Result : Arsenal (2) 3 Man City (0) 0
Scorers : Campbell 2, Smith 36,
Wright 76
Bookings: Merson, Winterburn McMahon, Rosler
Sent off: Rosler
Att : 38368
Teams
The game got off to a near perfect start for Arsenal. After only a minute a good combination down the left involving Wright, Merson and Winterburn ended with Wright laying the ball back to Merson on the corner of the area and his shot along the ground went inches wide of the far post. Barely a minute after that Arsenal were ahead. Campbell let a throw from Dixon on the right run on to Merson in the area and continued his run. Merson flicked the ball on to him with Phelan tracking him back, but the City fullback fluffed his attempt to control the ball and Campbell stuck out a foot to stab the ball inside the far post. Soon afterwards Smith had a good chance when Wright did well wide on the right to get in a beautiful cross, but Smudger's first time half-volley just cleared the bar. Flitcroft limped off halfway through the half to be replaced by Brightwell. Smith had another reasonable opportunity when Wright headed down a cross to him on the edge of the area. He struck the left foot volley well but it flew straight at Coton. However, 10 minutes before the interval Smith finally did get Arsenal's second. Merson floated in a near-post corner from the left which Coton, under challenge from Campbell, flapped at. It fell at Smith's feet and he volleyed it home via a slight deflection off Vonk. It was no more than Arsenal deserved, because City threatened only briefly with long range shots from McMahon and Beagrie which Seaman dealt with reasonably comfortably. The only time the Arsenal goal was seriously under threat was late in the half when a long cross from the right found Beagrie unmarked beyond the far post. However he seemed caught between shooting and pulling it back and his attempt went well wide of the opposite post.
The other events of note in the first half that I can remember were the bookings. You'd probably have got long odds on Merson becoming the 1st Arsenal player to be booked this season, but he and McMahon were the first in the book for squaring up to each other after Merse had taken exception to a late tackle by the City player. Rosler followed them when he had a go at Schwarz, again after a tackle. The German further provoked the ref and crowd when he went down after a Winterburn tackle near the edge of the Arsenal box. The ref obviously believed he was feigning injury and played on, and Rosler eventually continued without needing any treatment, with the crowd predictably singing "Are you Klinsmann in disguise?"
The second half was posssibly even more dominated by Arsenal. Early on Campbell perhaps should have scored with a flicked near post header from another Merson corner, but it went wide of the far post. Merson had a lively run down the left which ended in him cutting back inside and curling a shot from the edge of the area just beyond the angle of far post and bar. Dixon then took a quick throw near the half-way line which gave Campbell a clear run down the right but his cut back from the byline went behind Scharz and Wright running in. Quinn came on to applause from all round the ground in place of Walsh, and then Rosler's dispute with the ref came to a head. The ball was played down the left hand channel to him with Schwarz chasing him back. The Swede slid in a couple of yards outside the box and may or may not have just got a touch on the ball. Rosler performed a spectacular dive over him, the ref waved play on, which upset him somewhat and he rushed towards the ref screaming at him. A second yellow card duly followed. The third goal came not long afterwards. Wright knocked a ball on to Campbell wide on the right touchline. He outpaced Vonk and went on clean into the area. I thought he should have shot himself, but he instead cut it back to Wright and he sidefooted it home just beyond Coton's reach. After that the main entertainment was Jensen's attempts to score. Another good break down the right ended with Merson dummying over a pass in from the right to give JJ a chance from the edge of the area. Needless to say he scuffed his shot wide of the far post. A few minutes from time Campbell combined with with him to set up Jensen for a left foot shot from an angle about 10 yards out wide of the goal but again the ball flew wide of the far post. Just before the final whistle another break down the right by Campbell ended with him turning well to get in a shot from an acute angle which crashed against the crossbar.
All round a pretty good performance from the Gunners. In the second half the only time I can recall City really threatening was when Summerbee got free down the right only for Winterburn to trip him a couple of yards outside the area, which earned the latter a booking. I'd agree that Souper (ho-ho) Kev had a pretty good game, though to me when he's in good positions he still tends to look for Wrighty too much rather than going for goal himself. Mind you I'd have to say he did the right thing for the third goal. Arsenal got quite of lot of joy with long balls from the back going wide to Campbell on the right rather than down the middle. His flick-ons and nod-downs were working quite well. Schwarz had a good game doing the simple things well, and I also thought Jensen played particularly well. The defence weren't really tested, but Dixon had quite a good game going forward. Let's hope it continues next Sunday.
This report by Derek Brownjohn.
Tougher tests will undoubtedly be provided by Leeds, Liverpool and Blackburn in the next week. Incedently there were lots of tickets for Leeds available on Saturday (and they only gave us 1,800). I also heard Newcastle are giving away fans 800, don't know whether thats true or not.
This report by Trevor Collins.
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