Arsenal (2) 2 - 0 (0)Highbury, Sunday 8th February 1998FA Carling PremiershipPreview
Arsenal (2) 2 - 0 (0)Highbury, Sunday 8th February 1998FA Carling Premiership
scorers:
Hughes 4, 42
Arsenal:
Manninger
Grimandi (Dixon) Bould Adams Winterburn
Parlour Petit Hughes Overmars (platt)
Bergkamp Anelka (Wright)
Another fine performance from Arsenal, with plenty of steel to
go with the attacking flair. Chelsea once again failed to live
up to their early-season reputation, and with this form they
can only be wondering at the fact that they're still in second.
Arsenal were unchanged, which is only right after the last 2 matches, but it was good to see Wright and Dixon both back on the pitch for the closing stages. We scored with the first significant attack of the game. Anelka was put clear on De Goey, but the keeper made a save on the 6-yard line. The ball cannoned up onto Anelka's arm and fell forward with the keeper prone (I didn't see any Chelsea players complaining about the possible handball, and it could hardly have been deliberate even though it fell well for us). By this time 2 defenders had made it back between ball and goal. One of them cleared as Anelka fought to get to it. Anelka was brought down in the process of tryign to get ther and could easily have had a penalty awarded if Hughes hadn't met the clearance on the edge of the box and rifled it home first touch. The sceond goal came towards the end of the half. Bergkamp delivered a corner from our right, which Adams met beyond the far post, near the goal-line, with a downward header that bounced up into the goal mouth where Hughes headed it home from point-blank range. The most notable incident betwen the goals came when a (Petit?) header back put Vialli clear and Bould pulled him down from behind. It looked a clear case for a red card but Bouldy got away with a yellow. The free-kick from the dge of the area was charged down but an Arsenal player was booked for encroaching and it was retaken. This time it was deflected just wide for a corner, and from the corner Manninger made a good save from a near-post glancing header. Chelsea had some spells of dominance in terms of possession but never looked much like breaking our defence down, whereas even in spells of Chelsea dominance we were powerful on the break. Bergkamp had a reasonable but not spectacular game, but got himself another dying-seconds yellow card. Anelka was good again, but while his control and speed is breathtaking his use of the ball is still not good enough to make him a better bet than an in-form Wright. Leaving the defence to one side (plenty's been said about Adams and Bould in the past and it was all there today, Bould's escape notwithstanding), special mention goes to Hughes, who worked hard in the midfield as well as getting forward well and scoring 2 great goals. And also Parlour, who must have impressed Hoddle with another great whole-hearted up-and-down-the-pitch display.
Songs of the day:
Arsenal vs Chelsea Sun Feb 8 1998
Result : Arsenal (2) 2 Chelsea (0) 0
Scorers: S Hughes 4,42
Arsenal: Seaman, Grimandi, Winterburn, Adams, Bould; S Hughes, Petit,
Parlour, Overmars; Bergkamp, Anelka
Subs: Dixon (Grimandi 69), Wright (Anelka 69),
Platt (Overmars 76), Boa Morte, Lukic
Booked: Bould, Parlour, Bergkamp
Chelsea: De Goey, Petrescu, Leboeuf, Duberry, Le Saux, Di Matteo,
Wise, Newton, Charvet, Vialli, M Hughes
Subs: Granville (Petrescu 46), Zola (Vialli 62),
Flo (Newton 80), Hitchcock, P Hughes
Booked: Vialli, Leboeuf, Wise, Di Matteo
Att: 38083
Ref: D J Gallagher (Banbury)
This was what the pundits like to call a rumbustious London derby -
blood and thunder, thud and blunder. Plenty of thuds as heavy and over
the top tackles flew, and several blunders of which Arsenal were the
main beneficiaries. Not a great deal of flowing football on view, but
Arsenal were deserved winners with two first half goals from the Hughes
who was trying to play football.
With Vieira suspended, Seaman and Keown still injured and Dixon and Wright on the bench, the Gunners started with the same team as in the previous two games which included the Coca Cola cup win against Chelsea 10 days earlier. By contrast Chelsea made six changes from their side for that match, with the potentially significant returns of Leboeuf, Wise, Hughes and Vialli. In the end, the only significance in the presence of Hughes and Wise in particular, was to turn the match into an ill-tempered battle which at times threatened to boil over. Fortunately Arsenal for the most part kept their cool, and Chelsea's main threat to the home team was to their physical well-being rather than their goal. Having been comprehensively outplayed in the previous game with 3/5 at the back, Chelsea switched to 4-4-2, but it did them little good as Arsenal were in front less than 5 minutes into the game. Bergkamp nodded a long ball on towards Anelka who could only head it on towards goal and then give chase. Leboeuf had plenty of time to knock it back to the keeper but unaccountably seemed to panic and his lunging attempt at a back pass was woefully short. Anelka nipped in but dithered long enough to allow De Goey to come out and block his eventual shot. Anelka then appeared to be tripped by Duberry as he tried to get to the rebound, but it didn't matter as Charvet's hasty clearance went straight to Stephen Hughes. From just outside the box he hit a first time shot which screamed into the top corner. The next significant blunders came a few minutes later. Petit stretched to try and head a long ball clear but only succeeded in flicking it on into Vialli's path and the Italian ran clear of the Arsenal defence. Bould chased back and eventually hauled Vialli down a few yards outside the area. I must admit I thought he'd be sent off, but the ref only flourished yellow. I'd like to think he was merely being bloody minded after having to listen to Wise and Leboeuf attempt to persuade him red would be appropriate. Anyway, Leboeuf's free kick eventually deflected wide off the wall, though only after Parlour had been booked for encroaching. The rest of the half was even more "keenly contested" as Chelsea allowed their frustration to get the better of them at times. Quite how Mark Hughes in particular stayed out of the ref's notebook only the pair of them know. Ray Parlour stood out as one of the few trying to play football, in particular with one superb run down the right, and a cross which was only just too far in front of Anelka. He also seemed to have been singled out for some particularly harsh treatment by the Chelsea hatchet men. Di Matteo and Leboeuf first laid him out with a double assault, and later in the half he amazingly got up and walked away after Duberry had kicked him in the face at the same time as Hughes was executing a flying drop kick on the back of his neck. Otherwise there was little in the way of goalmouth incident. Anelka had a tricky little run through the middle but was stretching for his final shot, and his weak left foot effort dribbled wide. Overmars had a couple of good runs down the left which ended with him stabbing the ball across goal, but both were eventually cleared with difficulty. At the other end, Manninger was only called into serious action once when Charvet glanced a near post header from a corner straight at him. A couple of minutes before half time though Arsenal did get the second goal. Anelka outpaced Newton down the left before being brought down by a rugby tackle better than any made by the English in the Stade de France the previous day. Bergkamp floated the subsequent free kick perfectly to the far post to pick out Adams' late run, and the skipper's nod back across goal was pounced on by Stephen Hughes who bravely flung himself in to head the loose ball into the net from about 4 yards. The 2nd half continued in much the same vein as the first, although Chelsea tried to change things by replacing Petrescu with Granville and switching to 3 at the back again, and Arsenal were largely content to defend their lead. The change didn't help Chelsea much, and nor did replacing Vialli with Zola and then Newton with Flo, because I can't actually recall a serious threat on the Arsenal goal in the 2nd half. At the other end Arsenal looked slightly more threatening on the break. Twice within a couple of minutes Anelka almost got on the end of through balls, but was twice foiled by De Goey. A bit more conviction might have paid dividends particularly on the first chance. Wright and Dixon came on for Anelka and Grimandi with about 20 minutes left. Wrighty almost conjured something with a mazy run in the left side of the area, but dragged a shot from an acute angle wide. A bit of role reversal ensued with Bergkamp yelling at Wright for not pulling the ball back. Late in the game Dixon was welcomed back by Le Saux as the latter deliberately trod on the former, raking his studs down his thigh. The other main bit of excitement was when Overmars turned Duberry on the left side of the area and raced for the byline only to be tripped as the defender tried to get back at him. Momentary excitement on the North Bank as the ref pointed vaguely in the direction of goal, but alas he was indicating a goal kick rather than a penalty. A highly satisfying result, and under the circumstances and provocation a reasonably good overall performance, with the defence encouragingly solid even if creative moments were at a premium. An 11 game unbeaten streak and the weekend's other results have started encouraging Gooners to dream...
Manninger 7.0 Very little to do, only one save that I can recall.
Winterburn 7.0 His usual solid and committed self.
Grimandi 7.0 Continued his recent good form, and even contributed a
couple of decent crosses in the first half.
Adams 7.5 The Adams of old, and since his return Arsenal have
actually started scoring from set pieces again.
Bould 8.0 Perhaps lucky not to be sent off, but thereafter another
great display of defending and brilliant tackling.
Petit 7.5 Again a rock in midfield with some tigerish tackling.
Hughes 8.0 Another impressive display and he does have the knack of
getting into scoring positions which Petit and Vieira
are less likely to do. Interesting to see whether Wenger
keeps him in the side when Vieira's suspension is over.
Parlour 8.0 Again looked Arsenal's most dangerous player much of the
time, and also made some great tackles.
Overmars 7.0 Relatively quiet in the first half but looked more
dangerous on the break in the 2nd.
Bergkamp 7.0 Not really the sort of footballing environment in which
he prospers.
Anelka 7.0 A reasonable game again, though still needs to be more
assertive at times.
Wright Didn't see a great deal of the ball in the time he was
on, but had a couple of nice touches.
Dixon Also hard to judge his form, but kept up Grimandi's
good work winding up Le Saux.
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