Leeds Utd 1 - Arsenal 0

Elland Rd, Tues 23th August 1994

Result   :   Leeds United (0) 1   Arsenal (0) 0
Scorer   :   Noel Whelan 89.

Att: 34,500ish

Same team started as Saturday (see Saturday's reports for list). Leeds were put under pressure from the start. The ball hit the bar off a Wright cross, didn't see from who, in the opening minutes. Leeds rarely threatened in a first half completely dominated by us. Wallace looked fairly lively but Bould was having an absolute stormer and Seaman had nothing to do. Wright also cracked another shot off the bar later in the half and squandered a couple of good openings, usually due to his complete lack of control. Schwartz and Jensen were containing the midfield fairly comfortably. Merson took a heavy blow to the head after going up for a header on the half way line and done nothing else for the remainder of the game. Still half time and a win looked on the cards. Start of the second half and we sort of gave the midfield up for the first twenty minutes, but apart from the odd wild shot we still looked comfortable. Speed did manage a superb effort that hit the bar. Then disaster struck when Bould went off injured. Keown relaced him and actually played quite well. Wright spurned the two best opportunties of the second half. Having got in behind Palmer he nudged the ball past Lukic and then, rather than playing the ball to Smith with an open goal he tried to lob the ball back into the far corner of the net. Then he tricked his way past Palmer and was baring down on Lukic in the middle of the goal about 8 yards out and scuffed his shot wide. Lukic made a couple of comfortable saves from more speculative Wright efforts. As the half drew on we got stronger and stronger and there only looked one winner. Then the ball fell to Whelan who hit a speculative effort from 30 yards. The ball seemed to swerve and dip horrendously but Seaman appeared to have it covered. Then incredibly the ball seemed to end up in the middle of the net. Complete disaster. In the remaining seconds Merson had a shot well saved by Lukic but he really should have scored.

It just wasn't our night. The best performance we've had in a league game at Elland Road for years and we throw away even a point. Though Seaman may have been at fault for the goal, the real culprit last night was Ian Wright who failed to score when he could have had five. I suppose he has to have the odd bad night. Campbell and Merson were largely anonymous but the defence, particularly Bould were superb. I can't see Leeds doing much this season on last nights performance. Wallace looked their only real threat and you can't see him scoring many.

Report by Trevor Collins

Unlucky Arsenal! Before you get too despondent don't worry. If we play like this for the rest of the season, with a bit of luck we should be challenging. I was at Highbury on Saturday and the performance today was even better, unfortunately Ian Wright was not on form and squandered seveal chances, including a couple of very easy misses (more reminiscent of Super Kev). Bould had a cracking game before going off injured (looked serious, possibly knee). He made several good tackles. The whole team looked good. Merson was frustrating. He looked disinterested for long periods though did prouce a few nice passes, I guess he has other things on his mind (like a possible driving ban!). We hit the crossbar a couple of times and were much the better side. The most positive aspect of the game though was our attacking and entertaining play. It was one of the best performances I have seen from Arsenal for a very long time, and if Ian had been on form we could have embarassed Leeds. The Leeds crowd was very quiet for most of the game. Unfortunately their goal was a Seaman blunder, I did not get a clear view, but apparently it was a long range shot and Seamen slipped. Wonder what El Tel thought, apparently he was in the crowd.

Looking forward to Sunday, hope we have better luck and that Wrighty is back on form.

Report by Tony D'Emanuele

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