Arsenal (1) 3 - 1 (0) TottenhamHighbury, Sunday 24th November 1996FA Carling PremiershipThere is now an ArseWeb North London Derby page with records and information about this historic fixture.
Scorers: Wright (pen) Lukic (og) Adams Bergkamp (see next report, below, for team lists and other statto stuff :-)A thrilling derby match made all the more so by not one but two last gasp goals from the Gunners. Arsenal went ahead in the first half from a Wright penalty after Bergkamp had been brought down twice in the box. The first might not have been a foul but the second, when Den's foot was caught as he tried to get up and at the ball, looked safe. Wright goes one closer to the all-time record, and showed his pleasure at overtaking Ravinellie at the top of the Premiership goalscorers table by pulling his shirt over his head to reveal a t-shirt with "I Love The Lads" scribbled on it. What a long time it seems since his transfer request last season. Tottenham drew level with a typical piece of despicable gamesmanship. Vieira had been down injured for some time when the Arsenal players spotted him and Lukic, who had the ball in his hands, threw it out so that the Frenchamn could get attention. When they finally came to take the throw, the Spurs players "sought to take advantage", the dirty toe-rags, and scored almost directly from the throw. Lukic can consider himself unlucky. Contrary to many gooners' fears (Lukic had a couple of real mares when he came in for Seaman early in the season) the stand-in goalie had a good game, and had made a couple of excellent stops shortly before the goal. But this time the shot from Sinton was half-saved, hit the post, and came back out only to hit Lukic on the back of the head and rebound in. Lucky Lucky Tottenham as usual, and bad sports to boot. Highbury was stunned, and our players seemed so too. Spurs had a good period for the rest of that half and almost up to the full-time whistle it was one of those derbies that could have gone either way. In the end it went the right way. Hartson was brought on for Platt with about 10 minutes to go (?), and immediately his presence made a big difference. We were attacking them for the rest of the game, and got rewarded with just under 2 minutes to go on the Stadium clock. Adams, who had been making more and more of his now trademark surging runs, struck a sweet left-footed volley in the box from a flick by Bergkamp. It took a little deflection which helped it beat Walker. Very soon after the re-start, Wrighty took the ball into the right-hand corner to soak up some time. But when the defender committed himself, Wright made space to put over a looping cross which found Bergkamp the other side of the goal, near the goal-line. With his first touch he brought it inside, leaving his marker stranded, and he coolly (how else?!) slotted it past Walker. I'd like to put in a mention for the fan who stayed on the pitch after everyone else, and ran around taunting the spurs fans with "flapping at air" type Ian Walker impressions. He then followed this up with a great display of arse which he obviously enjoyed because he seemed to keep it going once they'd all left. They came out with their songs about Wenger. All to be expected and I dare say an Arsenal crowd would have done the same. In response it was nice to hear the loudest rendition of "Arsene Wenger's red & white army" yet, towards the end of the match. Less nice to hear were the "One Mark Bosnich, there's only one Mark Bosnich" songs which, while not being that offensive in themselves, were accompanied by nazi salutes (I didn't see people putting finger to nose, just arms in air so they were nazi salutes rather than Bosnich-style Basil Fawlty impersonations) and soon followed by the appalling "one man went to gas..." song. I'm sure there was more of it than I remember from recent derbies. What really got my goat was the way that the policemen in front of me had a bloke standing right next to them yelling it at the top of his voice and they did absolutely nothing (and this was before it took off so there wasn't even the excuse that he was only one of hundreds doing it). And at the last match a guy next to me was chucked out for calling the opposition "c*nts" and making faces at them. I feel a letter to the club coming on. And please spare a thought for that very guy, whose match ended nastily just after the Wright goal. You may have seen the action with the police & stretcher in the clock end at that time. I guess the flow of bodies forward took him with it, but the seat in front wouldn't let his legs go too. It looked a nasty break, and to make things worse he ended up wedged between his seat and the one in front. It took them a good 5 to 10 minutes of agony to free him (by breaking the seat in front). So, three cheers for the Taylor report! I just hope he managed to get hold of a radio in hospital. Sheringham had a piece in the programme pleading for calm in the stands. Then they go and take advantage of us putting the ball out to let a player get attention, an action guaranteed to increase the hostility between supporters. They were within the rules of the game so I guess there's no complaint to be made (?) but the way I see it he's lucky that they lost. If Spurs had gone on to win, after getting the first goal that way, things could have turned very nasty. Sheringham had a clearly crap game. The Mirror rates him "crap man of the match" with 5 out of 10 (cf Tony Adams 10 out of 10). Are you watching, Glenda Hoddle? But in the interests of honesty, I have to say that Sol Campbell was excellent and it does seem that they have one player who s coming to deserve their accolades. Arsenal go second again, just one point behind Newcastle. Next stop: St James's Park. report by Rupe
Teams
Arsenal: Lukic, Dixon, Keown, Bould, Adams, Winterburn, Platt,
Vieira, Merson, Wright, Bergkamp
Subs: Hartson (Platt 80), Parlour (Bergkamp 90),
Linighan, Morrow, Bartram
Spurs: Walker, Howells, Calderwood, Nielsen, Anderton, Sheringham,
Armstrong, Wilson, Campbell, Carr, Sinton
Subs: Baardsen, Edinburgh, Fox, Nethercott, Allen
Result : Arsenal (1) 3 Tottenham (0) 1
Scorers: Wright 28p, Adams 88, Lukic og, 57
Bergkamp 90
Bookings: Vieira, Dixon Armstrong
Att : 38264
Referee : D Elleray (Harrow)
A wonderfully dramatic finale to the North London derby at Highbury last
night in the pouring rain, as Arsenal scored two stunning goals in the
closing minutes to leave Gooners everywhere in raptures. It had been a
typically hard fought and closely contested match which looked to be
heading towards the predictable draw until Adams and Bergkamp intervened
to reward Arsenal's more adventurous approach and send them home as
worthy winners.
Arsenal started quite brightly and in the first minute a sweet bit of passing down the right between Dixon and Merson sent Vieira into the right side of the box. However Campbell just managed to get a touch on his attempted cross and it looped harmlessly into Walker's arms. Soon afterwards Bould got a near post flick on to a Winterburn throw, but strangely there were no red shirts following up in the 6yd box, and Walker's panicked scramble along his line ended as the ball bobbled harmlessly wide of the far post. After the opening five minutes or so though, it became a much tighter and cagier affair, and Tottenham had the better of the next twenty minutes or so as Arsenal seemed curiously hesitant. Indeed Spurs should have taken the lead when Dixon's attempt to clear a ball in midfield ricocheted fortuitously to Sheringham's feet as he lurked in yards of space just outside the area. With plenty of time and only Lukic to beat he placed his shot a couple of feet wide. Spurs had the better share of possession and territory in that opening 25 minutes but failed to trouble Lukic despite winning several corners, mostly from hopeful long range efforts which always seemed to deflect off an Arsenal defender. However, the tide of the match turned with just under 20 minutes of the half left. Merson knocked a ball forward to Bergkamp in the area. Under challenge from Wilson, both players went down as neither appeared to get much of a touch on the ball. Bergkamp was up quickest though and, though I couldn't tell from the other end, the TV replay cleared showed Wilson raising his leg to trip the Dutchman as he tried to scramble past after the ball. Wrighty struck the penalty beautifully home, to the keeper's left for a change. He then performed a Ravanelli style celebration to reveal a T-shirt apparently proclaiming "I love the Lads". I suspect an ironic show of support for his manager as well as a tribute to his teammates. The Gunners sparked into life and dominated the rest of the half with some lovely football and thrilling moves. A couple of minutes after the penalty, WWW should have made it two. Merson sent Dixon clear down the right with a lovely pass, and the wingback swept in a cross which Calderwood could only deflect into Wrighty's path as he ran in at the far post. It seemed a certain goal but unaccountably his left foot shot from about 14 yards screwed a couple of feet wide of the far post. Other moves, particularly down the right, threatened goals. Perhaps most notable was when Keown went on a charge forward, Merson's pass found him in space in the area but he took a little too long to wind up for the shot and Calderwood was able to lunge in and clear for a corner. Down the left too, Arsenal threatened, in particular when Bergkamp spotted Winterburn's run with that spare pair of eyes he keeps in the back of his head and released him with a superb reverse pass. Nutty then outpaced (no, really) a defender and crossed into the middle where Wrighty just failed to connect properly. At the other end a Nielsen long throw caused a bit a scramble in the area, Platt doing well to deny Tottenham a shot and eventually Vieira cleared to find Bergkamp a few yards outside the area. He spotted Merson in space on the right and released him with a crossfield pass. Merse carried the ball into the Spurs half before hitting a glorious long return pass which picked out Bergkamp's forward run. Still faced by a defender, the Dutch master held onto the ball before touching a pass forward to Wright just inside the area. He seemed to think he had more time than he did and as he steadied himself for the shot Campbell was able to get back and superbly block the effort. The second half was no more than a couple of minutes old when Arsenal again should have gone two up. Merson chipped a lovely pass forward to pick out a typically clever run into the box from WWW which left him with only Walker to beat. Untypically however, he snatched at the shot with his left foot and volleyed it over the bar from about 10 yards. Soon afterwards at the other end Bould tried to bring the ball out of defence but was dispossessed about 35 yards from goal on the left and Anderton was released into the area with only Lukic to beat. He drilled in a waspish shot from 15 yards which Johnny reacted brilliantly to block, and then fell gratefully on the rebound. Sheringham was following up and kicked Lukic spitefully in the back as he lay on the ground. Not unnaturally, Keown, Dixon and Vieira let him know this wasn't a very nice thing to do. Armstrong barged in, shoved his hand into Vieira's face and a bit more pushing between the two ensued before the ref stepped in and booked them both. Seems fairly typical - Wright gets booked last week for a challenge which doesn't even touch the keeper and Sheringham gets away scot free for kicking a keeper on the ground well after he's gained possession of the ball. Soon after this Armstrong lunged in on Vieira with a vicious two footed studs up challenge which fortunately only caught the Frenchman with a glancing blow on the shin. A pretty clear red-card offence which the ref somehow failed to see and allowed play to continue. Arsenal again made a mess of clearing the ball out of defence and Armstrong was left in a similar position to Anderton earlier, free in the area. However, his shot wasn't as well hit and Lukic was able to make a good save reasonably comfortably. He then threw the ball out of play to allow Vieira, who was still down, to receive treatment. After some more minor bits of argy bargy, with Wrighty for instance letting Armstrong know what he though about the challenge on Vieira, Tottenham, those self-appointed guardians of beauty and fair play in football, ignored contemporary convention and refused to give possession back to Arsenal. Nielsen lofted a long throw (another example of "the way the game should be played") into the area and ball flicked off a combination of the heads of Campbell, Keown and Bould to Sinton as he lurked unmarked on the edge of the area. His first time shot was somewhat mishit, but bounced against the post and then back into the net off the diving Lukic's shoulder. Soon afterwards Vieira was probably still suffering from a rush of blood to the head as well as maybe from a gash on the shin, when he rashly fouled Nielsen in midfield. The ref briefly appeared to reach for his back pocket before changing his mind and merely subjecting the young Frenchman to a stern lecture. For the rest of the match Tottenham seemed content to settle for the draw while Arsenal pressed increasingly desperately forward looking for the winner. Spurs did have one more good chance when Nielsen broke and slid a pass forward into Armstrong's path as he ran into the area. He hit a good first time shot which flew just over the bar. At the other end the Gunners kept going close but just couldn't seem to be able to get anything on target as the match seemed destined to end in an unsatisfactory draw. Keown and Merson both had reasonable chances when the ball fell to them on the edge of the area, but both snatched at their shots and dragged the ball wide. Wrighty exchanged passes with Winterburn and broke into the area, and while his left foot shot beat Walker, it also screwed agonisingly wide of the far post. With 10 minutes left Wenger showed his good intentions by replacing Platt, our most defensive midfielder, with Hartson. Adams continually charged forward, combining delightfully with Winterburn in the area on one occasion to get to the byline and cross. Arsenal's adventure finally paid off two minutes from time. Merson took a quick throw on the right as Adams once again made a run into the area. Standing nearly on the byline, Bergkamp produced a delightfully delicate half-volleyed flick which set the ball up on a plate for Adams to joyfully bang home a left foot angled volley which took a slight deflection off Carr on it's way into the net as Highbury erupted. >From the kickoff Tottenham broke and threatened to score at the other end, but Keown slid in superbly to deny Sheringham and earned himself another spiteful kick in the ribs from the striker as he lay on the ground. However, the hysterical joy around Highbury from the goal had barely subsided when an equally stunning 3rd goal confirmed the victory. Wrighty appeared to be helping to run out the clock as he shielded the ball out near the right hand corner flag. However, he soon got bored with that and completely bamboozled Wilson with a stepover and turn, to leave the full back on the floor and himself in space. He lofted in a cross which cleared keeper and defenders to pick out Bergkamp beyond the far post. The Dutch master then brilliantly transfered the ball with one touch from his left foot to his right, turning Carr in the process, and then whipped a shot across Walker and into the far corner. Delirious pandemonium ensued, the final whistle went at some point, and much delighted celebrating from Wrighty in particular followed on the pitch. It was a wonderful end to a match which looked for a while as though the old enemy would sneak away from with an undeserved point. For a period in the 1st half Arsenal were disappointing, but thereafter it was particularly nice to see that there was only one team playing good football. Tottenham had a number of good chances but I can only think of one which didn't come from an Arsenal mistake or a set piece. Given that it was Sperz, I'll allow myself to err on the positive side in the following HSBPRI ratings.
Lukic 7.5 Any worries about missing Seaman were largely dissipated
with that brilliant save from Anderton.
Dixon 8.0 Great game from old reliable, stormed forward to
particular effect in latter part of 1st half.
Winterburn 7.5 Continues to confound pre-season pessimism.
Adams 9.0 I'd just make him man of the match. Not only superb in
defence, but drove forward in the second half, to telling
effect in those last lovely couple of minutes.
Bould 7.5 Another reasonably solid game at the back and also had a
couple of good runs forward.
Keown 8.0 Another typically robust performance from Boom-boom.
Platt 7.0 Not a bad performance, I agree that he does get through
a lot of important covering work.
Vieira 7.5 Again a pretty good, though less spectacular game.
Quietened down commendably after almost getting himself
sent off.
Merson 8.0 A couple of misplaced passes in the first half, but
otherwise looked to be getting back to form with some
good creative moments.
Wright 8.0 Was well shackled for a while by Campbell, and missed
two chances he'd normally take with his shirt over his
head, but a supremely confident penalty and typical bit
of skill to create the last goal.
Bergkamp 8.5 Won the penalty, made the next goal and scored the last
with a couple of bit of skill that only he could have
produced. His touch and vision was outstanding and he
seemed reasonably up for the game too.
Hartson 7.5 Did pretty well on a couple of occasions in the short
time he was on.
report by Derek Brownjohn
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