(0) 3 - 0 (0) ArsenalDerby's new stadium, Pride Park. Saturday 1st November 1997FA Carling PremiershipPreview
A full report will appear below soonish. In the meantime check out the reports on AFCi and the other Arsenal sites. It sounds like Arsenal had the better of the first half. We won a penalty when Vieira was brought down but Wright hit the crossbar and Anelka headed the rebound over. Derby scored through Wanchope within a minute of the second half starting, and from then on Arsenal looked less interested. Once Wanchope added his second (from a Winterburn mistake) we weren't really in it. Man Utd beat Wednesday by 5 at Old Trafford to go 4 points clear. Better news is Spurs' home defeat at the hands George Graham's Leeds, and Liverpool only drew with Bolton. Not only that, but Ince's yellow card in that match, together with a red for Fowler's outrageous back-handed smack across a Bolton player's face, sees them both out of their visit to Highbury.
FA Carling Premiership
Derby County vs Arsenal Sat Nov 1 1997
Result : Derby (0) 3 Arsenal (0) 0
Scorers: Wanchope 46,65, Sturridge 82
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Winterburn, Bould, Adams; Vieira, Petit,
Parlour, Platt; Anelka, Wright
Subs: Wreh (Anelka 69), Boa Morte (Winterburn 69),
Hughes, Grimandi, Manninger
Booked: Bould, Dixon, Boa Morte
Derby: Poom, Rowett, C Powell, Laursen, Carbon, Carsley, D Powell,
Solis, Sturridge, Wanchope, Baiano
Subs: Kozluk (Solis 46), Burton (Sturridge 86), Trollope (Baiano 86),
Hoult, Hunt
Booked: Wanchope, Rowett
Att: 30004
Ref: P E Alcock (Redhill)
Arsenal's first league defeat of the season to a Derby team who overcame
being second best in the first half to deservedly take advantage of a
very poor 2nd half performance by the Gunners and take all 3 points.
Arsenal should have been at least a goal up at half time with Ian Wright
missing a penalty, but the game turned within a minute of the restart
when Paulo Wanchope scored a rather strange goal and Derby's reorganised
team thereafter were comfortably in control.
I actually thought Arsenal played pretty well in the first half, though I suppose it's true there were few real goal-scoring chances. Certainly for the first half hour or so, Derby weren't really in the game. Early on Dixon kept finding space down the right, though in common with a lot of the rest of Arsenal's play in that period, some good approach play was wasted by a poor final ball. On only one out of three occasions I can recall did he put over anything like a decent cross. Arsenal forced a number of corners though, and from one of these Bould mistimed what looked a fairly clear header. Anelka did put over one good cross from the left which found Parlour in the middle, but under some pressure from a defender he also mistimed a header and headed the ball away from rather than towards goal. At the other end the only time Derby threatened was when Arsenal errors gave the ball away in dangerous positions. First Parlour was muscled off the ball by Baiano who ran on to hit a weak shot straight at Seaman, and then Adams gave the ball straight to Wanchope a few yards outside the area, but like his partner he failed to seriously trouble England's keeper. The only other time Arsenal's equilibrium was disturbed during that early period of dominance was when Bould earned his fifth booking of the season with one of those challenges from behind which he seems to have been incapable of eradicating from his game. Though to be fair, from where I sat it looked as though Sturridge only decided to go down and take the foul once he realised that he'd lost the ball anyway. Shortly afterwards a far worse tackle from behind by one of the Derby players on Petit warranted only a free kick. Wright was still berating the referee when Platt and Vieira took the free kick quickly and the latter's ball into the area picked out Dixon completely unmarked. He brought it down on his chest and seemed to have a good chance from an angle on the right, but mishit his volley and Poom made a comfortable catch. Vieira was involved again in the Arsenal's best chance of the game. He played a ball in to Wright on the edge of the area, I think WWW actually tried to flick it through for himself to turn onto, but it turned into an even better return into Vieira's path as he charged through. He nicked it past Carsley and went down over the Derby player's lunge to earn a fairly indisputable penalty. Wrighty hit the spot kick well enough, but it cannoned back off the crossbar and Anelka headed the rebound wide. For the rest of the half Arsenal's heads perhaps dropped a bit and Derby were able to get more into the match, though I can't remember a further chance at either end worthy of recounting. The game really turned at half time. With their 4-3-3 formation the Derby midfield had been largely overrun in the first half so Smith replaced a midfielder with a defender and switched to 3 at the back with the wing backs pushed further forward in support of the midfield. Derby's cause was also helped immeasurably by taking the lead less than a minute into the half. Wright was dispossessed in the Derby half by what looked from the other end like a tackle from behind by Rowett though admittedly on TV it looked less obvious, and the ball broke to Wanchope on the half way line. He was allowed to run unchallenged to the edge of the area where he mishit a shot which I think took a slight deflection of Bould and somehow crept inside the post. At the time it looked as though Seaman first thought it was going wide, so it was a shock to see it ending up in the back of the net, though in reality he may have just been wrong-footed by a combination of the scuffed shot and deflection. Arsenal laboured for a while to get back into the game, but the only close call I recall was when Parlour went on a good run down the right, cutting back into the area before firing in a left foot shot which was deflected wide. At the other end Derby should have increased their lead when Baiano flicked a beautiful little chip through the static Arsenal defence to leave Wanchope all on his own about 10 yards out. Fortunately he hurried his volley and put it wide of the far post. A few minutes later however, the game was truly up for the Gunners as they conceded the softest of second goals. Sturridge got away from Adams on the right hand touchline and ran on to the byline before pulling back a cross. Just outside the 6yd box Winterburn had an easy clearance had he chosen to use his right foot. Instead he tried to control the ball with his left and it ran away from him to hand Wanchope the easiest of chances from 10 yards. This time he couldn't miss. Wenger replaced Winterburn and Anelka with Boa Morte and Wreh, but with little improvement. Arsenal pressed but didn't really create much. The only decent chance they had was when Petit took a free kick about 35 yards out and found Adams wide out in the right side of the area. He nodded it back (and was clattered shortly afterwards by Carbon - technically a penalty in my opinion) to Platt who was lurking on the edge of the area. The former England captain produced a superb volley which drew an equally superb save from Poom. At the other end Derby were looking dangerous on the break, and 8 minutes from time one of these paid off. Sturridge again evaded a clumsy lunge from Adams wide on the right and ran clear with only Petit in a position to intercept him. The Frenchman made a pathetic attempt to barge him off the ball and left Sturridge with only Seaman to beat, which he did, cleverly chipping the ball over the keeper as he came out. A very dispiriting performance overall. Although Arsenal played reasonably well in the first half, it was rather depressing to again see them disappoint in the second. It seems to have been rather too characteristic this season for the team to only play well for 45 minutes. Having said that I think the games turning points occurred when Derby got all the luck, and on a more positive note with Petit now suspended, I thought both Platt and Vieira had good games. The defence isn't likely to play collectively as badly again, so the main problem while Bergkamp is out is up front. Wrighty still seems to be out of sorts and Anelka hasn't yet fulfilled his promise, though I think he is still worth persisting with against Man Utd. I still reckon he's got something which could one day burst through. Hopefully next Sunday.
Seaman 7.0 Strangely, apart from the goals he didn't have a
difficult save to make, and he certainly had no chance
with the last two.
Winterburn 5.5 Really dreadful error to give away the second goal.
Dixon 6.0 Got forward a lot in the first half, but couldn't find
the telling final pass and in the 2nd a lot of Derby's
most dangerous breaks (mainly through Sturridge) came
down the Arsenal right.
Adams 6.0 Seemed strangely nervous of Wanchope.
Bould 6.5
Petit 6.5 Rather wasted playing wide on the left.
Vieira 8.0 Superb in the first half, less so in the 2nd though that
was in common with the rest of his teammates.
Parlour 6.0 Looking more pedestrian by the game.
Platt 7.5 I thought he had a pretty good game overall.
Wright 6.0 Again rather lacklustre, and not concentrating properly
on the job. Twice in the first half he was having a go
at the ref or the home crowd while the game was going on
around him. Reportedly suffering from a heavy cold though.
Anelka 5.5 Rather disappointing, though I also thought his main
failing was being too anxious/nervous. In particular
overhitting crosses/passes without looking up.
Boa Morte Did little apart from getting himself booked.
Wreh Worked hard but also struggled to make an impact.
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