Arsenal vs Wimbledon. 23/02/97

Arsenal (0) 0 - 1 (1) Wimbledon

Highbury, Sunday 23rd February 1997

FA Carling Premiership

After a year without losing to an English club at Highbury we've now done it three times in a row, and Arsene Wenger had admitted that our title hopes look shattered. Once again a substandard performance, some key absences, and not much of the run of the ball meant that once we went behind it never looked like it would be our afternoon.

The goal came early on, with a poor defensive header out being lobbed across the penalty area to Vinnie Jones unmarked on the right, and his volley left Lukic no chance.

While Marshall Garde and Lukic didn't do badly as cover for Adams Keown and Seaman, we were clearly missing their composure at the back. Merson had a game where everything just went a bit wrong, his passes, though usually clever in intent, weren't finding their man. He had a good chance in the first half where he perhaps tried to do too much - rather than shooting he tried to dribble through as if in emulation of Zola's goal against ManU the day before.

Wright had a couple of good chances, one hitting the post in the first half. Things went from bad to worse when Bould had to go off to be replaced by Morrow early in the second half.

The good news is that Nicolas Anelka was at the ground, and should be able to play against Everton, if picked (presumably he'll play against Nottm Forest the week after, that being the first match of Wright's suspension).

report by Rupe

Result : Arsenal               (0) 0   Wimbledon               (1) 1
Scorers:                               Jones 21

Arsenal: Lukic, Dixon, Garde, Marshall, Bould, Winterburn, Parlour,
         Vieira, Merson, Bergkamp, Wright
         Subs: Hughes (Parlour h-t), Morrow (Bould 46), Shaw (Garde 79),
               Selley, Harper
         Booked: Dixon

Wimbledon: Sullivan, Cunningham, Kimble, Perry, Blackwell, Jones, 
           Leonhardsen, Earle, Ardley, Ekoku, Gayle
           Subs: Fear (Leonhardsen 13), McAllister (Jones 56),
                 Holdsworth (Gayle 87), Heald, Goodman

Att: 37854
Ref: P Jones (Loughborough)

Wimbledon spike the Gunners at Highbury yet again. In a game played yet again in a blustery wind, Arsenal failed to find the luck and physical and mental reserves need to overcome the well organised Dons. The Arsenal defence was severely weakened by injuries to Seaman, Adams and Keown, and also lost Bould just after half time, which meant a distinctly unfamiliar back 3 of Marshall, Garde and Morrow. However, it was ultimately Arsenal's attack which failed to bring the win which was so desperately needed to maintain any realistic hope of the league title.

In difficult conditions it was predictably Wimbledon who started the more confidently and had the better of the opening few minutes. Some early balls into the Arsenal area caused one or two difficult moments before the home team began to get into the game. Marshall played a nice ball forward to pick out Bergkamp's run down the right and Ian Wright was only just to late arriving in the middle to meet the Dutchman's cross.

Soon after that Wright very nearly broke his recent poor run. Bould knocked a ball forward which Wrighty was quickest to run on to and from the edge of the area his shot across the keeper was hard and almost true but unluckily rebounded off the post and just eluded Bergkamp following up in the middle.

After 20 minutes it was Wimbledon who managed to score, following a corner which resulted when Garde, running back, misjudged a high ball down the middle. He missed his first attempt to nod it back to Lukic and was thus too close to the keeper for his second attempt and Lukic couldn't stop it going over the line. The corner was half cleared, Ardley miskicked his first attempt to return the ball into the area (ironically had the ball gone where he'd intended, a couple of Dons would probably have been caught offside, but as it happened were deemed to be not interfering), but when Dixon headed it back to him, his second attempt was more accurate and found Jones completely unmarked in the right side of the box. The Wimbledon captain struck a superb volley from 15 yards which gave Lukic no chance and flew into the opposite bottom corner.

Arsenal responded by applying more pressure at the other end, but rarely found enough of a cutting edge to bother Sullivan. The keeper had to scramble across his goal to save a Dixon header from a Parlour cross and a Bould header from a Bergkamp cross dropped onto the roof of his net. The only other time in the half he was called into serious action was when Bergkamp slipped a beautiful little ball into the area and picked out Merson's clever run. Merse flicked the ball delightfully round a defender to leave himself with only the keeper to beat, but close in Sullivan did well to palm away Merson's attempt to chip a volley over him.

Arsenal's other main chance before half time came when Bergkamp produced another lovely flick over his shoulder to play in Vieira as he made a run into the area on the left. Paddy stretched his long legs and played in a low ball across the six yard area which Wright seemed favourite to knock home at the near post. Somehow though, under pressure from Blackwell, he completely missed as he swung his left foot at the ball.

At the other end Wimbledon were looking equally threatening, and it took a superb intervention from Lukic to save a certain goal. Some slack defending left Earle to retrieve a ball as it ran towards the goal line in the right side of the area. Tight to the byline he cut the ball back into the 6yd area to pick out Ekoku's run but Lukic reacted brilliantly to cut out the cross as the striker shaped to knock it home.

In first half injury time Wimbledon missed what was probably the best chance of the half. A cross came in from the left, Ekoku headed it back into the middle from beyond the far post, and Ardley was all alone about 10 yards out but screwed his shot horribly wide of Lukic's right post.

The second half featured more Arsenal pressure, a couple of great saves from Sullivan, and a couple of equally dangerous Wimbledon breaks which might have resulted in a second goal. Hughes came on at half time for Parlour (apparently not feeling well, in common with 37000 other people in the ground) and helped Arsenal mount some periods of heavy pressure which nonetheless failed to break down the solid Wimbledon defence.

It was the visitors though, who had the best early chance. Ekoku broke clear down the left and his angled shot flashed only a foot or so wide of the far post. However, inspired mostly by Bergkamp, Arsenal eventually managed to fashion some decent chances. Merson chipped a nice ball in from the left which found Bergkamp as he ghosted round the back of the defence. Sullivan was out quickly to meet him but the Dutch master flicked the ball brilliantly over him and tight to the byline just managed to cut a volley back along the goal line. Unfortunately there were no red shirts far enough forward to knock it home.

Bergkamp next looked to have scored, only to be denied by Sullivan. Wright knocked a short pass down the middle as Bergkamp made a run forward and the Dutchman took it on to leave himself with only the keeper to beat. He placed a careful low shot from just outside the area just inside the post, but didn't quite catch it cleanly and Sullivan was just able to stretch and brilliantly fingertip it round the post.

Bergkamp then turned creator, bending in a cross from the right which flicked off Dixon's head and found Vieira as he steamed in beyond the far post. It was coming at him quickly though, and he didn't connect cleanly with a left foot volley and the ball bounced into the ground and Sullivan was again well placed and managed to fend the ball away to safety.

At the other it was Lukic's turn to make another great save. A ball in from the left found Ardley again unmarked in the middle, but Lukic was quickly out to make a superb block. The rebound fell to another Wimbledon player who seemed certain to score, but this time Morrow lunged across to make a great block.

There were one or two further near things in the Wimbledon box. Bergkamp rose to meet a Merson corner from the left but didn't quite get enough on it and the ball flashed between Wright and the far post. Dixon also had a chance for long range effort, didn't catch the shot properly and Wright again only just failed to get on the end of it as it bounced wide of the far post. Bergkamp also had a good effort from the edge of the box which was well hit, but Sullivan did well to hold on to it, and Winterburn nipped in to intercept just outside the box, but spoiled his effort by hitting a near post shot which the keeper again smothered easily.

As the final minutes ebbed away though, Arsenal seemed to run out of ideas and physical energy and there was never any danger of a last minute equaliser. In the end I think the game on Wednesday took too much out of them emotionally, and without any luck either, there was an inevitability about the final result.

Lukic      7.0  Pretty good game overall. Nothing he could have done 
                about the goal, a couple of great saves and otherwise 
                reasonably competent.

Dixon      6.0  Saw more of him in attack than Weds, but he still 
                doesn't seem to have regained his pre-injury form.

Winterburn 6.0  A typical Nutty game - his tendency to take too much 
                time getting the ball comfortably on is left foot is
                resurfacing though.
            
Garde      5.5  Unsurprisingly looked rather uncertain under a high 
                ball, but otherwise not too bad. I also wonder about 
                Wenger's decision to use him in the middle of the back 3
                with Ekoku and Gayle to deal with.

Bould      6.0  Hampered by injury for the last 10-15 minutes of the 1st 
                half.

Marshall   7.0  Had a pretty good game I thought. Passed the ball well 
                and in the first half played a couple of really good 
                balls forward.

Parlour    5.5  A lot more subdued and seemed very slow to react while 
                he was on, presumably due to his illness.

Vieira     6.5  I thought he had a better game than against Man U or 
                Spurs, though his passing was still a bit awry on 
                occasion.

Merson     6.0  Another quiet game by his standards. Not demanding the 
                ball the way he was 3 or 4 weeks ago.

Bergkamp   7.5  Always looked the most likely to create the 
                breakthrough, but faced rather an uphill battle with 
                neither Merson or Wright sparking. Tended to drift wide 
                particularly in the 2nd half in an attempt to find space.

Wright     6.0  Rather quiet and subdued unsurprisingly, though unlucky 
                with the shot against the post.

Hughes     6.5  Again showed signs of promise with a couple of nice 
                runs.

Morrow     6.0

report by Derek Brownjohn

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