(0) 1 - 1 (1) Arsenal(aet. 1-1 after 90 minutes)Arsenal win 4-3 on penaltiesBoleyn Ground. Tuesday 17th March 1998FA Cup Quarter-Final replay
(0) 1 - 1 (1) Arsenal(aet. 1-1 after 90 minutes)Arsenal win 4-3 on penaltiesBoleyn Ground. Tuesday 17th March 1998FA Cup Quarter-Final replayA fantastic backs-against the wall performance from 10-man Arsenal. Bergkamp was sent off after 35 or so for elbowing Lomas in the face, and will miss the semi-final as well as 2 big Premiership games. Then Anelka scored a wonderful goal just before half-time.Arsenal defended superbly against a West Ham onslaught for the rest of the match. Manninger pulled off some extraordinary saves before Hartson, for once, got the better of Keown and was able to squeeze a shot between two defenders, and between the unsighted Manninger and the near post, with about 5 minutes to go. Extra time was more of the same. Overmars Anelka and Petit had come off for Boa Morte Wreh and Hughes, which left us with even less on the break. But they hung on for penalties. I have to admit that some of us had been wondering aloud how Manninger would handle penalties, the only aspect of his game we'd not seen yet, and an aspect where Seaman is the clear world leader. In goal for the opposition - an experienced International goalkeeper. Didn't seem possible. Hughes scored, their guy scored. Wreh shot wide to the right, but Hartson up next for the Irons hit the left hand post. I thought MAnninger might have just got a touch too. Boa Morte scored, their guy scored. Garde drove well wide to the right, up stepped Berkovic. Reasonably powerful, but not far enough into the corner given that Manninger went the right way, and palmed the ball away with his upper (left) hand. Vieira scored, their guy scored. Sudden death. Adams scored, the first one of ours that went in slowly, and agonisingly. Fortunately Lama had been sent the wrong way. Up steps Abou, who was lucky to have stayed on the pitch after an incident with Keown earlier. Keown grabbed him by the throat and ABou reacted with a push and a head-butt. Probably at leats a yellow card each was deserved. Lama had been booked already for a tackle from behind of the kind that we're told will be an automatic red card in the World Cup this summer. Justice perhaps, then, when he drove against the left hand post. It was a very tough match that will have drained the players somwhat, but there's a week and a hlaf till the next match. THere may be suspension repercussions beyond Bergkamp's too, as there seemed to be at least as many Arsenal bookings as players on the pitch.
postscriptAccording to the papers, Dennis has admitted the fault and apologised to his team mates. AFCi confirms that he will be suspended for the the FA Cup semi final against Wolves on 5th April, the match against Bolton on 31st March, and either the Newcatsle match on 11th April or the semi-final replay if there is one. I can only assume that this means the replay would be that (Easter) weekend, of the 11th/12th.Semi-final ticket details are on AFCi now.
West Ham United vs Arsenal Tue Mar 18 1998
Result : West Ham United (0) 1 Arsenal (1) 1
After extra time, Arsenal win 4-3 on penalties
Scorers: Harston 84 Anelka 45
Arsenal: Manninger, Dixon, Adams, Keown, Winterburn; Vieira, Petit,
Garde, Overmars; Bergkamp, Anelka
Subs: Hughes (Overmars 65), Wreh (Anelka 82),
Boa Morte (Petit 90), Grimandi, Lukic
Booked: Garde, Boa Morte, Hughes, Winterburn
Sent off: Bergkamp 33 (violent conduct)
West Ham: Lama, Potts, Unsworth, Ferdinand, Pearce, Lazaridis,
Lomas, Berkovic, Lampard, Hartson, Abou
Subs: Moncur (Pearce 45), Hodges (Potts 77), Bishop, Mean, Forrest
Booked: Abou, Lomas.
Att: 25859
Ref: M D Reed (Birmingham)
Another night of high drama and tension at Upton Park last night as
Arsenal overcame the sending-off of Dennis Bergkamp to overcome West Ham
in a nerve-wracking penalty shootout. It was a performance which
recalled the resilience and refusal to be beaten of the great Arsenal
teams of the past. Aided by some brilliant goalkeeping by Alex Manninger
the defence did their job superbly, as Arsenal defended for almost the
entire second half and extra time, withstanding the shock of conceding a
late normal time equaliser.
The match started off rather scrappily, with neither side really settling during the first 15 minutes which were probably just shaded by West Ham though Arsenal had the best early chance when Bergkamp beautifully put in Dixon down the right. His cross picked out Anelka at the far post, but he headed back across goal in an attempt to find Petit and a defender just managed to clear. After that Arsenal gradually took control, bossed the next 20 minutes and at that stage looked likely to win quite comfortably. Overmars cut in from the left to drive in a shot which Lama couldn't hold, and Ferdinand just cleared the rebound off Bergkamp's toe. The young defender later had to pull off a brilliant tackle to deny the Dutch master as he broke threateningly into the box. Anelka also forced Lama into a sprawling save with a shot from the edge of the box, and Bergkamp had a half chance when a corner was cleared to him. He slightly mishit a volley into the ground though, and Anelka was curiously flat footed as the ball passed within a couple of feet of him when any sort of touch on it would surely have deflected it past Lama. The game changed after 34 minutes. Lomas grabbed Bergkamp's shirt collar and pulled him back a few yards inside the Arsenal half, and the Dutchman retaliated by swinging an arm back, catching the West Ham midfielder in the face. I'd have thought Lomas would have been grateful for the attempt to rearrange his malformed features, but anyway, with a perfect view the ref didn't really have any option but to send Bergkamp off. The pattern of the game didn't change significantly for the rest of the half, though West Ham obviously drew some encouragement and did finally have at shot at Arsenal's goal when Berkovic was put in on the right side of the area by Lampard, but Manninger comfortably saved his shot. It was in first half injury time that Arsenal deservedly went in front with a brilliant goal. Overmars broke down the left, checked back and played a square pass to pick out Vieira's run through the middle. Vieira dummied a shot from 30 yards but instead touched the ball round Lomas. Anelka, cutting across his path, took the ball off him and then whipped a superb right foot shot across Lama and into the corner of the net from 20 yards. West Ham rearranged tactically at the beginning of the second half and the changes helped them lay seige to the Arsenal goal for most of the rest of the game. Having 3 at the back in the first half marking only Anelka after the sending-off was clearly unnecessary, so Pearce was replaced at half-time by Moncur and the Hammers switched to 4-4-2. They still struggled to make much headway against disciplined Arsenal defending though and, despite a couple of brilliant Manninger saves, rarely looked like scoring. Hartson did hit the bar, but that was with a mishit cross rather than a shot. I think Manninger got a faint touch to that one as well. A Lazaridis cross from the left was met at the far post by Lampard, but his downward header was brilliantly parried down by the post by Manninger. The young Austrian keeper again displayed superb reactions when Hartson toe-poked a shot from 10 yards after a bit of a scramble following a corner. At the other end, Arsenal only made brief and sporadic forays out of their own half, though Anelka again went close with another superbly struck shot from the edge of the box, but this time it was straight at Lama. It was from a break following another Arsenal attack that West Ham at last made the breakthrough 6 minutes from time. Dixon's misplaced pass was quickly played out wide to Hartson on the left. He ran at Keown, got a lucky ricochet with his first attempt to go past the defender and carried on to cut into the area and his shot from about 16 yards somehow evaded Keown and Petit's attempts to block and sneaked just inside the near post. A bit of a sickener so late in the game, but Arsenal pulled themselves together and held out against the Hammers' final attempts to win the game in normal time, with Manninger making another good save from the substitute Hodges. Arsenal had already replaced Overmars with Hughes, and Anelka with Wreh, and as extra time started brought on Boa Morte for the exhausted Petit. The one way traffic continued, but despite several nervous moments in the Arsenal area and Dixon limping badly for at least most of the second period, Manninger was only seriously troubled a couple more times, with Moncur and then Berkovic forcing him into good saves. At the other end Arsenal really only threatened on one occasion when Vieira went on a solo run from the half way line and appeared to be tripped by Lampard just inside the area. Looked a penalty to me, but he could well have just gone down in the exhausted hope of getting one. And so to penalties. Can't say I was terribly confident as I couldn't see many sure-fire penalty takers amongst the Gunners on the pitch, and in contrast West Ham had the 5 penalty takers who'd so confidently despatched Blackburn in the previous round. Hughes was the one I did have confidence in, and he duly sent Lama the wrong way and stroked a shot into the bottom corner. The difference between Unsworth's penalty and Wreh's was probably less than a foot, but the former scored and the latter didn't. Fortunately Hartson also missed, hitting the base of Manninger's right hand post, which made it even again. Boa Morte scored confidently, as did Lampard. 2-all after 3 penalties each, and it was still 2-all after 4 apiece. Remi Garde blazed his attempt wide, and Manninger brilliantly saved Berkovic's effort, plunging to his right to claw away the shot with his left hand. So it was effectively sudden death with the last of the regulation 5 penalties to come. Vieira didn't look overly confident as he stepped up, but planted his spot kick firmly inside the left hand post, and Lomas matched him with another perfectly placed shot. Adams didn't exactly take the perfect penalty but fortunately Lama dived to his right so he had no chance with the shot that Adams almost rolled down the middle. The pressure was now on Abou and the Arsenal end erupted as his shot smacked against Manninger's right hand post once again. A fantastic battling rearguard action by the Gunners, and the ten (+3) men thoroughly deserved to go through. I just hope Bergkamp's moment of madness doesn't cost us in the long term, though with Wrighty due back around the same time there's a chance it might not be too damaging. What is clear is that if trophies were decided on team spirit alone, the double would be a dead cert.
Manninger 9.0 Quite brilliant.
Winterburn 8.0 Battled typically the whole game and would have died for
the cause.
Dixon 7.5 Did likewise, though he had trouble with Lazaridis' pace
and needed Garde's help on occasion.
Adams 9.0 Imperious again.
Keown 9.0 Ditto. Even for Hartson's goal he was a bit unlucky.
Vieira 8.5 Another great game covering and tackling in front of the
defence, though he was lucky the ref didn't see a silly
little kick at Unsworth's calves as they jostled for
position at a free kick.
Petit 8.5 Ran himself into the ground covering everywhere.
Garde 8.0 Did a lot of good work covering in midfield and helping
out Dixon.
Overmars 7.5 Caused one or two problems during the period Arsenal
were in control.
Bergkamp 5.0 Had a couple of brilliant touches, but Ferdinand was
marking him superbly which possibly built up the
frustration which led to his rush of blood.
Anelka 7.5 A brilliant goal, and didn't do too badly overall in a
situation which clearly doesn't suit him.
Hughes 7.5 Came on and helped stiffen up the left side, and then
got through a lot of work after Petit went off.
Wreh 6.5 Under the circumstances couldn't do much other than help
out with the defending.
Boa Morte 6.5 Also not the ideal man to come on to help defend and
got few chances to break forward. Credit for a confident
penalty though.
Report by Derek
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