Arsenal vsHighbury. Wednesday 28th January 1998Coca-Cola (League) Cup Semi Final, First Leg
Arsenal (1) 2 - 1 (0)Highbury. Wednesday 28th January 1998Coca-Cola (League) Cup Semi Final, First Leg
scorers:
Overmars Hughes S Hughes M
Arsenal:
Manninger
Grimandi (Platt) Bould Adams Winterburn
Parlour Petit Hughes Overmars
Bergkamp Anelka
A depleted Arsenal completely dominated Chelsea but failed to
establish a big enough lead to make us good favourites. Chelsea
were depleted too, with Wise missing in addition to the players
mentioned in the preview above. Their fans must still have been
extremely disappointed with their team, who failed completely to
impose themselves on the game.
Chelsea had the best of the first few minutes, but the Arsenal defence coped well, with Adams back to form and Grimandi haviong his best game so far. He made an excellent double tackle on Le Saux early on and went on to add some good forward play to a solid defensive perfrormance. Gullitt was playing, and played a stinker. Our first goal came when he stretched to get to a long ball over the top and only managed to hit the top of his head, the ball travelling on towards De Goey. Overmars got to the ball just before the keeper and slipped it past him beautifully. We could have had a few more, with De Goey saving from Parlour and Petit, and a brilliant Bergkamp header looping over De Goey only to come off the crossbar. HUghes got the second a coupel of minutes into the second half. Anelka slipped the ball forward to Overmars in the box, and he took it to the goal-line before finding Hughes in the clear with a ball angled back into the box. He powered the ball past De Goey. Excellent awareness from Overmars who had the option of blasting it square into a crowd. We had a dodgy spell for 10 to 20 minutes during which MArk Huges came on for Flo and promptly scored with a soft header after MAnninger came for a cross that was never there to be taken. After a while Arsenal got back on top, and continued to create chances. Towards the end Platt came on for Grimandi who got a deserved round of applause. Anelka also looked much more effective, he's looking much more a team player and had a few decent attempts himself too. Perhaps the most disppointing thing was the number of corners we won, without getting a thing from them. The closest was possibly a glancing Platt header from 10 yards or so from a Bergkamp corner towards the end of the match. It's nicely (or should that be 'nervously'?) poised for the second leg. We'll be lucky to find Chelsea so poor next time.
Rupe.
Arsenal vs Chelsea Wed Jan 29 1998
Result : Arsenal (1) 2 Chelsea (0) 1
Scorers: Overmars 23, S Hughes 47 M Hughes 69
Arsenal: Seaman, Grimandi, Winterburn, Adams, Bould; Hughes, Petit,
Parlour, Overmars; Bergkamp, Anelka
Subs: Platt (Grimandi 84), Boa Morte, Lukic
Booked: Bergkamp, Grimandi
Chelsea: De Goey, Petrescu, Gullit, Clarke, Lambourde, Duberry,
Le Saux, Flo, Sinclair, Newton, Zola
Subs: Charvet (Petrescu 45), Hughes (Flo 59),
Vialli (Sinclair 86)
Booked: Le Saux, Duberry, Newton
Att: 38114
Ref: M J Bodenham (East Looe)
An entertaining cup tie at Highbury last night as Arsenal produced some
of their best football of the season to do everything but score
sufficient goals to make a place at Wembley secure. For 70 minutes
Chelsea were barely in the match as their defence was overrun by waves
of red and white, but then a goal by Mark Hughes gave them an undeserved
chance in the 2nd leg.
Hyperbole aside, it was one of Arsenal's best performances of the season, particularly as it was produced without Seaman, Wright, Vieira, Keown and Dixon. Chelsea were without Wise, Leboeuf and Di Matteo, and in a scrappy opening 5-10 minutes it was the visitors who possibly had slightly the better of the game. Gradually though, Arsenal began to impose themselves and it was De Goey who was forced into the first real save. Some controlled possession led to the ball being played quickly across the field via Overmars and Petit to Parlour whose first touch set himself up for a shot along the ground from 25 yards which was well struck but too close to the keeper. A few minutes later Petit found Winterburn in space on the left, and the old trooper looked up before clipping in a cross which picked out Bergkamp as the Dutch master soared majestically between Gullit and Clarke. About 12 yards out, his forehead connected with the ball and delivered a thumping header which beat De Goey but bounced off the top of the crossbar. The keeper was in action again not long afterwards, this time getting down sharply to a well hit shot by Stephen Hughes after a Grimandi cross had been inadequately cleared and Bergkamp had laid the ball back to Hughes on the edge of the box. Midway through the half Arsenal deservedly took the lead. Petit spotted a clever run through the Chelsea defence by Overmars and chipped a pass forward to try and pick him out. Chelsea's offside trap failed and Gullit had to backpedal. Whether he was trying to head clear or back to De Goey was unclear but the ball only glanced off his head to allow Overmars to nip in behind him, and the winger coolly clipped the ball as it dropped on the half-volley past De Goey as the keeper rushed out. The Gunners then dominated the rest of the half and restricted Chelsea to a couple of half chances on the break. First Flo got past Adams on the left touchline and gave Le Saux a chance on the edge of the area, but he dragged his angled shot well wide. Then Adams missed an interception on the halfway line which allowed Zola to run clear, but Bould got across to hold him up well and Flo miscontrolled his final pass to allow the ball and the chance to run away. At the other end Arsenal were keeping up the pressure and at one point had a sequence of 5 successive corners as Chelsea defended desperately. In fact it should have been six corners because at the final one Hughes had a header blocked and the ball broke to Parlour on the edge of the area. He hit a vicious shot which flew just over the bar via a slight deflection off a defender. The ref had got bored with pointing at the corner flag though and gave a goal kick. At half time Gullit replaced the anonymous Petrescu with Charvet, a debutant loan signing from Cannes, and moved himself into midfield but early on it seemed to make little difference as Arsenal went further ahead 2 minutes after the break with a beautifully made goal. Hughes won the ball in his own half and released Overmars with a quick pass. The Dutchman raced into the Chelsea half and passed the ball forward to Anelka. The young Frenchman held the ball up well about 35 yards out before playing a lovely return pass into Overmars' path as the winger continued his run into the area. Overmars got to the byline, and with Bergkamp marked at the near post, cut the ball back into Hughes' path as he ran unchallenged into the area, and the young midfielder cracked his shot joyously into the net at the near post from about 15 yards. Arsenal's dominance continued and a measure of Chelsea's frustration could be seen when Le Saux came perilously close to being sent off in a confrontation with Grimandi. After the Frenchman had reacted unfavourably to a late challenge, Le Saux responded by flinging out his arm and catching Grimandi in the face. In most circumstances he would have at least got a yellow card and, having already been booked, seen a red one too, but the ref chose to be lenient on this occasion. Chelsea nearly got back into the game when Flo was left unmarked at the near post for a corner, but he glanced a free header from 8 yards wide of the near post. The Gunners very nearly got the 3rd goal their efforts deserved about 20 minutes into the half. In the best move of the game Parlour played the ball forward to Anelka, wide on the right. The young striker looked up to see Petit unmarked in the area at the far post, and he chipped over a cross to pick out his compatriot. Petit might have brought the ball down for a shot himself, but instead produced the deftest of volleys to lay the ball off to Bergkamp on his right. The Dutch master's instant left foot shot from just inside the area was well hit and directed just inside the post, but De Goey produced a brilliant reaction save, somehow keeping the ball out. Within 60 seconds Chelsea had pulled a goal back. A quick break stretched the Arsenal defence and the ball was only half cleared to Zola. He clipped in a curling cross from just beyond the right hand corner of the area which deflected slightly off Petit to take the ball perfectly onto Hughes' head as he made a run into the area from the left. Manninger dashed off his line to try and punch clear but didn't get there and Hughes headed into the empty net. Arsenal almost immediately restored their 2 goal advantange when a Bergkamp corner from the right was deflected to Petit as he lurked in the corner of the penalty area. His instant shot was arrowing towards the top corner until De Goey displayed superb reactions to get a hand to the ball and tip it over the bar. The rest of the game was more evenly contested though it was still Arsenal who looked the more dangerous with several good breaks down either flank which didn't quite produce the killer goal. Anelka produced some lovely skill in midfield to get out of a tight situation and then released Parlour on the right with a beautiful pass, but his cross was too long for Bergkamp who was unmarked at the far post. Then Anelka again did well making space for a left foot shot from the edge of the box which fizzed only a foot or two over the bar. Anelka was again involved when he laid on the final real chance of the game, flicking a ball over his head to send Bergkamp away into the area. The Iceman steadied himself over the ball before trying a curler from the edge of the box into the far top corner, but De Goey had read his intentions and was well positioned to fling himself to his left to make a spectacular flying catch. Platt, on for Grimandi in the final few minutes, had the final chance, glancing a header from another Bergkamp corner wide of the far post in injury time. Overall a very good performance from the Gunners with the whole team playing pretty well, the only downside being that they didn't come away from the game with the lead they deserved. Chelsea will be counting themselves very lucky they've only got a one goal deficit to make up in the 2nd leg.
Manninger 7.0 I don't recall him having a serious save to make. Perhaps
harsh to blame him for the goal because the cross took a
slight deflection which I think contributed to his late
decision to come for it. Otherwise he made a couple of
good catches from corners and crosses.
Winterburn 7.5 Another solid and wholehearted performance from old Nutty.
Grimandi 7.5 One of his better games and he did a good job of winding
Le Saux up, though I would partly blame him for the goal
as he left Hughes that yard of space.
Adams 7.0 Looked pretty fit and solid and much like the old Adams
for the most part.
Bould 8.0 Another great display of composed defending from the old
man.
Petit 8.5 I thought he had a quite outstanding game dominating the
midfield with some lovely touches and passes allied to
crunching tackles.
Parlour 7.5 Continued his great form of this season.
Overmars 8.5 Looked consistently dangerous with his pace and another
well taken goal.
Bergkamp 8.0 Looks almost back to his best with some beautiful touches
and layoffs, and only some great goalkeeping denied him
a goal.
Anelka 7.5 Continued his improvement and looks like developing into
the brilliant striker we all hope for.
Other reports
copyright belongs to original author where credited. otherwise © Rupert Ward, ArseWeb MMV ArseWeb is NOT the official Arsenal site. The (excellent) official site is here |