal player to win it since Brady in 79. Andy Cole came second and Michael Owen thrid.
Result : Wolves (0) 0 Arsenal (1) 1
Scorers: Wreh 12
Arsenal: Seaman, Grimandi, Adams, Keown, Winterburn; Vieira, Petit,
Parlour, Overmars; Wreh, Anelka
Subs: Bould (Keown 47), Hughes (Wreh 74), Platt (Anelka 83),
Boa Morte, Manninger
Booked: Grimandi, Parlour
Wolves: Segers, Muscat, Richards, Williams, Curle, Froggatt, Simpson,
Sedgley, Robinson, Goodman, Claridge
Subs: Bull (Goodman 68), Slater (Robinson 71),
Keane (Muscat 84), Stowell, Naylor
Booked: Williams
Att: 39372
Ref: S J Lodge (Barnsley)
A predictable result, another 1-0 win, another clean sheet. Comfortably achieved, apart from a period at the start of the 2nd half when the 1st division team's vigorous attacking briefly threatened to overcome Arsenal's attempts to keep Wolves at bay. With Wright and Bergkamp both still missing from Arsenal's attack it was a relief to discover that Overmars had been passed fit to play, though once again it was Chris Wreh who popped up with the winning goal. Not surprisingly it was the underdogs who started the game looking the hungrier, but the early pressure they sustained was for the most part dealt with reasonably comfortably by the vaunted Arsenal defence. The Gunners gradually worked their way into the game, and a blocked shot by Wreh following some good work by Parlour was the precursor of the match winning moment which arrived moments later. Segers miskicked his attempt at a clearance from a back pass, and the ball was picked up by Vieira a few yards inside the Wolves half. With his marker Sedgely caught napping, Vieira surged forwards, sidestepped a challenge on the edge of the area, and then touched a perfect pass to Wreh as he made a run on his outside into the area on the left. The young Liberian clinically dispatched a side-foot shot from 12 yards across the keeper and inside the far post. 1-0 to the Arsenal and a 9.5 for the gymnastic floor display. The rest of the half was comfortably dominated by the Gunners, but though Segers was kept busy, Arsenal didn't make much in the way of clear cut chances. Some good interplay between Anelka and Wreh set up Overmars for an angled shot from the left corner of the area, but Segers saved relatively comfortably. The keeper was more troubled a few minutes later following a good run down the right by Anelka. He held the ball up just outside and to the right of the area before playing it square in an attempt to pick up Parlour's run. A defender just intercepted, playing it back towards his own goal line, but Parlour anticipated well and nipped in to reach the ball just before Segers rushed out belatedly. The keeper made a good block, and the ball rebounded to Anelka, but with defenders closing him down quickly, he put a rushed shot from an acute angle wide of the near post. Segers later made another good save from Parlour, this time doing well to hold on to a 30 yarder that dipped and skidded off the wet turf just in front of him. Arsenal continued to press forward, Winterburn making a run and trying a shot from the edge of the area which had Segers scrambling across his goal but went a yard or two wide of the near post. Parlour and then Overmars won free kicks just outside the box, and Overmars' efforts from both were deflected wide. Petit seemed to be illegally held off the ball by Curle as he chased a pass into the area on the right, and then just before half time Anelka dribbled along the touchline on the left before being barged off the ball by Williams I think. Both penalty appeals waved away by the referee. At the other end Wolves were restricted to a couple of moments of mild alarm, most notably when a long ball from Richards split the Arsenal defence and Goodman got in behind Adams. The ball ran away from his attempt to chest it down though, and Seaman was able to come out sharply to collect, in the face of raised studs from Goodman, which earned him strict admonitions from Adams and Seaman but none from the referee. The second half was a different story as Wolves started as though a place at Wembley depended on it. In the opening minute Goodman flicked on a long punt from the back and the Arsenal defence was caught ball watching as Simpson raced onto it and struck a first time shot from the edge of the area. It seemed to catch Seaman by surprise but fortunately was more or less straight at him so he was able to beat it away and Adams completed the clearance. Soon afterwards Keown had to go off with an eye injury sustained by Simpson's elbow late in the 1st half, and for the next 15 minutes Wolves attacked enthusiastically. They made particular leeway down the left where Froggatt caused Grimandi consistent problems, and there were more panicky moments in the Arsenal defence which for the first time put the result in doubt. First a cross from the left seemed to be comfortably claimed by Seaman, but he dropped the wet ball at Goodman's feet (though the TV pictures later suggested the striker had knocked it out of his hands with an arm), and the striker seemed to have an easy opportunity to chest it down and then knock it into the empty net from 3 yards. Fortunately he took too long over it and Petit arrived to put him off and the ball went just the wrong side of the post. Meanwhile Arsenal were looking dangerous on the break but were tending to waste good positions with poor final balls. Vieira brilliantly (though heart-stoppingly) juggled the ball past a couple of Wolves players on the edge of his own area before striding clear and releasing Parlour for a run into the Wolves half. Overmars and Anelka were both racing clear down the left, but Parlour miscued his attempt to find the former, and gave Segers an easy interception. Parlour was again later guilty of a bad final pass after being beautifully set up for a free run down the right by Wreh, but with Anelka keeping pace and unmarked in the middle, Parlour's pass into the middle was a couple of yards too far in front. At the other end Wolves missed another good chance shortly after Bull had come on in place of Goodman. He stumbled through a challenge by Adams on the edge of the area, and the ball ricocheted through to Claridge's feet in yards of space in the middle of the area. An appalling first touch let the ball run away from him though, and he was reduced to a rather comical attempt to win a penalty by a delayed trip over Seaman as the keeper slid out. The danger still wasn't cleared though as Grimandi's weak clearance was blocked, Vieira miscued an attempt to flick the ball away and Seaman had to be alert to block Claridge's attempt to fasten onto the rebound. Wolves' initial storm gradually blew itself out though and as the half wore on Arsenal managed to reassert their earlier dominance. Petit broke towards the Wolves area before slipping a pass to Winterburn as the old warhorse charged up unmarked on his left. Nutty fired in an accurate shot from just inside the area which Segers got down well to and just managed to scramble round his near post. Anelka then appeared to be illegally impeded by Curle as he threatened to fasten onto a pass from Wreh. Wreh was replaced by Hughes with 15 minutes left which allowed Overmars to move into the middle and the flying Dutchman was prominent in most of Arsenal's dangerous moments for the rest of the game. Anelka did well to dispossess Richards in the area and cut along the byline before Richards redeemed himself by getting back to tackle just as Anelka was about to try a shot from an acute angle. The ball broke to Overmars as he waited near the penalty spot, but he took too long and Robinson was able to nip in to clear. Then Overmars picked up a clearance from a corner and sent back a long diagonal cross from the left which picked out Bould at the far post, but the big defender couldn't get enough on his header which went straight at Segers. As the clock ticked on and Wolves pushed forward in search of the equaliser they left gaps at the back which Arsenal could and should have exploited. Anelka broke towards the area and face by a couple of defenders should have played Petit in as he made a run completely unmarked on his left, but he chose to try and dribble through and lost the ball. It was his last chance as he was substituted by David Platt shortly afterwards. A run from Overmars was ended by a trip on the edge of the box, and Hughes fired the free kick narrowly wide of the near post. Another dribble by Overmars into the area a minute or two from time appeared to be ended by a clear trip by Williams a yard or two inside the box, but the ref denied the penalty appeals. Even the Wolves players seemed to expect a penalty because virtually everyone stood and watched while Platt picked up the rebound and whipped in a 20 yard shot which Segers again did well to push round the near post. Soon afterwards the ref blew for time, to cue delighted celebrations amongst the Gooners in the stands and the Gunners on the pitch. Overall, a competent if not exactly thrilling display by Arsenal, though it is rare that semi-finals do produce scintillating performances. Still, it's a great relief to have the Wembley place booked and turn our full attention on the battle for the league.
Seaman 7.0 Made the ball look like a bar of wet soap a couple of
times in the 2nd half, though it was pissing down with
rain at the time and there were mitigating circumstances
on one occasion. Made a couple of good saves but
otherwise had little to do.
Winterburn 7.5 Pretty much as you'd expect from Nutty. Competent in
defence and enthusiastically got forward when he could.
Grimandi 6.0 Had a lot of trouble coping with Froggatt in particular,
though as someone pointed out he seemed to be carrying
an injury for much of the second half.
Adams 8.0 Another commanding performance.
Keown 7.5 Again solid defensively.
Vieira 8.5 Magnificent in midfield again, particularly in the 1st
half when it seemed he could have beaten Wolves on his
own.
Petit 7.5 Again did a lot of covering and chasing, though perhaps
offered slightly less in attack than recently.
Parlour 7.0 Also chased and ran his heart out again, though spoiled
some great runs in the 2nd half with that old complaint
about his final ball. Mysteriously booked, which means
he is suspended for the Barnsley match.
Overmars 7.0 Ironically very quiet in the 1st half, but as the match
was stretched in the 2nd he came more into it.
Wreh 7.5 I thought he played very well in the 1st half and his
finish for the goa was superb. Less prominent in the
2nd half and seemed to be playing deeper.
Anelka 6.5 Did a fair bit of running and chasing and had some good
moments, particularly in the 1st half.
Bould 7.5 Did his usual competent job.
Hughes 7.0
Report by Derek Other reports
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