Chelsea (1) 2 - 3 (0) ArsenalStamford Bridge, Saturday 23rd October 1999FA Carling Premiershipsee below for reports by: RupePreview
Chelsea (1) 2 - 3 (0) ArsenalStamford Bridge, Saturday 23rd October 1999FA Carling Premiership
Scorers: Flo 38 Kanu 75, 83, 90
Petrescu 52
Arsenal:
Seaman
Dixon Adams Keown Silvinho
Parlour Ljungberg (Henry 63) Petit (64) Overmars (Vernazza 91)
Kanu Suker
Despite having the edge in the first half, Arsenal failed
to get a shot on target. [Arsenal were definitely the better team in the first half. Until Chelsea scored it was a rather cagey game, but Arsenal looked slightly the more dangerous going forward and had more possession too.] Parlour drove a shot wide after 10 minutes after being put in by a splendid backheel from the returning Petit. 2 minutes later Kanu hit the side netting after Ljungberg beat Le Bouef (who was all over the place early on) and his cross was only half cleared by Desailly. Kanu probably should have done better with the chance. Another Le Bouef mistake, under pressure from Kanu, gave a chance to Dixon whose shot was deflected over the bar. Kanu was down injured for a while (the ref having to call play back to let him get treatment after a couple of Chelsea players had sportingly pointed the prone Nigerian out to him - something the whistling Chelsea fans presumably missed!). [This was after Desailly had gone through the back of Kanu - it looked rather as if his knee caught the Nigerian in a rather painful area between the legs!] It looked likely that he'd go off (thank god he didn't, but more of that later...). Suker did well to control and lay back to Dixon, whose cross went slightly behind Kanu. Leaning back to get his head to it it wasn't surprising to see the ball clear the bar. At the other end, Sutton had a few chances. An early header from a corner went high after Adams and Keown had left him to jump against Petit. He was given mistakenly offside after 25 mins, but Seaman had come out and would have got there first anyway (Keown had been slow to join Adams in stepping out for the trap). And on half an hour, just after Suker had been given a yellow card for hacking at Le Saux and then twisting his leg (boy does this guy learn quickly!? ;-> ) Sutton managed to head a ball that was only a foot off the ground and somehow get it to land on the roof of the net. The ref Alan Wilkie was officiating the match according to its reputation instead of according to what was going on in front of him. In other words, there were some strange cards flying around. Dixon was given a yellow after 5 miutes for a nothing foul on Le Saux (one of those cards that's meant more as a warning to everyone than a punishment for a specific action). But Le Saux was the unluckiest victim, being booked after 33 minutes for time-wasting when he was taking a throw-in. 5 minutes after that, Chelsea took the lead against the run of play. Petrescu crossed and Flo got his head to the ball at the far post. Keown had been covering Sutton at the near post and only got across the goal in time to aid Flo with a slight deflection off his head. [Part of the problem was that Silvinho had been caught upfield so Adams was forced to cover at left back, and with somebody (Wise?) moving on the overlap he had 2 men to cover which left Petrescu space to cross. And with Adams out of position there wasn't enough cover in the middle.] As the half finished, Overmars had a couple fo chances, driving over from distance and then hitting a difficult half-volley, also over the bar. [The second of these was what I would call a good chance. Ljungberg got away on the right and crossed towards Kanu at the near post, Leboeuf hooked the ball off Kanu's head (normally dangerous play), and the ball fell to Overmars centrally placed just inside the area. Admittedly it was a snap half-volley but he should have got it on target.] Arsenal came out for the second half a different team, all the confidence was with the home side and we just didn't appear to have an attack. with Bergkamp not even on the bench (hopefully just being rested for Wednesday..?) the options were limited. The first-half rain became a deluge, and the chances of a red card looked to be rising as rapidly as the water table (soon half an inch above the turf). Seaman saved well from Flo after Le Saux had robbed Dixon and put him through. Then Suker flicked an arm in Petrescu's face, and was probably lucky to stay on the pitch. Petit wasn't so lucky, picking up a yellow card for protesting after a free-kick for obstruction had been given against him. [Rather bizarrely the yellow card appeared to be for sarcasm, because all Petit did was applaud the linesman's decision] On 52 minutes Petrescu made it 2-0 with another close-range header. This time the marking was even worse as the Romanian got on the end of a (superb) Le Saux cross from the left. Our first effort on target came shortly after, but Dixon's goal-bound side-foot shot got stuck in a puddle making the save easy for De Goey. Then came 2 substitutions in quick succession, Henry and Vivas coming on for Ljungberg and Petit. The radio commentators suggested that taking Petit off showed that Wenger had given up on the match and just wanted to make sure Petit was available for Wednesday's match against Fiorentina. Hmmm. Seems to me that this is something of a slur on Henry and Vivas, who are surely as attacking a pairing as the 2 they were replacing. It also seems to be ignoring the fact that this was Manu's first game back after a lengthy absence. [Quite right - Petit showed clear signs of tiredness just before he was substituted] - this was Capital Gold, by the way. According to correspondent Matt Moore the BBC's commentators were more on the ball, pointing out that in reorganising to 3 at the back, pushing Silvinho up and keeping 4 up front, this was a more familiar attacking gamble on Wengers part). Sure enough, 10 minutes later Arsenal were back in the match. This time the surface water acted in our favour, slowing a half-volley from Overmars as it skidded past Kanu in the box and giving him the opportunity to stick out a toe to poke it home. Arsenal were galvanised by the goal, and within 10 minutes Kanu had done it again. He slipped the ball wide to Overmars and when the cross came back in, slightly behind the big man, Kanu dragged it round and hit the net through the legs of Desailly (?). [It was a superb first touch from Kanu which took away from the defenders to give himself space for the shot. He was also helped by Henry who did well to get in the way of Desailly's attempt to get across and block Kanu.] In the dying minutes we had a scare when a Zola free-kick taken from a few yards outside the box took a deflection off Keown and ended up only inches wide of the post. Le Bouef got his head to the corner and it was played out by Vivas. Chelsea claimed for a penalty but if it was hands it was hardly deliberate, and Nelson's arm was by his side. [I think it actually deflected off Keown (arm or not) and went over the bar. Having looked the likelier winners before this, Arsenal gave us a couple of very nervous minutes when Chelsea had us penned in our own area.] As injury time started, Kanu charged down a Ferrer clearance and chased the ball. De Goey came out to try to claim it but Kanu got there first and shuffled round him. He got down close to the goal-line and looked up to see a couple fo defenders back on the line and no fellow red shirts in support.Never mind, Kanu, bang it in anyway. Fantastic goal, fantastic hat-trick, fantastic come-back. What a player. What a lunchbox! (see AFCi wallpaper - proof that what they say about blokes with big feet is true...?) [Overmars and Suker were actually waiting on the 18 yard line - I was yelling at Kanu to cut it back. What do I know...] So, hands up all you Gooners who'd heard Wenger say we couldn't afford another loss this early into the season and had practically given up on the Premiership with 15 minutes to go today! As it happens, with Man United also suffering a turnaround (to Tottenham - every silver lining has a cloud), this result takes us above them into second (see table). Leeds play tomorrow. report by Rupe, [italicised comments by Derek]. It was a quite stunning last 15 minutes. One of those matches that make it all seem worthwhile, and the winning goal was one of those stranger-hugging moments. Apart from the opening 25 minutes of the 2nd half Arsenal played quite well - we certainly had the better of the first half until Chelsea scored, and we were somewhat unlucky to go in 1 down. However, with them getting an early 2nd half goal we were perhaps a bit lucky to still be holding on at only 2-0 down before that beautiful last 20 minutes. Must admit I couldn't see us getting back into it, particularly when Petit and Ljungberg went off, and bizarrely Henry went onto the left wing and Overmars switched to the right. Shows how much I know about football, and how much Wenger does!
Seaman 7.0 Made one great save, and I don't think he really had
any chance with the goals. The first one was a great
header from Flo.
Dixon 7.0 Made one dreadful error which almost resulted in a 3rd
Chelsea goal, but otherwise had a fairly solid game
Silvinho 6.5 One of his least impressive performances so far.
Adams 7.0 Never really quite came to terms with Sutton, who
admittedly is the dirtiest striker in the league. All
elbows.
Keown 7.5 Had a pretty good game overall.
Petit 7.5 Looked pretty much like the old Petit in the 1st half,
but did noticeably tire in the 2nd.
Parlour 7.5 Had a pretty good game I thought, one of his best of
the season.
Ljungberg 7.5 Also did pretty well again, always busy and positive.
Overmars 6.5 Until the last 15 minutes was dreadful, but to give
him credit he did buckle down, and it was he who set
up the first two goals.
Suker 6.5 Struggled to make any real headway against Lebouef
and Desailly, but did keep trying.
Kanu 9.0 Well, until the last 15 minutes I'd have said he had
a poor match by his standards. Early in the game the
ball kept getting away from him, Desailly kept nipping
in front and nothing was running for him. But he
slowly battled his way into the game and that hattrick
was just unbelievable.
Henry Struggled on the left wing and little went right.
Vivas Did a reasonable job considering he's only made one
other sub appearance this season.
Vernazza Made a couple of nice runs down the left in the short
time he was on. Nice to see him get a chance.
Derek
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