Arsenal (0) 4 - 1 (1)Highbury, Monday September 16th 1996
Teams
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Keown, Linighan, Bould, Winterburn, Platt,
Parlour, Merson, Wright, Hartson
Subs: Vieira (Parlour 28), Rose, Shaw, Lukic
Sheff W: Pressman, Atherton, Nolan, Pembridge, Walker, Whittingham,
Hirst, Booth, Blinker, Stefanovic, Collins
Subs: Clarke, Nicol (Stefanovic 50), Oakes (Blinker 77),
Humphreys, Trustfull (Whittingham 69)
Result : Arsenal (0) 4 Sheffield Wednesday (1) 1
Scorers: Platt 57, Booth 25
Wright 61 pen, 78, 89
Bookings: Keown, Bould, Hartson Walker
Sent off: Walker (60)
Att : 33461
Referee : M Reed (Birmingham)
A highly entertaining and eventful match at Highbury last night, as
Arsenal eventually overwhelmed Sheffield Wednesday to send the fans home
in jubilant mood. It could however have been a very different story
after a first half which featured one of the most appalling displays of
defence by an Arsenal team that I've witnessed in recent years. The Owls
probably counted themselves lucky not to have been at least 2 goals in
front. The match however started to change with the introduction of
Patrick Vieira, who made an outstanding debut, and was completely turned
around by the Owls' 2nd half loss of Stefanovic through injury, and
Walker via a sending off.
Kickoff was delayed by 25 minutes by a power failure to the turnstiles in the East stand, and it seemed Arsenal delayed their start to the game by a similar period. Merson and Winterburn did put together one good early move down the left, but Wednesday soon replied when Blinker played Nolan in down the left. His cross was cleared, but a series of corners resulted as the Owls kept up the pressure. Collins played a lovely ball to put Atherton clear down the right, Keown just cleared from in front of Hirst. From another corner Stefanovic was given a free header by Linighan but fortunately put it over the bar from 8 yards. Arsenal then came back into it for a while. Wright poked a ball through for Merson to chase with Walker, and he just got to it first but was stretching and Pressman saved fairly comfortably falling away to his left. Then Hartson played a nice ball in from the right touchline to find Dixon in space, but his shot from the edge of the area sailed past the far angle. Soon after the roles were reversed, a Dixon cross picking out Hartson at the far post, but his header was comfortably wide of the opposite upright. Midway through the half, there was a sequence of bookings for lunging tackles by centre halves. Keown and Bould, then Walker. The latter did in fact get a touch on the ball as Wrighty skipped past him, but it was purely coincidental to what was a reckless challenge. Sheffield Wednesday then had a period where they consistently found the gaping holes in the Arsenal defence, and eventually their efforts culminated in a goal. First Blinker played a ball in from the left, Hirst dummied, Pembridge played it on to find Whittingham in yards of space on the 18 yard line. Fortunately he tried to chip Seaman and put it a couple of feet over the bar. Then Blinker and Pembridge combined again, to give Whittingham another gilt edged chance. Limpar's former bete noir chipped over a short cross to again find Whittingham unmarked. This time from about 6 yards his header was superbly pushed aside by Seaman. Seconds after that Wednesday did finally get the goal they deserved. Nolan played what seemed a fairly innocuous ball forward, but it somehow ran through, Bould hesitated and allowed Booth to get ahead of him and clean in on goal. As Seaman rushed out he touched it past the keeper and it went in off the far post. It was no more than the visitors deserved and they could have increased the lead soon afterwards. Blinker chipped forward to find Collins beating the badly malfunctioning offside trap, but the midfielder seemed not to realise the time he had and swung his left foot hurriedly at the ball and miskicked. Hartson then created Arsenal's best chance so far. He touched the ball inside to pick up Merson's run and the Magic Man's first touch took him clear of the defence. However, his attempt to place it inside the near post drifted agonisingly a foot or so wide. Wednesday again hit back and very nearly did go two in front. A corner wasn't cleared properly, the ball dropped in the area, Hirst swung instinctively at it and his shot cannoned off the underside of the bar and away to safety. Meanwhile Vieira had replaced Parlour who apparently had a dead leg, and Arsenal immediately began to look better and dominated the final 15 minutes of the half. Dixon and Blinker had a mild disagreement and were lectured by the ref, and Wright got away with pulling the Dutchman's dreadlocks. Hartson nodded down to Merson in space on the right and his first time shot again missed the far post by a foot or two. Hartson did more good work near the left corner flag which allowed Winterburn in for a near post shot from an acute angle which Pressman eventually held on to. Dixon then crossed for Wrighty to volley spectacularly over, and in 1st half injury time Arsenal came closest yet to a goal. A Merson corner was headed back by Bould to give Keown what seemed a simple opportunity to nod the ball inside the near post. However Collins somehow got back to head the ball off the line, though I don't think he really knew much about it. The Owls had the last word though when Dixon miscontrolled a ball to allow Blinker a shot which was fortunately straight at Seaman. Wednesday started the second half quite brightly and for the first few minutes it seemed to be going the same way as the first. However Vieira then woke his teammates up with a lovely run into the area and cross which was cleared with difficulty. Hartson then had a couple of efforts which didn't trouble Pressman. At the other end the Gunners defence was still looking a bit shaky. A swift Wednesday break ended with Nicol crossing from the right to again find Whittingham in space, but his header went well wide. Soon after that though, Arsenal were level. Hartson chased a long ball forward into the area from Dixon, Collins should have cleared but didn't do so effectively, and allowed Hartson to gather and turn to cut the ball back across the box. Platt was making one of his trademark late runs and cooly slotted the ball home from the edge of the box. Soon afterwards he could have made it two. Hartson blocked a clearance, Wright chipped the loose ball into the middle where Platt was again making a run, but his header from 8 yards was straight at Pressman. However, minutes after that Arsenal did take the lead. Blinker gave the ball away near the half way line, Hartson played it on into the path of Merson's run. As he took it into the box Walker made a last desperate tackle, but missed the ball and took Merson. Fairly undeniably penalty, and to make things worse for the visitors the ref produced a 2nd yellow card for Walker and the red duly followed. Pressman went the (W)right way but Wrighty's spot kick was too confidently struck to his right for him to get near it. Sheffield Wednesday then had a short period where they might have snatched an equaliser. Booth headed another Nicol cross goalwards and Seaman made another brilliant save, tipping the ball over from just beneath the bar. Booth then had another reasonable chance at the near post when a ball was played in from the right, but Keown did enough to put him off. Thereafter it was all Arsenal. Collins moved back into defence for Wednesday, but was a bystander when Vieira played a lovely through ball for WWW to chase. He and Pressman reached it at the same time, the ball spun loose, Wrighty was up first and twisted to brilliantly shoot against the bar from an acute angle outside the area on the left. Merson then broke swiftly from the halfway line, passed to Hartson who might have have played Merson back in, but instead almost surprised Pressman with a snap shot from the edge of the area. The keeper reacted well to save down at his near post. Dixon and Merson then had another quick break to engineer a chance for Hartson but he swung wildly at it and connected only with air. The ball wasn't properly cleared and came back to him, but this time his shot was blocked. Merson chipped forward to find Vieira clear in the area but as the ball bounced he wanted just too long to get the shot in and a defender was able to nip in and take it off his toe. Arsenal finally got the third goal. Following a good move across the middle involving Merson, Vieira and Platt, the ball was worked wide to Dixon running in down the right. His ball into the middle was reached at the same time by Merson and a defender, spun loose and there was Wrighty to stab home from about 8 yards. The Wednesday defence was now in total disarray. Dixon chipped a ball forward to find Platt and Vieira both unmarked in front of goal. Platt in fact took it off the Frenchman, who was better placed, and allowed Pressman to save comfortably. Merson then had a couple of shots saved by the overworked keeper. Pressman made another superb save a minute or two before time. Hartson cleared a rare Wednesday corner from his own box, Wright held it in the centre circle before picking out Vieira's run down the left. Breaking into the box he might have shot himself but instead unselfishly chose to pick out Platt who was making a run unmarked at the far post. It seemed a certain goal, but Platt was rather too deliberate in placing his shot, and Pressman was able to plunge across his goal and save brilliantly. Just before time the Gunners did get a fourth goal. Merson played a lovely ball through the defence to release Winterburn on a run down the left. He played it in across the face of goal, and running in unmarked was who else but Ian Wright and he slotted it joyfully home. There was a euphoric atmosphere at Highbury during the final few minutes, heightened by the announcement of Wrighty's 100th league goal, his 150th in all, and by Vieira's hugely promising debut. Even us North Bank Upper mutes were heard to politely mutter the odd cheer. However, I don't think it should be forgotten that Wednesday played much the better football in the opening half hour, and the dreadful shambles in defence for much of the first half will no doubt cause Wenger some worry. Finally, I've had a request to give marks out of ten for each player, something I've always been rather reluctant to do. It's extremely difficult to be objective, and indeed often difficult to be fair. However, some people may be interested, and I said I'd give it a go, so here is the highly subjective "Brownjohn Player Rating Index System (TM)".
Seaman 7.5 Not a great deal to do, but when exposed by his defence
made two great saves.
Dixon 7.0 Had another good game charging forward, but shares the
blame for the defensive shambles and sloppily gave the
away more than once.
Winterburn 6.5 One of his better games of recent months, though still
lacks confidence on the ball.
Keown 7.0 Despite one or two mistakes, possibly due to being
nervous about his co centre backs, he was the man who
held things together with several last ditch blocks.
Bould 6.0 At fault for the Wednesday goal but I thought looked
more like his old self the longer the game went on,
though of course the defence was under less pressure.
Linighan 5.0 Unfortunately playing like the old Linighan we first
grew to know and dread.
Parlour 6.5 Didn't do a lot wrong, but his limitations were showed
up by his replacement.
Vieira 8.0 Perhaps a bit over the top, but my choice for man of the
match, if only for the joy of watching a midfielder who
can pass and is comfortable on the ball.
Platt 7.0 One of his best games for Arsenal. Seemed to make much
more forward runs with Vieira alongside him and could
have had a hattrick.
Merson 7.5 Continued his recent good form and was involved in much
of Arsenal's more creative moments.
Hartson 7.0 One of his better games for Arsenal. Got involved much
more effectively than usual and made two of the goals.
Wright 8.0 Typical Wright performance. Hattrick. No more to be said
report by Derek Brownjohn copyright belongs to original author where credited. otherwise © Rupert Ward, ArseWeb MMV ArseWeb is NOT the official Arsenal site. The (excellent) official site is here |