(0) 1 - 2 (1) ArsenalUpton Park. Tuesday 6th January 1998Coca-Cola (League) Cup Quarter FinalA good recovery from recent form, with Wright and Bergkamp combining well again, and Overmars continuing his good form and popping up to score the winner. It could have been so different. On about 18 minutes Seaman made a mistake in bringing Kitson down in the box. The challenge wasn't even necessary with the ball running out of play, but the bad pitch (having been ploughed up by the combination of heavy rain and the FA Cup match on Saturday) possibly made it hard for the keeper to stop. The pitch could have had an effect on Hartson too, when he hit the tame penalty much too close to Seaman who had to stop himself from diving too far and managed to fall on the ball comfortably. Seaman said afterwards that he saw Hartson's standing foot slip as he was about to strike. On 25 minutes West Ham paid for it as we took the lead with a fantastic goal from Wright. Under challenge from two defenders he controlled a long ball beautifully on the edge of the area, on our left, but was still a bit fortunate when a slight deflection took it straight to Bergkamp, a few yards deeper and more central. Wright continued his sideways run along the edge of the box, leaving his marker for dead, and took Bergkamp's return ball in his stride before knocking it in off Forrest's chest with his right foot. Our second came thanks to a mix-up in the West Ham defence. The ball spun high in their box with only Overmars there to threaten their 2 defenders (Ferdinand + ?). It should have been cleared before it bounced but instead, when it came down right between the defenders, they left it for each other and the spin on the ball took it towards goal. Overmars shrugged his man off and coolly finished. West Ham's goal came in a similar fashion. Bould and Keown chased a long ball back towards our goal and didn't take the threat of Abou seriously enough. Instead of hacking it away Abou was allowed to get a foot round Bould and score. If anything it was Bould at fault, as he had the best chance to clear. Keown had an excellent game again, keeping Hartson pretty quiet. Keown only looked in trouble when Hartson kicked him in the head (accidentally of course). This was also Hartson's most dangerous moment. He was caught offside time after time - testament to Arsenal's defensive line or perhaps Hartson's old habit of staying in offside positions. West Ham had most of the possession for the last 15 minutes but even in this period we had the best chance. Bergkamp set Wright up and his first-time shot from outside the arae was spilled by Forrest. But the keeper did really well to recover and get across to fist the loose ball off the toe of Overmars, who reacted very quickly to even get close to it. Seaman made a few good saves to atone for his error in conceding the penalty. He slid across to touch a Lampard free-kick onto the post with his boot (tricky on that pitch). The ball then hit the post and bounced out off Seaman again, making it look a bit jammy. But from the replay it was clearly a fantastic save.
All in all a fine performance to take us through to the semis,
particularly considering it comes after something like 10
straight wins for the Irons at Upton Park. But the last time See ANR (link below) for more, plus transfer speculatioN. Other reportsIf you find a web page with a report of this match that's not listed here, please send us the URL. Thanks.
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