West Ham (1) 2 - 1 (0) ArsenalBoleyn Ground, Sunday 3rd October 1999. kick-off 4pmFA Carling PremiershipPreview
West Ham (1) 2 - 1 (0) ArsenalBoleyn Ground, Sunday 3rd October 1999. kick-off 4pmFA Carling Premiershipscorers: Di Canio 29, 72 Suker 77
Arsenal:
Seaman
Luzhny Adams Keown Silvinho
Ljungberg Vieira Grimandi Henry
Suker Bergkamp
Before the game most of us would probably have thought of this as
far from being a banker. But as it turned out, it has to be seen as 3 points
dropped.
General dominance, and specifically 3 misses by Davor Suker plus good chances for Dennis Bergkamp against a defence missing four first-choice players, should have made the (admittedly skilful) goal Di Canio scored on the half-hour nothing more than a consolation. But the ball just wouldn't go in for us, and Di Canio scored another one 18 minutes from time, before throwing himself to the ground for the second time to earn Patrick Vieira a second booking. It's probably fair to say that the Italian is not Arsenal favourite person. Unfortunately this time he kept his temper, and it was Vieira's ugly reaction to his sending off (and Neil Ruddock winding him up) which will hit the headlines. Paddy may face an extra ban for spitting at Ruddock and then (allegedly) pushing a Policeman in the tunnel on his way to the dressing room. Ironically, Vieira was alleged to have been involved in an altercation with a copper after that match at Hillsborough just over a year ago. That time he was cleared and it was Di Canio who got the long ban. This time it looks like the Italian's turned the tables.
Result : West Ham (1) 2 Arsenal (0) 1
Scorers: Di Canio 29,72 Suker 77
Arsenal: Seaman, Luzhny, Silvinho, Keown, Adams; Vieira, Grimandi,
Ljungberg, Henry; Bergkamp, Suker
Subs: Overmars (Luzhny 72), Kanu (Henry 72),
Dixon, Winterburn, Manninger
Booked: Bergkamp, Keown, Vieira, Henry, Grimandi
Sent off: Vieira (84, 2nd bookable offence)
West Ham: Hislop, Potts, Ruddock, Stimac, Sinclair, Lomas, Lampard,
Foe, Moncur, Di Canio, Wanchope
Subs: Kitson (Wanchope 80), Margas (Moncur 87),
Forrest, Keller, Carrick
Booked: Wanchope, Lomas, Moncur, Stimac, Foe
Sent off: Foe (89, 2nd bookable offence)
Att:
Ref: Mike Reed (Birmingham)
An incident packed game at Upton Park on Sunday afternoon, though that
would be understating it somewhat about a match in which both sides had
5 men booked and 1 sent off. Apart from the now traditional provoking of
Vieira it was never really a malicious game though, and the fact that it
degenerated with the Frenchman's gross over-reaction to his red card was
due mainly to frustration over the completely random decision making
process of the referee.
It all started very quietly with Arsenal, despite resting Dixon, Winterburn and Overmars, dominating the opening 20 minutes or so. Henry won a corner straight from the kickoff, and soon afterwards had another good run down the middle which ended with a shot straight at Hislop. Arsenal should have gone in front when a lovely pass into the area by Vieira found Suker in space on the left with only Hislop to beat from an angle. His left foot shot was a bit over-deliberate, and though it almost went through Hislop's legs the keeper just managed to deflect it wide of his near post. West Ham's only notable early contribution was a couple of scything fouls by Lampard on Silvinho, the second of which the ref didn't even deem worthy of a free kick. Both looked bookable offences to me, but the ref kept his cards in his pocket early on and I suspect that was the seeds of Vieira's frustration sown. Suker put a headed half chance wide, and Bergkamp then brought another good save from Hislop when he dribbled into space on the left of the area before firing in a right foot shot which nearly beat Hislop at his near post, but the keeper just got a hand to it to turn it wide. Di Canio had gone close with an early free kick on the left which went through Arsenal's dodgily constructed wall and just wide of Seaman's right hand post, but it was 20 minutes or so before West Ham really began to get back into the game. They should have scored when an Arsenal corner broke down, Di Canio beat Luzhny on the left and passed inside for Wanchope who'd got ahead of Keown and had a clear route to goal. The Costa Rican's first touch was poor though and Luzhny was able to nip in and dispossess him. When the home team did go in front a few minutes later, the goal owed a lot to Di Canio, but even more to several huges slices of luck. Di Canio went on a tricky run from the half way line, beating Silvinho and Grimandi early on, but he then twice had lucky bounces as Silvinho got back at him, another lucky one when Vieira challenged, and a fourth when Adams tackled him on the edge of the area. A fifth lucky ricochet went West Ham's way when Lampard challenged for the loose ball and it fell for Sinclair in space on the right with only Seaman to beat. The keeper charged out and made a good save from Sinclair's shot but the ball again bounced back towards Sinclair. It was going over his head, but he used a hand to bat the ball back down and hooked it back into the middle from the byline. Wanchope miscued his attempt to turn it into the empty goal but the ball went straight to Di Canio and he turned it in. Quite how neither the ref nor the linesman saw Sinclair use his hand is beyond me. Arsenal came back and had the better of the rest of the half. Suker should have equalised when Silvinho went on a great run down the left and played the ball into the area. Bergkamp just failed to get on the end of it, but it ran for Suker running in on the right but the Croatian dragged his right foot shot horribly wide with only the keeper to beat. The Gunners reorganised after the break, with Henry moving into the middle and Bergkamp dropping further back to play behind him and Suker, and continued to dominate. Early in the 2nd half they very nearly equalised when Bergkamp went on another great run into the area on the right and pulled the ball across goal, but Suker sliding in was inches away from getting the touch which would have turned it in. Bergkamp did then get the ball in the net when Suker's flick into the area found the Dutch master running clear of the defence and he finished cooly lifting the ball over Hislop, but celebrations were cut shot by the offside flag. Close examination of the TV replay revealed Bergkamp was level when the pass was played. Suker then should have scored soon afterwards when Silvinho went on another good run down the left after a West Ham move broke down. He passed inside to find Keown of all people charging through down the middle in the centre forward's position. He did well to turn the ball on to find Suker unmarked in the right side of the area. Unfortunately it was again on his wrong side and he tried to use the outside of his left foot to beat Hislop at his near post rather than using his right, and put the ball into the side netting. Time was beginning to run out for Arsenal though, and with 18 minutes left Wenger threw on Overmars and Kanu, Luzhny and Henry coming off and Grimandi moving to right back. Overmars seemed to go out onto the right with Ljungberg moving into the middle alongside Vieira, as Wenger again gambled with virtually a 4-2-4 formation. It couldn't really be said to have backfired though when West Ham went 2 up almost immediately afterwards, because the goal came virtually out of the blue. A hoof forward flicked off Adams' head as he was challenged by Wanchope. It fell to Di Canio, and he showed sublime skill in flicking the ball on the volley over Keown's head to completely wrong foot the defender, and followed up by calmly sidefooting a volley high past Seaman and into the net. No luck about that goal. 5 minutes later Suker did finally score to get Arsenal back into the match. Overmars chipped a diagonal ball in from the left and Lomas miscued a headed clearance from in front of the far post as Bergkamp and Kanu challenged. The ball went straight to Suker and he made no mistake this time stroking a left foot volley inside the far post. It was desperate defence after that, but West Ham's task was made slightly easier when Vieira was sent off a few minutes later after a 2nd yellow card, both for fairly innocuous challenges on Di Canio which the Italian exagerrated by over dramatic dives to the turf. Vieira appeared to be walking quietly off first, but then the blood rushed to his head and he turned round to dispute matters with the ref. Ruddock aggresively put his oar in, and when Grimandi eventually managed to pull Vieira away from his debate with the ref, Ruddock and Lampard had another go at him, which was when Vieira turned and spat in Ruddock's direction. All very disappointing and I'll be surprised if he gets less than a five match ban. Anyway, 10 man Arsenal could still have snatched a late equaliser when Overmars' pass sent Bergkamp clear (well almost, he had Foe hitching a tow on his shirt) into the area, but he didn't get quite enough on his shot and Hislop made a good save falling to his right to clutch the ball. Soon afterwards Foe's sending off for his 2nd yellow after a tackle from behind went almost unnoticed. Mike Reed relented and got the West Ham wall back at least 6 yards and Silvinho put what looked a goal bound effort into the top of the wall. All in all a very frustrating afternoon, more worrying than the loss of 3 points is the likely aftermath of the Vieira incident. Arsenal could and should have won the game comfortably despite the dismal refereeing.
Seaman 7.5 One great save from Di Canio late on as Arsenal left
themselves exposed at the back, and a slightly dodgy
moment from a Lampard free kick but otherwise not a
great deal to do.
Silvinho 8.0 Had a great game overall I thought. Good going forward
and I think he's pretty solid defensively too,
demonstrated by one superb tackle in the area on Di
Canio late on.
Luzhny 7.0 I'm not as convinced as others that he's yet the
preferred option to Dixon, as he still seems a bit slow
and lumbering at times to me.
Adams 8.0 Another great game from the rock.
Keown 7.5 Embarrassed a couple of times by Di Canio, but
otherwise looked reasonably solid.
Vieira 7.5 Controlled midfield for large parts of the game, I just
wish he could control his temper as well. In mitigation
though I have to say West Ham were deliberately
needling him. I saw Moncur, Lomas and Lampard all have
digs at him off the ball.
Grimandi 6.5 Did ok defensively but struggled going forward.
Ljungberg 6.5 A bit in and out of the game. Had some good runs,
particularly in the 1st half.
Henry 6.5 Looked quite lively early on but saw little of him in
the second half.
Bergkamp 8.0 One of his better games of the season I thought, looked
more like the old master.
Suker 7.0 Credit for getting into the right positions but his
finishing was somewhat off key.
Kanu Didn't really have much chance to do much.
Overmars Ditto.
Derek
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