Arsenal (0) 0 - 0 (0)Highbury, Sunday 15th February. Kick-off 2.00pm (live on ITV)FA Cup 5th roundPreview
Arsenal (0) 0 - 0 (0)Highbury, Sunday 15th February. Kick-off 2.00pm (live on ITV)FA Cup 5th round
Arsenal:
Manninger
Dixon Bould (Vieira) Grimandi Winterburn
Overmars Hughes (Platt) Petit Overmars
Bergkamp Anelka (Wreh)
A lacklustre Arsenal performance against a (fortunately)
almost non-existent Palace opposition led to a very poor
0-0 draw. No-one was really sparkling for Arsenal. Best
performance was p[ossibly Petit, who dropped back into
defence when Captain for the day Steve Bould went off
with a suspected broken finger.We had plenty of shots, and the few that didn't go wide were dealt with well by the Palace keeper Miller. There was a penalty shout at both ends, theirs when Manninger scythed a striker down on the edge of the box. A free-kick (and yellow card) was given but apparently (I haven't seen the replay yet) it should have been a penalty. Anyway, at least we're at their place in the replay. It's been set for Wednesday 25th February, and ticket details will be announced on Monday (see AFCi).
The draw for the 6th round has been
made.
Arsenal vs Crystal Palace Sun Feb 15 1998
Result : Arsenal (0) 0 Crystal Palace (0) 0
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Winterburn, Grimandi, Bould; S Hughes, Petit,
Parlour, Overmars; Bergkamp, Anelka
Subs: Vieira (Bould 68), Platt (Hughes 73), Wreh (Anelka 82),
Garde, Lukic
Booked: Manninger
Palace: Miller, Edworthy, Gordon, Smith, Ismael, Hreidarsson,
Roberts, Rodger, Fullarton, Dyer, Brolin
Subs: Tuttle, Linighan, Nash, Emblen, Folan
Booked: Dyer
Att: 37164
Ref: M J Bodenham (East Looe)
A rather disappointing game which Arsenal dominated but failed to find a
way through Palace's admirably obdurate defence. Not surprisingly with
little other goalmouth incident to talk about, the post match headlines
were dominated by the two penalties that weren't but should have been.
Can't remember ever seeing two such obvious penalties not given in one
match.
With Adams suspended and Wright, Keown and Seaman all still on the injured list, the only change to the Arsenal side was Dixon returning and Grimandi moving over to centre half to replace Adams. Palace also had a long injury list which meant Brolin played largely up front on his own while Dyer helped out the midfield. Arsenal old boy Andy Linighan was dropped from the visitor's five man defence. It was a very low-ley start to the game as the Gunners dominated possession and patiently tried to break through the massed ranks of Eagles defenders. Their patience almost paid off after about 10 minutes when Bergkamp touched a pass square to Hughes just outside the area. Overmars set off on a run into the area on the left and Hughes picked him out with a lovely little pass inside the full back to leave the winger free in the area. With Anelka and Dixon both waiting in space for a cutback, he instead chose to try and beat Miller with a right foot shot from an acute angle and the keeper was able to beat the shot away and then drop on the loose ball. That was really the last time in the half Arsenal got behind the Palace defence, though Miller was kept reasonably busy with several long range shots. Anelka jinked along the edge of the area before firing in a vicious shot, but unlike Schmeichel, Miller was well positioned at his near post to make a save. The keeper did less well later when Bergkamp fired in a swerving shot from 25 yards which Miller couldn't hold onto, but Bould was the only Arsenal player following up, and Miller recovered quickly enough to just beat him to the rebound. Otherwise the rest of the half was mainly a story of long range shots wide of the target. Bergkamp put a free kick a few feet past Miller's right hand post, Petit hit a fantastic shot from 25 yards with the outside of his foot which swerved dramatically but with the keeper well beaten whistled inches over the angle of post and crossbar. Late in the half Dixon also had a good angled shot from outside the area which flashed across goal and a foot or two wide of the far post. At the other end the Palace attack was barely in evidence and usually offside on the occasions they did get into the Arsenal half, but they nonetheless went in at halftime counting themselves unlucky not to be in front. About 5 minutes before the break Roberts chipped a ball forward down the right which for a change allowed Fullarton to beat the offside trap. As he chased the ball into the extreme right hand side of the area Manninger rashly came charging out and missed the ball with his attempted tackle and comprehensively took out Fullarton instead. The ref booked Manninger (probably the right decision as there was no obvious goalscoring chance), but awarded only a free kick, the wrong decision as the TV pictures later proved it was just inside the area. To be fair to Bodenham most of the people round me were confident it was outside the area, though I wasn't so sure. There was a little more action in the second half, including another cast iron penalty appeal, but still no goals. The ref balanced things up by denying Arsenal an obvious penalty about 15 minutes into the second half. Bould strode forward into the Palace half before playing a lovely pass inside the fullback for Hughes running in from the left wing. Hughes took the ball on into the area only for Roberts, coming across, to take his legs away with a sliding tackle which got nowhere near the ball. Another blantant penalty but once again Bodenham signalled a goal kick. Otherwise Arsenal were managing to get through the Palace defence a little more frequently than in the first half, but again either the final shot was narrowly off target or the final ball failed to break to a red shirt. A delightful flick from Bergkamp put Overmars in to the left side of the area, but the winger's left foot shot from an angle crashed into the side netting. Anelka was just beaten by Miller to a perceptive Bergkamp pass across goal from the right. Then Bergkamp got to the byline on the left again, but perhaps delayed slightly too long with his cutback to Anelka in the middle and Hreidarsson just managed to cut out the pass. Parlour was the next to almost create something, running cleverly onto a Dixon throw in to the right side of the area. He got to the byline but his cutback to Bergkamp at the near post was perhaps slightly too strong and the Dutchman perhaps slightly back on his heels and the ball was past Bergkamp before he could react. The clearance went to Anelka on the edge of the area but his shot flashed narrowly wide of the near post once again. At the other end Palace were being slightly more adventurous, particularly after being encouraged when Arsenal were down to 10 men for a few minutes while Bould had treatment on a broken thumb which eventually forced his substitution by Vieira. They finally had an attempt on goal when Manninger could only get a hand to a cross from the left which presented Dyer with the ball about 12 yards out. Fortunately Winterburn threw himself across to pull off a brilliant block, so Manninger still didn't have to make a save. Vieira's typical first contribution was to win the ball on the edge of his area and then put Parlour away down the right with a superb long pass. Parlour put over a decent cross which Anelka only just failed to get his head to before a defender. Otherwise the excitement was again limited to shots narrowly missing the target. Overmars won himself a bit of space on the left, his pace finally getting the better of Smith, but his left foot shot this time flashed across Miller and just wide of the far post. Dixon had the final effort of note, hitting a reasonable attempt from just outside the area which flew only a few inches over the bar. A fairly poor match and a somewhat disappointing performance from Arsenal though Palace deserve some credit for their resolute defending. Not really any particularly poor individual performances, they were just mostly slightly down on recent standards, and the overall team effort not quite as convincing.
Manninger 6.0 Again little to do, but an extremely rash dash off his
line might have given a goal away again.
Winterburn 6.5 Reasonable performance again.
Dixon 6.5 Looked slightly less off form than of late, and had two
reasonably efforts.
Grimandi 7.0 Continued to look more confident and competent, though
the defence as a whole was rarely tested.
Bould 7.5 Again the pick of the defence and possibly the whole
team. Hopefully the broken thumb won't keep him out too
long.
Petit 7.5 I thought he was the pick of the midfield in the first
half and did well enough when he moved back to centre
half to replace Bould.
Hughes 6.5 A couple of good moments but otherwise quieter and less
impressive than his recent appearances.
Parlour 6.5 Also quieter than usual, perhaps feeling the effects of
the two games in the previous 7 days.
Overmars 7.0 Looked lively at times but wasted 3 of Arsenal's best
chances.
Bergkamp 7.0 Again the usual clever touches, but on the whole he
looked slightly out of touch, and late in the game was
getting too easily frustrated by his marker.
Anelka 7.0 I thought he had quite a good game again, though
admittedly he hangs on to the ball too long sometimes.
Vieira 7.0 Looked in pretty good form during the time he was on,
though there were a couple of times late on when he
again passed up what looked like reasonable
opportunities to shoot.
Platt 6.0 Didn't really get into the game.
Wreh A couple of good touches, a couple of woeful ones in the
short time he was on.
Other reports
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