Arsenal (2) 3 - 0 (0) Leeds UnitedHighbury, 26th October 1996FA Carling PremiershipArsenal are top again on goal difference from Newcastle, after a day where everything went right for the Gunners.Full report follows these immediate post-match comments]
Arsenal: Seaman Dixon Winterburn (Morrow, 2nd half)
Adams Bould Platt Vieira Keown
Merson Bergkamp Wright (Garde, 2nd half)
Goals: Dixon (first minute after an excellent run &
pass by Vieira.
Bergkamp (shortly after, from a long kick by
Seaman which a defender flapped at leaving Bergkamp
to finish with style).
Wright (early in second half from a cross by Bergkamp
Other results:
Southampton 6 - 3 Man United (keane sent off) Top of The LeagueArsenal 11 7 3 1 22 8 24 Newcastle 11 8 0 3 20 12 24 Wimbledon 11 7 1 3 20 11 22 Liverrpool 9 6 2 1 18 7 20 Man Utd 11 5 4 2 22 17 19
Teams
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Keown, Bould, Adams, Winterburn, Platt,
Vieira, Merson, Wright, Bergkamp
Subs: Morrow (Winterburn 78), Garde (Wright 80),
Linighan, Shaw, Lukic
Leeds: Martyn, Kelly, Palmer, Radebe, Sharpe, Rush, Harte, Ford,
Couzens, Beesley, Shepherd
Subs: Deane (Couzens h-t), Wetherall, Beeney, Tinkler, Jackson
Result : Arsenal (2) 3 Leeds United (0) 0
Scorers: Dixon 1, Bergkamp 5, Wright 56
Bookings: Bould Radebe, Rush, Palmer,
Couzens, Ford
Att : 38076
Referee : A Wilkie (Chester Le Street)
The big story of the day for Arsenal fans, the return of George Graham
to Highbury, was thankfully pushed into the background by the
performance of his old team in easily beating his new one. In fact the
game was over as a contest after less than 5 minutes, by which time the
Gunners were two goals up. After that it was a very enjoyable afternoon
made better by the other results which left Arsenal in their rightful
place at the top of the pile.
Leeds were handicapped by injuries or maternity leave for several key players. 18 year-old Shepherd made his debut alongside Ford and Couzens (both 21) in midfield, but it was Arsenal's 20 year-old midfielder who made the most immediate impact. Less than a minute had gone when Patrick Vieira picked up the ball from a throw in his own half and set off on a strong run towards the other area. He slalomed his way past a couple of tackles and might have had a shot from the edge of the area, but instead had the presence of mind to look up and spot Dixon charging up unmarked on his right. A perfectly weighted pass picked the full back out and he smashed a rising shot into the net past the out of position Martyn from just inside the area. Four minutes later and it was 2-0. Under pressure from Bergkamp, Radebe failed to deal with a long punt up the right side of the pitch. He presumably was trying to head it back towards Martyn but made a hash of it and left Bergkamp free to nip in. He calmly stroked the ball past the keeper and into the far corner, from an angle on the right hand edge of the box. It should have been 3-0 after less than a quarter of an hour. Wright crossed superbly from the right, Martyn palmed the ball away at full stretch, but straight to Platt lurking beyond the far post. He laid off a lovely first time volley to pick out Bergkamp in space about 15 yards out, but the Dutchman snatched at his volley and dragged it wide of goal. Other chances came and went. Winterburn lobbed in a throw from the left which the Leeds defence allowed to bounce, and Bergkamp leapt to nod it over the stranded Martyn only to see Beesley hook it clear off the line. Wright broke at speed down the right again and produced another lovely cross from the byline which found Platt unmarked beyond the far post again. He couldn't quite get over it though and his header sailed high and wide. At the other end Leeds were barely a threat. There was one wild shot from distance by Rush, and one closer to the target by Harte, I think, shortly before half time which had the Yorkshire fans singing "We've had a shot on goal, ...". Meanwhile their defence was still in some disarray, as shown by the way Wrighty was left in acres of space about 30 yards of goal. Keown had the ball a few yards inside his own half, and even he had time to eventually spot that WWW was in space and picked him out with a lofted pass forward. Wright tried to hit it first time as it dropped over his shoulder just inside the area. He didn't catch it properly but the ball was still there for him to react quickly to and put a snap volley just wide of the post. Brian Deane replaced Couzens at half time and put the Leeds performance somewhat in perspective by immediately looking the best white shirted player on the pitch. It was from his short chipped cross shortly after the restart that Sharpe put a free header from 8 yards wide of Seaman's left hand post. About 10 minutes later Arsenal got their third. There was an element of luck about it, though it was still a beautifully constructed goal. I think it was a corner which was cleared, and the Leeds defence moved out but left Harte (or Ford?) behind after he'd taken a knock which seemed to leave him dazed. Bergkamp spotted this and loitered in the area, played onside by Harte, and Winterburn picked him out with a chip forward. Bergkamp took it to the byline and crossed into the 6yd box where Wrighty was typically the fastest to react, and he rarely misses from that distance. After that it was a matter of settling back to watch Arsenal enjoying themselves against a team lacking any confidence. Nigel Martyn was responsible for keeping the score at 3-0. Vieira chipped forward to try and pick out Dixon's run, a defender cleared straight to Merson about 20 yards out. His beautifully struck volley was arrowing just inside the post and looked a goal all the way, until Martyn somehow plunged to his left and got a hand to the ball to turn it round the post. Perhaps the one criticism to be made of Arsenal on the day, was that they didn't get any more goals. Bould and Adams took it in turns to gallop forward on runs into the opposition area. Bouldy nearly laid on a goal for Wrighty, and later Adams found Morrow (replacement for the injured Winterburn) on a run into the area with a lovely ball forward. To his credit Morrow took the ball down beautifully but then, with Bergkamp screaming for the ball completed unmarked in the middle, he had a rush of blood and blazed high and wide from an angle on the left. Remi Garde made his long awaited debut with about 10 minutes left, coming on for the injured Wright (a slight groin strain apparently which should only keep him out of training for a couple of days), to complete a thoroughly satisfactory day for the Highbury faithful. Overall, a pretty good performance from Arsenal, though it would be foolish to be too carried away. Leeds really were very poor, and our next four games will provide a much clearer indication of what the rest of the season might hold. The following ratings are tempered slightly by the lack of quality of the opposition.
Seaman 7.0 Virtually nothing to do, though I have a vague memory of
one save from Deane late on.
Dixon 7.5 A great goal and pretty good game storming forward.
Winterburn 7.0 Again a reasonable game going forward, little to do at
the back.
Adams 7.0 Hardly tested in defence but looking more like his
normal self.
Bould 7.0 Ditto for Adams. A couple of un-Bould like runs down the
left wing provided great entertainment.
Keown 7.0 Again not much to do in defence.
Platt 6.0 I thought perhaps the only slightly sub-par performance
in the home team. I may be being a bit harsh though.
Vieira 8.0 My man of the match. Some great tackling backed up some
dynamic running and perceptive passing from midfield.
Merson 6.5 Still looks a little off colour to me at the moment,
though on the day he didn't need to be at his best with
Vieira and Bergkamp taking most of the creative burden.
Wright 7.5 The usual Wrighty I thought. Only had two real chances
but put over some lovely crosses.
Bergkamp 7.0 Still not completely sharp, but looked to be getting
there, particularly in the 2nd half with some lovely
flicks and passes.
Morrow 6.0 Probably not fair to judge him on only about 10 minutes.
Garde 6.5 Ditto, though he looked to have a good confident touch.
report by Derek Brownjohn
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