Arsenal (0) 3 - 0 (0)Highbury, Saturday 31st January 1998FA Carling Premiership
scorers: Bergkamp Adams Anelka
Arsenal:
Manninger
Grimandi Adams Bould Winterburn
Parlour Petit Hughes (Platt) Overmars
Bergkamp Anelka (Wreh)
Arsenal continued the good form from the Chelsea match,
with excellent
performances all over the pitch. But again e found it hard to capitalise
on our advantage and the win came only thanks to a purple patch
just after the hour.
We dominated the first half, but still could have gone in one down just as easily as up. Manninger had his customary dodgy moment when Hughes passed back from the left wing. The keeper tried to control it but lost out to Hirst who fortunately only managed to hit the side netting from a narrow angle. To be fair to Manninger the back-pass wasn't friendly to him, and Hughes should have done more to make himself available for the return ball. Apart from that Alex had another good game. Hirst looked fatter than I remember him, maybe it's because he wasn't playing in stripes. Up front Bergkamp Anelka and Overmars was a hard combination to defend against, with all of them popping up all oevr the place. Anelka seems to be playing in a less "all-out striker" role to Wright, and it suits him. He showed amazing control and pace, and the awareness that was lacking for him earlier on is still there. Overmars has another superb game and looks better all the time. Incredible pace, towards the end he ran onto a through ball, starting a good 3 yards behind the defender. He was past him in 6, but having made the goalie look amateur he could only roll it onto the far post where a defender cleared. A guy near me had 3-0, Bergkamp to score first, and couldn't believe his eyes. He had a few more scares in those dying minutes as Arsenal poured forward looking for a fourth. Back to the first half. We had a couple of good chances from corners. The very first one saw Overmars run out of the penalty area to accept the ball from Bergkamp and give it back to him. The cross found Anelka in the clear but it was just too far above him and he could only put it over. One from the training-ground, which was very near perfect. Later on Bould came onto a corner at the far side of the area but headed too close to Jones, the Saints' keeper. The first half also saw Overmars force a save after a typical run, cuttign inside and shooting from a central position just outside the area. The keeper was slightly unsighted but the shot was too close and too weak. I don't remember Jones being forced into many great saves. The time he was best beaten, Hughes hit a great free-kick, possibly with the defence expecting a Bergkamp shot. It beat Jones but hit the top left corner of the woodwork. But while we had almost all the play, Southampton had a few good chances in that half too. Le Tissier (not the Le Tissier that David Baddiel has wet dreams about, it has to be said) tried to chip Manninger but got little height on it. Manninger might have been making a meal of the save with his little leap, but perhaps he started off jumping for a lob. After the break we looked even more dominant, but until we scored I couldn't help thinking it just meant it'd look even crapper if we failed to break them down. But on the hour Bergkamp (and Bould's long pass) beat the offside trap and as the keeper came out he stroked the ball past him into the net. Cometh the hour, cometh the ice man. (Peter Krige told me to say that). In eight minutes we were 3 up and it was all over. Adams got the second, a straightforward header from a corner. Suicidal defending: what were they doing leaving him not only unmarked but apparently with no defender between him and the goal? Then Adams started a move from defence, heading the ball on from a Monkou (?) ball forward, aimed towards the half way line on the left wing where the two Dutch strikers were positioned. Bergkamp started his run and Overmars flicked it, first time, into his path. Bergkamp took it forward, spotted Anelka in the clear on the far side of goal, gave it to him, 3-0. It looked so easy. We had a few more chances, like when Overmars hit the post. Parlour also hit the woodwork, in the same place as Hughes had, from a harder chance. Parlour can't have done his claim for an England place any harm, and particularly given his experience in defence (and compared to Beckham's mares when moved to the right wing-back role for England) he has to be a good bet for the squad. Adams also continued to play near the top of his form. He took a couple of wierd free-kicks though, where he pointed a lot for the others to make moves then hit it off the pitch or to the opposition. Not sure what he was thinking of but I'm sure they would have been spectacular if they had worked! Like I said, good perfomances all over the pitch. Hughes filled in for Vieira well and is more creative going forward. But special mention once again has to go to Gilles Grimandi. He is unrecognisable from a few weeks ago, defending solidly and fitting in with the others (switching with the central defenders when necessary without any hitch that I remember), and combining well up front too , wi Parlour and Anelka in particular. It was the same team as Wednesday, with Keown Wright Seaman and Vieira all missing, and of them I'd say it's only Seaman that's guaranteed to walk back into the starting line-up. Adams was booked and will miss both games against Palace. A good day overall, with losses for Tottenham and Man Utd and Blackburn and Liverpool sharing just the 2 points for a scoreless draw. The only bad result for us was Chelsea's win, but 2-0 at home to Barnsley? Not a great score for Chelsea either. Things seem to be closing up a bit at the top, a win from our game in hand would take us within a point of second place, with Man Utd within striking distance. See Table.
Arsenal vs Southampton Sat Jan 31 1998
Result : Arsenal (0) 3 Southampton (0) 0
Scorers: Bergkamp 62, Adams 67,
Anelka 68
Arsenal: Seaman, Grimandi, Winterburn, Adams, Bould; Hughes, Petit,
Parlour, Overmars; Bergkamp, Anelka
Subs: Platt (Hughes 65), Wreh (Anelka 81),
Boa Morte, Garde, Lukic
Booked: Adams, Platt
Southampton: Jones, Dodd, Todd, Monkou, Lundekvam, Spedding,
Richardson, Oakley, Le Tissier, Ostenstad, Hirst
Subs: Williams (Le Tissier 69), Hughes (Spedding 69),
Dryden, Moss, Johansen
Booked: Hirst, Dodd, Richardson, Monkou
Att: 38056
Ref: P Jones (Loughborough)
In the end a comfortable and well deserved victory, though during the
first half it looked like it might be one of those games where things
weren't quite going to happen in the penalty area as Southampton's
blanket defence frustrated Arsenal for long periods. Fortunately a spell
of 3 goals in 8 minutes dispelled any such notion and Arsenal were
ultimately unlucky not to have won by more.
With Seaman, Wright, Dixon and Keown all still unfit, and Vieira suspended, Arsenal had the same lineup as the midweek game against Chelsea, while Saints were missing the suspended Palmer and Benali, with Davies still on the injured list. Predictably it was Arsenal who dominated the first half, though in fact Southampton had 2 or 3 of the better chances and the game nearly started off badly for the home team when Manninger miscontrolled a back pass from Hughes. Hirst blocked his subsequently hurried attempt at clearing and the striker was left with an empty goal to aim at, albeit from a very acute angle, and rolled his shot into the side netting. The rest of the half was characterised by persistent Arsenal pressure, innumerable corners and the occasional Southampton breakaway. The Gunners were playing reasonably well but didn't quite seem to have that bit extra which was needed to carve out clear cut chances. Overmars cut in from the left and fired in a shot towards Jones' near post but the keeper had a fairly comfortable full length dive to push it round the post. Anelka had a half decent chance with a header from a left wing Overmars cross, but under pressure from a defender put it over the bar. Jones made another good if fairly comfortable save from Bergkamp's attempt to surprise him with a shot along the ground, curled round the wall at a free kick. The closest Arsenal came to a goal was from another free kick after Bergkamp had been pulled back outside the area. The Dutchman touched the ball to Hughes, and he hit a tremendous shot from 25 yards which cannoned off the top of the crossbar with the keeper well beaten. Arsenal also had what looked like a pretty good call for a penalty turned down which Anelka was tripped as he knocked a ball past a defender in the area. It ran through to leave Parlour with a reasonable chance, but Jones came out well to block. It seemed to me that the ref initially played advantage but then bottled out of going back to give the penalty when Parlour didn't score. At the other end Southampton had the best chance of the half when Ostenstad was left completely unmarked as a cross came in from the right. Fortunately he mistimed the header and put it wide of the near post from about 8 yards out. A few minutes earlier Manninger had made a great save, diving full length to his right to fingertip a 20 yard shot from Oakley round the post. And Le Tissier might also have given Saints the lead when, at the far post, he got on the end of a cross from the right, but instead of heading it back over the keeper he tried to bring it down and then didn't get enough height on his attempt to volley a lob over Manninger. For the first few minutes of the 2nd half it looked like it might go the same way as the first, though Arsenal did create some better chances early on. Adams got on the end of a Bergkamp cross from the left, but Jones made a sharp reaction save, getting down quickly to beat away the downward header. Then Anelka made a good break down the right and played a nice pass inside to Parlour on the edge of the area, and his angled shot was well hit, but Jones again made a good save pushing it wide of the post. Some more good work on the right, again by Anelka (I think) resulted in a pass into the area to Hughes as he made a diagonal run across the box. He cushioned a lovely pass back to Parlour, and his viciously hit shot from an angle but the keeper this time but cannoned wide off the near post. Eventually the breakthrough did arrive, courtesy of a defence splitting pass from Steve Bould. Actually, I'm not sure it wasn't just a clearance, but it fell to Bergkamp as he raced clear of Saints defenders appealing vainly for an offside flag. From behind the goal it looked as though he'd delayed too long and missed an easy chance to lob the keeper, but the Dutch master knew what he was doing and hit a shot from just inside the box which gave Jones no chance and whistled just inside the post. Southampton players surrounded the ref and linesman claiming offside, but unsurprisingly didn't get anywhere with their protests. A few minutes later the visitors were out of the game as Arsenal hit them with 2 further goals in little more than a minute. First Arsenal's umpteenth corner eventually paid off as Petit swung it in from the right to pick out Adams, unmarked about 10 yards out, and the big captain's downward header beat Jones and a defender on the line. A scintillating move a minute later gave Arsenal their 3rd goal. Adams chipped a ball forward to Overmars, and the winger produced a brilliant flicked volley to send Bergkamp racing clear down the left. He might have gone for goal himself, but looked up to see Anelka keeping pace unmarked at the far post and the Dutch master's pass across goal was perfectly measured to allow the young French striker an easy tap in from 8 yards. Southampton immediately took off Le Tissier, but it didn't make much difference to their attacking fortunes as I don't recall them having a serious 2nd half effort. Indeed Arsenal continued to dominate and were unlucky not to score more, in particular through Overmars. First he had a snap shot brilliantly saved down by his near post by Jones, and then late in the game when he was put through on the left by Bergkamp, he rounded the keeper and rolled a left foot shot towards the empty net only to see it bounce against the foot of the far post and back along the goal line before it was hacked clear by a defender. Petit also had a good shot from outside the area well saved by Jones. In the end a pretty satisfactory performance from Arsenal though the 1st half wasn't particularly inspiring. The whole team played reasonably well and nobody really stood out (though Bergkamp, Overmars, Parlour, Petit and Adams are worth an extra mention perhaps), so I've made things easier for myself and given a uniform score.
Manninger 7.5 Almost gave away an early goal, though to be fair the
pass wasn't the easiest to deal with and he later
redeemed himself with a great save from Oakley.
Winterburn 7.5 Keeping up his inspired run, and might have won a
penalty late in the game breaking through into the area
but not falling over when a defender tried to trip him.
Grimandi 7.5 Again defended competently and did fairly well going
forward.
Adams 7.5 Looked fit and keen again, good to see him score and at
last make an Arsenal corner pay off. Unfortunately a
characteristic late lunge earned a booking which sees
him suspended for both Palace games.
Bould 7.5 As reliable as ever.
Petit 7.5 Kept up his great form of the last month.
Hughes 7.5 Played well with some nice touches and passing, and a
screamer of a shot.
Parlour 7.5 Again full of running and consistently getting into
dangerous positions.
Overmars 7.5 A constant threat again, and unlucky not to have kept up
his scoring run.
Bergkamp 7.5 Pretty much back in his early season form.
Anelka 7.5 Another good game with some good contributions, though
as others have pointed out he tends to drop wide or
deep rather than getting into the box on occasion.
Platt Looked a little out of touch, and got himself booked
with a bizarrely clumsy kick at a Saints player with
the ball way out of reach.
Other reports
|