Coventry vs Arsenal. 21/04/97

Coventry City (1) 1 - 1 (1) Arsenal

Highfield Road, Monday 21st April 1997

FA Carling Premiership

Result : Coventry              (1) 1   Arsenal                 (1) 1
Scorers: Dublin (2)                    Wright (19 pen)

Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Bould, Adams, Keown, Winterburn, Platt,
         Vieira, Merson, Bergkamp, Wright
         Subs: Anelka (Merson 77), Parlour (Dixon 83), 
               Marshall, Hughes, Lukic
         Booked: Wright, Vieira

Coventry: Ogrizovic, Shaw, Burrows, Borrows, Williams, Telfer,
          Whelan, McAllister, Strachan, Dublin, Ndlovu
         Subs: Huckerby (Dublin 35), Richardson (Strachan 77), 
               Filan, Hall, Evtushok
         Booked: Whelan

Att: 19998
Ref: K W Burge (Tonypandy)

A somewhat disappointing result again, though in a match with plenty of incident played at an unrelenting pace on a greasy surface. Coventry were as desperate for the points as Arsenal and worked furiously to deny the Gunners time and space. A draw was probably a fair result as Arsenal had the better of the game in terms of possession and territory, but the home team possibly had the edge in clear cut chances.

It looked like it might be a comfortable evening in the opening minute, as Arsenal stroked the ball around, Merson put over a couple of crosses and Coventry struggled to even get a touch. However, as soon as the Sky Blues did gain their first meaningful possession they went in front. The watching Gooners were still chuckling over the sight of the towering Vieira dispossessing the midget Strachan when Bould misplaced a pass to Adams just outside his own area, Platt's attempt at a clearance ricocheted to Ndlovu and the ball broke to McAllister. His shot from 25 yards was probably going wide, but deflected off Adams' boot straight to Dublin, all on his own in the right side of the area. He had time to measure his shot, and though Seaman did well to get a faint touch he couldn't stop it nestling in the opposite corner of the net.

Arsenal almost hit back straight away. Platt glanced a header from a Winterburn header straight at Ogrizovic, the ball bounced off the keeper's chest and Wright couldn't wrap his foot round a volley and put the ball wide from about 5 yards.

At the other end Dublin was consistently causing problems for the Arsenal defence in the air, though it was Ndlovu who missed the next half chance, hooking a volley wide of goal after the ball had broken to him off Strachan just inside the area. Dublin next had a glanced header from a corner cleared off the line by Winterburn who was guarding the far post.

However, less than a minute later Arsenal were level, courtesy of an Ogrizovic blunder. Merson broke forward but overhit his attempt to find Wright with a through ball. The keeper came out to collect at the edge of the area but the ball slipped from his grasp and Wrighty nipped in to knock it past him. Oggy lunged desperately to regain possession but succeeded only in taking WWW's legs away. Fairly indisputable penalty, and Wright sent Ogrizovic the wrong way with the spot kick, and celebrated in his inimitable over the top fashion.

Arsenal should have taken the lead not long afterwards. Vieira knocked a quick thinking first time ball through which allowed Bergkamp to beat the offside trap and race clear down the left. He chose to transfer the ball to his right foot before shooting from an acute angle. Ogrizovic got a touch on the shot, but it was still going in until the deflection fortuitously cannoned against Burrows on the line. Bergkamp appealed for handball, but if it did hit Burrows on the hand he knew little about it.

Dublin had to go off with a knee injury, which caused a sigh of relief until we realised it only brought on Huckerby. However, Arsenal dominated the rest of the half. Merson broke into the box but his snap shot went straight at the keeper, and then he chipped a clever little ball forward to pick out Vieira's run, but his twisting header went a couple of feet over the bar.

Coventry had the better chances early in the second half. First Huckerby broke down the right, into the box but, with Strachan and Whelan in space to his left, he held on the the ball too long and sliced his eventual attempt wide. He then suffered 1st degree ear-ache as his manager made his opinions known in no uncertain terms. However, Huckerby then helped to manufacture possibly the best chance of the half. McAllister flicked on his cross from the left to find Telfer running in completely unmarked at the far post, but to jeers of relief from the visiting fans, he put his header wide of the opposite post.

At the other end Bergkamp eventually won a decision when McAllister hacked him down a few yards outside the box on the left. The Dutch master whipped the free kick round the wall but, with the keeper beaten, it went a foot or so wide. The Coventry fans were screaming for a penalty when Dixon chested down a cross, but the ref waved play on.

About 15 minutes from time, Anelka came on for Merson and he almost immediately helped set up a goal as Arsenal broke swiftly from the back in probably the best move of the half. Bergkamp played a first time pass from the left touchline inside to Vieira, and the young Frenchman surged forward into the Coventry half before playing a perfect pass out to Anelka as he raced into space down the left. He took it on into the area before cutting it back, but Williams made a superb sliding interception to just nick it away from Wright.

Wrighty then had a half chance when Winterburn half blocked a clearance and the ball broke to him just outside the area, but he dragged his first time shot wide. He did slightly better a couple of minutes from time and should have given Arsenal the winner. Anelka crossed from the right, and under challenge WWW brought the ball down brilliantly to leave himself in space just inside the area. However, he hurried his shot and could only scuff it straight at Ogrizovic.

The final real excitement of the game came when Bould flicked on a Bergkamp throw and Anelka swung a boot round a defender to surprise Ogrizovic but the shot bounced wide of the far post, and for some reason the linesman appeared to flag for a foul throw.

There was also some entertainment towards the end provided mainly by Winterburn. Strachan was complaining in his usual vociferous manner about something or nothing, which appeared to finally break Adams' patience and he went over to Strachan made a furious yak-yak sign with his hands, presumably suggesting he shut the f**k up. In the resulting rumpus Strachan appearantly did something unmentionable to Winterburn, and while the ref was speaking to him Nutty went up to the ginger whinger and planted a kiss on his cheek. This caused smiles all round, and Nutty then caused more laughter from the nearby Gooners by trotting away and holding his groin in a suggestive manner.

Overall, a bit disappointing, though in the end I think a draw wasn't a bad result against a team that's hit a bit of form recently and is fighting desperately hard against relegation. Just means we need to win both our last two games to stand any chance of finishing second.

Seaman     7.0  Due mainly to Coventry's inability to hit the target, I 
                can only recall him having to make one save, and a 
                couple of catches.

Dixon      6.5  Not a bad game again, but he's played better going 
                forward this season.

Winterburn 6.5  Usual hard working display, but I still sometimes get 
                frustrated by the way attacks tend to stutter when the
                ball reaches him.
            
Adams      7.0  The usual Adams though he seemed to be more inclined to
                try and play more elaborately than usual.

Keown      7.5  Some important last ditch tackles and clearances.

Bould      6.5  Had real problems with Dublin early on.

Platt      6.0  Saw less of him than recently. My theory is that he is 
                less comfortable when he is forced to play on the left,  
                as he is when Merson rather than Hughes is playing.

Vieira     7.5  Dominated midfield, though he did seem slightly prone
                to one or two slack moments again.

Merson     6.0  Not quite on form, probably due to being not match fit,
                as evidenced by the fact that as the half time whistle 
                went he was retching up the remains of his chicken and 
                pasta, or whatever.

Bergkamp   7.0  Seems to me that refs recently have had something 
                against him. He only wins free kicks after the 3rd 
                attempt to pull him over.

Wright     6.5  Seemed to snatch uncharacteristically at the couple of
                chances he had. Picked up another unnecessary booking 
                which could also take over the 33 point mark. If so he
                would miss the last game of the season.

Anelka     7.5  Wouldn't normally bother to mark a sub on only 15 
                minutes but I thought Anelka showed a good touch, 
                movement and pace, and looked enormously promising.

Report by Derek Brownjohn

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