Aston Villa vs Arsenal. 10/05/98

FA Cup Final
Special

(1) 1 - 0 (0) Arsenal

Villa Park. Sunday 10th May 1998

FA Carling Premiership

Another off day for the Arsenal, we can only hope that the concentration returns next Saturday. Because unlike the Liverpool match on Wednesday, this was almost the team we can expect to see go out at Wembley.

If Bergkamp's fit, I guess he'll play and Wright will start on the bench, but apart from this the only likely exception is Gilles Grimandi, who was playing for the injured Dixon (only a slight problem which isn't expected to be a problem for Saturday). The part he played today wasn't exactly exemplary, as it was his rather obvious and clumsy manhandling of Yorke (?) that produced the penalty, which Yorke tapped gently into the middle of the net with Seaman sprawled. You don't see that very often.

All this came after Ehiogu had been sent off for 2 bookings for tackles on Overmars and Wright (well, the latter was a tackle at least).

With Saturday in mind, it was good to see Petit play, and he was unlucky not to score with a fierce drive which cannoned off the foot of the post. But Yorke too hit a post in the last minutes.

The Match of the Day Premiership Team of the Year, as selected by Alan Hansen and Trevor Brooking, featured Seaman, Adams, Keown, Winterburn, Vieira, Petit, and Bergkamp. Strangely they picked Giggs ahead of Overmars!

Rupe.

Aston Villa vs Arsenal                                 Sun May 10 1998

Result : Aston Villa           (1) 1    Arsenal                (0) 0
Scorers: Yorke 37 (pen)

Arsenal: Seaman, Grimandi, Adams, Keown, Winterburn; Petit, Vieira,
         Parlour, Overmars; Wright, Anelka
         Subs: Wreh (Wright 66), Platt (Parlour 66), 
               Bould, Hughes, Manninger
         Booked: Grimandi, Vieira, Wright

Villa: Bosnich, Southgate, Ehiogu, Wright, Nelson, Grayson, Draper, 
       Hendrie, Barry, Yorke, Joachim 
       Subs: Collymore (Joachim 73), Milosevic, Hughes, Byfield, Oakes 
       Booked: Ehiogu, Draper 
       Sent Off: Ehiogu (24 2nd bookable offence) 

Att: 39372
Ref: G Poll (Tring)

A second successive defeat in a game which meant little to Arsenal led to a rather disappointing end to the league campaign. A low key performance from an Arsenal team with it's mind clearly elsewhere contrasted with a determined defensive display from a Villa team which needed the win to give themselves a chance of qualifiying for Europe next season. The home side took the lead and then held onto it after being reduced to 10 men after 25 minutes when Ehiogu received his 2nd yellow card.

After giving his reserves a run out in midweek, Wenger restored a virtually full strength team for this game. Only Bergkamp and Dixon (rested because of a "slight injury") were missing, and Ian Wright started his second game since his return from injury. There was a strangely muted start to the first half, with neither side seemingly wanting to commit themselves to all out attack. In the early stages it was Arsenal who looked the more dangerous, mostly down the left through Overmars. Two or three times he got away, though without concrete end product, and on another occasion Ehiogu was booked for using his body and an arm to stop the flying Dutchman from running clear from the half way line.

However, the first clear cut chance fell to Villa midway through the first half when Joachim was left with a free header in the middle of the area, and forced Seaman into a brilliant save, tipping the ball over the bar. Soon after that the game really sprang into life when Ehiogu was sent off for a second bookable offence after clattering into the back of Wright. Some of the Villa players got a little upset and seemed to take issue with Wright for making a meal of it, but as far as I could see Ehiogu's lunge from behind caught Wright on the ankle that Ince assaulted in midweek, and the ref really didn't have any option.

Things now got a little more heated and a few minutes later Draper was a little fortunate that he only got a yellow card following a dreadful late hack at Vieira. The Frenchman was also involved in one of the other talking points of the half when he brilliantly slalomed round a couple of challenges and into the area where he appeared to be barged over by a defender. Hard to tell from the other end and he may have pushed the ball too far in front of himself, but it looked like it should have been a penalty to me, but having just sent off Ehiogu the ref didn't further risk the ire of the home crowd.

In fact he briefly got himself into their good books by awarding Villa a penalty a few minutes later. Nelson chipped in a diagonal cross from the right, and there appeared little danger, but Grimandi got himself in a bit of a twist and jumped above Yorke with an arm across the front of the striker's chest. As the ref had a good view there was little doubt he'd point to the spot. Yorke took the piss by chipping the spot kick softly down the middle as Seaman dived to his left.

Arsenal dominated the final few minutes of the half but couldn't find the equaliser. Parlour was put in down the right by a pass I think from Vieira, but fired wildly over from an angle. Petit also had a half opening, but put a 20 yard shot a couple of feet wide.

Not surprisingly Arsenal dominated possession and territory in the 2nd half, but didn't really crank up their efforts to find an equaliser until the final 15 minutes. Early on Anelka had a good run down the right and forced Bosnic into a good save with a crisply struck shot from an acute angle.

In fact a lot of Arsenal's better chances came from good work down the right by Anelka. One good run ended with a cut back for Parlour, but from a good position about 15 yards out he lashed wastefully wide of the near post. The closest we came to a goal was following another Anelka run. This time he broke clear down the right after Wreh had slipped a pass through to him, cut in towards the area before passing to Petit in the middle. Porno sidestepped a challenge and with the ball on his right foot whacked in a shot from 15 yards with smacked against the foot of Bosnic's left hand post and straight out to a defender who managed to clear.

Arsenal gradually turned up the pressure as pride if nothing else dictated that they try a little harder, and for the last 15 minutes or so they more or less laid seige to the Villa area. Vieira went on another brilliant run down the middle but then spoilt it by a comically pathetic attempt at a dive on the edge of the area as the ball ran away from him, which I think influenced the ref to book him for a completely innocuous challenge a minute or two later. A couple of Petit corners from the right caused problems, Keown heading one just wide, and another deflecting just over the bar off a defender. Winterburn also had a decent half-chance running on to a ball on the edge of the area, but from an angle on the left he also lashed wide.

However, it was all to no avail and in fact it was Villa who came closest to scoring a breakaway goal in the final few seconds. Yorke ran at the final defender Keown, and brilliantly got round him to leave himself with only Seaman to beat. The Holte end were already on their feet acclaiming a goal but the striker's shot bounced against the inside of the far post and out to safety.

In the end rather a disappointing way to end the league season, but in the context entirely understandable. Villa were also a team in form with 8 wins in their previous 10 games and coped well with only 10 men for two thirds of the match, but in most cases it was fairly clear that Arsenal were saving themselves for the cup final. If the match had meant anything at all to them I think we'd have seen a somewhat different attitude.

Seaman      7.0  One great save but otherwise underemployed. Somewhat
                 embarrassed by the Yorke penalty. 

Grimandi    6.5  Overall didn't have too bad a game, but get a bit
                 panicky once or twice, and allowed allowed himself to 
                 be suckered into giving away the penalty.

Adams       7.5  Pretty much the usual Adams - even had one rampaging
                 run in the 2nd half but spoilt it by not releasing the
                 right pass in time.

Keown       7.5  Also pretty well committed and determined as usual.

Winterburn  7.0  Characteristic performance again, though a couple of
                 not so characteristic moments of hesitation.

Parlour     6.5  Again a little bit subdued.

Vieira      8.0  Another dominant game in midfield.

Petit       7.5  Reasonable game as well, unlucky not to score with his
                 right foot.

Overmars    7.0  Looked lively early on, but seemed more concerned about
                 making sure he stayed fit in the 2nd half.

Wright      6.5  Played slightly better than on Weds I thought, though
                 still lacking somewhat in sharpness.

Anelka      7.5  Fairly quiet in the first half but was Arsenal's best
                 attacking outlet in the 2nd.

Wreh        6.5  Didn't play badly, but equally didn't give the feeling
                 that he was about to turn the game.

Platt       6.5  Also reasonable with the usual mix of good and not so
                 good. Did some good work tidying up a couple of Villa
                 breaks in the 2nd half.

Derek

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