Teams:
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Adams, Keown, Winterburn, Jensen, Schwarz,
Merson, Smith, Wright, Parlour
Subs: Campbell (Parlour 70), Selley (Jensen 70), Bartram
Newcastle: Srnicek, Hottiger, Howey, Albert, Peacock, Beresford,
Fox, Lee, Sellars, Beardsley, Cole
Subs: Mathie, Watson, Hooper
Result : Arsenal (1) 2 Newcastle (2) 3
Scorers : Adams 9, Wright 88 Keown (og) 7, Beardsley (p) 45,
Fox 74
Bookings: Sellars, Lee
Att : 36819
Referee : T Holbrook (Walsall)
This was a superb match, with literally dozens of chances and goalmouth
incidents, and a vastly improved performance from Arsenal who certainly
didn't deserve to lose after dominating for long stretches. Merson kept
his place and had a great game, so the only change from the Nicosia
match was Adams returning in place of Linighan. For Newcastle, Venison
was apparently unfit, so Keegan brought in Howey and played five at the
back.
Yet again, the Gunners almost got off to a flier. For the first five minutes Newcastle barely crossed the half way line, and the period of Arsenal pressure culminated in Merson picking up a loose ball on the edge of the area and surging past a couple of tackles into the box. The ball broke kindly for him and he lashed a shot goalwards from about 8 yards only for Srnicek to pull off a stunning one handed save. A minute later Newcastle were ahead. In their first meaningful attack, there was a dangerous looking break down the right, but Hottiger's cross was comfortably cut out by Keown. His clearance though went to Beardsley about 30 yards out, and after controlling the ball he drove in a shot which Seaman appeared to have comfortably covered. Unfortunately Keown, standing on the penalty spot, also got his head to it and deflected the ball wide of the stranded keeper's left hand. Happily, only a couple of minutes later Arsenal deservedly equalised. Beardsley tripped Wright a few yards outside the box and Merson's attempted curler was deflected up off the wall, the spin confused Peacock and the ball fell to Adams just outside the six yard box. Srnicek made another good save, beating out his first time left foot shot, but the ball spun up off the keeper's body and Adams was able to head it home past a desperate defender on the line.
Arsenal continued to dominate the rest of the half, but with Newcastle looking equally dangerous on the break. Soon after the equaliser Smith did well to collect a long ball forward and laid it off to Merson on the edge of the box. Merse took it on with a typically surging run and broke through to the left of goal, but Newcastle's Czech keeper made another good stop from Merson's attempt to flick the ball past him with the outside of his right boot. At the other end Seaman made a brilliant save from Beresford, changing direction to just reach the full back's downward header from a Fox cross. Another good Arsenal attack ended with Wright chasing a ball down the left and hook-volleying a cross over his shoulder to Smith in the middle. Smudger took it on his chest with his back to goal and turned to crack in a superb volley which went inches the wrong side of the post with the keeper well beaten. Arsenal were getting forward well down either flank, and from one of numerous corners there was a goalmouth scramble which could have brought a goal with a bit more luck. Parlour had a chance to strike home the loose ball but mishit his shot, Smith then got it caught under his feet but still got in a shot which the keeper again blocked well and the ball finally broke to a defender to be cleared. Then just before half time another dangerous Newcastle break ended with Fox lofting a cross in the direction of Albert on the far post. The Belgian had got in front of Dixon but the cross seemed to be too high, so he dramatically threw his arms in the air and sprawled to the ground. My first reaction was that it was a dive, and if there was a push it was only the slightest of nudges, but the ref (who had been letting a lot of physical challenges go) thought otherwise and awarded a penalty for a push in the back by Dixon. There wasn't much protest from the Arsenal players though and Beardsley sent Seaman the wrong way, easily slotting the spot kick home.
The second half continued in much the same vein as the first. Arsenal kept pushing forward in search of the equaliser and continued to create chances and win corners. They weren't quite getting the breaks though, and most shots and headers went straight at the keeper or just wide, or crosses went just behind the forwards in the box. Merson had a couple of good chances from far post headers. The first, from a Dixon cross he almost headed over Srnicek, but the Newcastle keeper just managed to reach up to catch it over his head. The second chance, from a Wright cross, Merse tried to head back towards the opposite post, but the ball dropped agonisingly just over the bar onto the roof of the net. Schwarz had a good strike from the left hand corner of the box, but again Srnicek was well positioned and saved down at his near post. Wright tried a shot on the turn from the edge of the area which was deflected wide. Campbell and Selley replaced Parlour and Jensen with about 20 minutes left, but still Arsenal couldn't get that final breakthrough. Meanwhile Newcastle had continued to look dangerous on the break, and on one such occasion, under pressure, Dixon overhit a backpass to Seaman and the keeper was forced to catch the ball over his head to prevent it going into the goal. Newcastle couldn't make anything of the resultant free kick though, and when they did get their third goal it was via the sort of lucky deflection that Arsenal just weren't getting at the other end. Beardsley had started off the match in midfield, with Fox partnering Cole up front, but in the second half he resumed his usual slightly withdrawn striker's role. About fifteen minutes from time he went on one of his characteristic runs, dribbling the ball straight at the heart of the Arsenal defence. He jinked past Selley and Keown before trying a shot from just inside the area. Dixon half-blocked it and the ball deflected wide to Fox running in on the right, and with Seaman stranded he crashed his shot from an acute angle in off the underside of the bar and Keown on the line, though I think it was going in anyway.
After that Arsenal still pressed forward, but perhaps slightly desperately and with less conviction. They still had chances to pull a goal back though, most notably when Wright, in space between two defenders on the six yard line, sent his header from a Dixon cross straight at the keeper. The Gunners were also leaving space at the back and were perhaps fortunate not to have conceded another goal. Seaman made another superb save, this time from Cole as the former Gunner raced through and got in front of the covering defender for his only real chance of the game. Seaman conceded another indirect free kick in the area, this time a little unfortunately, when he stopped a ball which had come off Dixon as the fullback slid in to dispossess Cole as they both chased a through ball. However, justice was done when Fox blasted the ball high over the bar from an angle as Newcastle attempted something different from the free kick. Then, just as we were resigning ourselves to defeat, two minutes from time Arsenal finally got the goal they deserved. Wright turned on a ball on the edge of the area and volleyed in a superb shot which, taking a slight deflection on the way, nevertheless still went in off the post. Faint glimmers of hope as everybody was thrown forward in search of the equaliser. It should really have come too, because in injury time with the virtually the last kick of the match Arsenal finally got a corner right. Campbell flicked on Merson's near post kick to Wright who was unmarked just beyond the far post. However, it came to him at an awkward height and he was also probably put off by Keown just in front of him, so he seemed undecided about how to hit it and ended up stooping awkwardly and his attempted header screwed wide of the post.
Apart from the result it was a reasonably satisfactory game from Arsenal's point of view. According to the statistics on Arsenal TV, the home team had 24 shots at goal with 14 on target, to Newcastle's 16 and 8, and 15 corners to Newcastle's 4 (3 of which came after their 3rd goal as Arsenal exposed themselves at the back), which gave a reasonable picture of the balance of the match. The defence looked a bit more shaky than usual, but credit for that must go to Newcastle who look very good going forward. I didn't think Keown had too bad a game, and it would be harsh to blame him for the own goal, though it was his rather weak clearance which Beardsley picked up. Adams looked to me uncharacteristically hesitant at times, but then I don't think any defender is going to enjoy playing against Fox, Beardsley and Cole who all run very well with the ball at their feet. Dixon did well going forward, though the penalty was down to him and he made another creditable attempt to add to his own goal tally, and Winterburn got forward to good effect more often than I've seen in recent times. Schwarz had a better game, winning some good tackles (though he was perhaps fortunate not to give away a penalty in the second half when he brought down Sellars in the box) and Jensen held things together well in the anchor role. Parlour plugged away down the right and had a couple of good runs in the first half, and Merson had an outstanding game in the role which seems to suit him best, roving at will along the front line and down either flank. Wrighty looked more like his old self and Smith too had a good game, winning a lot of headers, holding the ball up and laying it off well. Unfortunately Newcastle are now 13 points ahead and the championship is fast receding into the distance. To have any hope at all we need to start winning now.
Report by Derek Brownjohn
Wright played much better than against Man City and Blackburn, particularly when making chances, including a spectacular effort bwtween him and Smith in the first half. His finishing could have been better a few times, but both he and Merson have improved noticeably.
Keown, who has been wrongly blamed for the penalty, made two blunders for the first goal, the first being a simplistic clearance straight to Beardsley, the second being to gain contact with a lunging header on the subsequent shot. Adams could be seen telling him off for this. The third goal was a Keown OG, (courtesy of replaying a clip from the news) - Fox's shot hit the bar and bounced down to hit the inrushing Keown, who in this case was merely unfortunate.
The penalty incident was partly down to Winterburn, who was out of position when Fow got the ball wide on the right, and was too late too stop a very dangerous cross. As the cross came over, a Newcastle forward fell away from Dixon, and a penalty was given. Close analysis of the incident show three things: firstly, the forward seemed to back into Dixon, secondly, that Dixon pushing him could not be ruled out, and thirdly, that Dixon's hand swung round over his head and came close enough to the ball to make contact, although the flight of the ball was not affected.
The game turned on this incident, with Arsenal pushing Dixon and Winterburn forward to leave two at the back, which caused a number of dangerous incidents, including the third goal. Dixon played well on the wing, and got a number of decent crosses over, particularly while Parlour was still on the pitch to support him. Parlour looked rather tired, but was giving good support, but Dixons influence lessened when Parlour and Jensen were replaced by Selley and Campbell with about twenty minutes to go, an odd substitution really, as the whole team had been playing well. The effect of this and the third Newcastle goal was to kill the noise North Bank, and the teams spirit.
The 'new backpass rule' was further discredited in two second half incidents involving Dixon, one a fine sliced chip reminiscient of his OG against Coventry a few years ago, which Seaman did well to save. The ref, (an idiot unable to control or understand the game) then gave a free kick. The second involved a fine sliding tackle by Dixon which ran to Seaman, who had to save it from the Newcastle forward, with t with the ref again giving a free kick.
Th ref had a poor game in general, with Beardsley in particular getting away with a couple of late challenges, and an indirect free kick but not even a booking when a defender stopped Wright in a clear run on goal. On the "plus" side, an excellent dive by Dixon got a Newcastle player booked in the first half.
Report by Matt Moore.
Newcastle champions BLAH BLAH BLAH greatset ever start BLAH BLAH BLAH 6 in a row BLAH BLAH BLAH Kevin Keegan is God BLAH BLAH BLAH. By the way Arsenal were also there and the game was played at Highbury.
That was one of the most sickening games I've ever seen. Right from the start Arsenal dominated the game. Early chnaces for Merson among others. Enter Mr Keown. Newcastle are attacking and put a cross into the center, Keown then passes the ball to Beardsley who puts in a speculative shot from 40 yards out that is never going in . However Magic Martin sees this and so dives sideways to bury the ball in the back of the net - brilliant one two. One - Nil to Newcastle The goal is TOTALLY against the run of play, Newcastle being pinned in their own half up until this point. The game restarts and Arsenal begin to exert pressure. Wright is brought down close to the Newcastle goal. Free kick curled in (by Merson?) and falls to Adams who first hits it at Srnicek with his feet, then scores with a header on the rebound - One all. Arsenal continue to dominate. Wright flicks the ball onto Smith who chests an volleys just wide. Bang on the stroke of half time another cross is put in from the right. This goes beyond the far post and out of danger where the Newcastle no 27 (I think?) is promptly wrestled to the ground by Keown and Dixon - Penalty. Up steps Beardsley - two one to Newcastle.
Second half - Arsenal continue to dominate, chances being missed by everyone (so many I can hardly remember any in particular ). Newcastle have one or two counter attacks, but seem prepared to hold out for two-one. Frustration has set in 20 minutes from time, with several players being a little to greedy - Merson in particular, although you can't fault him because he was having an excellent game up until then. Off go Parlour and Jensen? On come Selley and Campbell. Newcastle promptly counter attack from one of the many Arsenal attempts and Rule Fox scores a good goal from a tight angle. Arsenal promptly go to pieces. Dixon tries to chip seaman (remeber that Coventry game) who being wise to this by now, catches the ball in his area. Direct free kick to Newcastle in the penalty area. Fortunately nothing comes of it. Lots of Newcastle pressure now - Selley can't compete in the center as well as Jensen or Parlour, but Campbell is doing OK. Five minutes from time and Arsenal start to come alive again - Wright heads the ball at Srnicek. More chnaces seem to be squandered. Then Wright receives the ball and hits it low into the corner, where it rebounds off the post and in. 3-2. We're now into the dying moments when and Arsenal get a corner. If there is a God this is going in. The corner is taken, and looks like it is going in but is just wide. Full time - Newcastle win.
Keown was appalling throughout as was Dixon. They are simply not good enough any more. I would say that the pair of them lost us the game rather than Newcastle won it. Dixon's crosses get worse each season. Keown just looks outclassed - I can't believe he cost 2M. On the plus side, the rest of the team had a good game and there was some excellent football played. I think Linighan is a better stand in for Bould than Keown and I hope Lydersen stays with us on his return as a permanent replacement for Dixon.
Report by Mike Doherty
Merson was in great form. He seemed to have lost a stone in weight and appeared to be about 2 yards faster. He seemed to be everywhere in the front line, causing the Geordies no end of problems.
After seven minutes Newcastle went ahead against the run of play. Their first shot, I think. Bearsdley hit a shot from outside the box which Seaman appeared to have covered. Unfortunately, Keown, in trying to clear, only managed to divert it into the opposite corner. Two minutes later however the Gunners were level. A Merson free kick was diverted to Adams, his shot was saved by the 'keeper, but bounced up for Adams to head home the equaliser. For the rest of the half Arsenal continued to power forward looking to convert their dominance into goals. In this period Seaman made an excellent save from a header.
Unfortunately, on the stroke of half time, Dixon gave a penalty away when he appeared to push Albert at the far post. At the time there didn't appear to be much danger. Breadsley stroked home the penalty to give the Geordies an undeserved 2-1 half time advantage.
With about 15 minutes left Arsenal went further behind when another deflection (off Keown I think) fell to Fox. He fired home off the underside of the bar. Newcastle played some good stuff in the final twenty minutes and could have scored 2 or 3, but they should have been well beaten by that stage! With a minute remaining Wright fired home from the edge of the box to make it 2-3.
As at Leeds Arsenal played well but got nothing for it. Things can only get better. Later on in the season the luck will even out and we'll get a result we don't deserve, but until then....
Report by Mike McCabe
In summary, I felt at the time that Newcastle were always going to outscore Arsenal. Perhaps that was why the crowd was a bit quiet in the second half; it looked like a forgone conclusion. Graham made an awful substitution late on as well, completely killing off any chance of recovery. Arsenal had just about held on in midfield with Parlour, Jensen and Schwarz having to dig deep; Graham took off two of them, sent Campbell up front, and left Selley to do the job of two men (not Laurel and Hardy, though). Newcastle had the chances to score four in the next ten minutes!
Also, all the talk about two own goals and a penalty (GG) can be ignored - Graham was just getting his own back after Keegan had sniped at Arsenal winning with set-piece goals last season. The Geordies could have scored any number on Sunday. Great game, though !
Mind you, Arsenal will be concentrating on the one competition that really matters this year. The one trophy that Arsenal have never one. The one trophy that means you are the best team in Europe! The European Pooper Scooper Cup. Arsenal 1 Milan 0 !
Report by Elliot Austin.
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