(0) 0 - 4 (2) ArsenalBoleyn Ground. Saturday 6th February 1999FA Carling Premiershipsee below for reports by: RupePreview
(0) 0 - 4 (2) ArsenalBoleyn Ground. Saturday 6th February 1999FA Carling Premiership
scorers: Bergkamp
Overmars
Anelka
Parlour
Arsenal:
Seaman
Dixon Adams Keown Winterburn
Parlour Petit Vieira Overmars
Anleka Bergkamp
Another game of two halves, but this time we won them both.West Ham hardly got out of their half for large periods of the first half, and if anything a scoreline of more than 2-0 would have been a fairer reflection at half-time. On 34 minutes Bergkamp starting the scoring after a run down the middle, avoiding a couple of challenges and then getting past Foe to make room for the shot. Perhaps the defence were expecting a pass, the previous two occasions he'd found himsefl in this position he'd found perfect passes to put Anleka and then Overmars in. Overmars had taken the ball too wide but still forced Breacker into a goal-line clearance. Just before the half, Marc Overmars got the second, following up his own saved shot. Partly because Arsenal sat back more, and partly because of a tactical switch from a back 4 to a 3/5 man defence by West Ham, the second half saw them come at us much more. Still, Seaman wasn't called on that much, and we got a couple on the break. First a Keown clearance put Anelka clear, with Ian Pearce getting caught out with the offside trap (nice one Nicky! more of that please!) and then getting sold a dummy by Anelka. He went to shoot, switched to the other foot, and slotted it in. Magnificent stuff. Then with 5 minutes to go, an Overmars shot was again not cleanly saved, and this time it was Ray Parlour following up to bang it in. Other high spots included Petit trying to leave us with a nice memory as he goes off for his suspension: an effort from the half-way line which had Hislop beat and was only a yard or so high. And Tony Adams jumping up after being fouled so as not to get Kitson booked. Downer: Winterburn misses a game after picking up his 5th booking of the season. Kanu was available for selection, but didn't make the squad. Wenger feeling that he wanted to check his fitness first. Man U caned Forest and Chelsea squeezed past Southampton. But it looked like Villa's bubble may have burst, and we move above them into 3rd in the table. Three horse race, perhaps? On Sunday the Arsenal mailing-list's team Cybury Gooners made it a double with a 1-0 win over the West Ham list team. See this brief newsreel report. full report here soon
Result : West Ham (0) 0 Arsenal (2) 4
Scorers: Bergkamp 35, Overmars 45,
Anelka 83, Parlour 87
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Winterburn, Adams, Keown; Vieira, Petit,
Parlour, Overmars; Bergkamp, Anelka
Subs: Diawara, Garde, Hughes, Upson, Manninger
Booked: Winterburn
West Ham: Hislop, Breacker, Dicks, Ferdinand, Pearce, Foe, Lampard,
Minto, Sinclair, Kitson, Di Canio
Subs: Berkovic (Breacker h-t), Forrest, Lazaridis, Cole, Moncur
Booked:Foe, Dicks
Att: 26042
Ref: Jeff Winter (Stockton-on-Tees)
Arsenal maintained a 12 year unbeaten run at Upton Park on Saturday,
comfortably recording their best win of the season against a somewhat
demoralised West Ham. For the first time since November Arsene Wenger
was able to field his first choice team and, apart from a period in the
second half, Arsenal controlled the match, two goals in the final 10
minutes of each half underlining their superiority.
In contrast West Ham fielded their 3 new signings, and Redknapp also switched to 4-4-2 from the more usual 5 at the back system I believe he normally plays. The home team did start off quite brightly and had more of the play in the opening 5-10 minutes. Breacker once got away down the right, but his cutback was cleared by Keown and that was the only time West Ham threatened early on. Thereafter Arsenal assumed control. Early on Parlour was put in on the right, I think by Dixon, and whipped the ball back from the byline but Hislop made a good save. Anelka then had a 20 yard shot which was well hit but bent away and missed the top corner by a couple of feet. The young striker had a more clear cut chance later after Vieira had intercepted in midfield and fed Bergkamp. The Dutch master played a slide rule pass for Anelka to run onto and outpace two defenders, but he blazed a left foot shot wide from just inside the area. Bergkamp then set up Overmars with an even better chance, brilliantly hooking a pass forward into his compatriot's path to allow the flying Dutchman to streak clear. Hislop came out, but Overmars hurdled the keeper as he dived at his feet and shot goalwards from a fairly tight angle. He didn't quite get enough on it though, and Breacker came sliding in to make a great goal-line clearance. We were then treated to a typical Adams charge forward which saw him arriving late at the far post, but he just failed to get on the end of a Bergkamp cross. Ten minutes from half time Arsenal finally did take the lead with a Bergkamp solo effort. Vieira again intercepted in his own half and fed Bergkamp, who set off on a run towards the opposite area, evaded an attempt by Foe to hack him down, and from the edge of the D cooly stroked the ball past Hislop and just inside his left hand post. Just before half time it was 2-0. Anelka nicked the ball off Dicks near the half way line, Bergkamp picked it up and fed Parlour as he made a run down the right. Parlour's cross picked out Overmars at the far post, and though Hislop made a superb save from his initial shot, the Dutchman reacted quickly to fire in the rebound off the near post. At half time West Ham replaced Breacker with Berkovic and switched back to 3-5-2. The change in formation and the Israeli midfielder's passing and movement give them a bit more fluidity, and the home team had more possession for much of the 2nd half. It was Berkovic who finally brought David Seaman into action with a well struck 20 yarder which the England keeper calmly tipped over the bar. West Ham's best chance came midway through the half when Bergkamp's attempt to get his head to a pass in midfield deflected the ball into Pearce's path a few yards outside the Arsenal area. He got a rather lucky bounce through Adams' legs as the Arsenal captain came across to cover, which left him with a clear shot at goal. Seaman however produced a brilliant save, and though Kitson looked favourite to get on the end of the rebound Keown's challenge deflected the ball for a corner. Arsenal seemed content to sit on their lead for much of the half. Can't really remember any real chance at the other end apart from the goals, though Petit did have one audacious attempt to lob Hislop from near the halfway line. Hard to tell from low down at the other end, but it looked as though it didn't clear the bar by much. However, the Gunners did finally step up a gear and added gloss to the result by scoring two more goals in the last 7 minutes. Keown dispossessed Di Canio (whose main contribution to the afternoon's entertainment was a dive in the area which few of the home fans even bothered to appeal for), and lobbed a pass forward for Anelka to beat the offside trap for a change. He chased the ball out wide to the left and then dribbled into the area, turned Pearce outside, then in, then out again to finally leave the defender on his backside, and stroked an angled left foot shot past Hislop and just inside the far post. The fourth goal arrived when Anelka held off a challenge on the half way line and hooked the ball towards Bergkamp. The Dutch master broke towards the area, and fed Overmars who was in space in the right of the area. Overmars turned one defender and fired in a left foot shot which beat Hislop but was cleared off the line by Pearce. The rebound however fell to Parlour about 10 yards out and he stroked a left foot shot past the stranded defender and into the net. Lampard did have a good long range effort late on which dipped late and glanced off the top of the bar, but otherwise a comprehensive win was safe. Overall a satisfactory afternoon's work, even if it was against a team in a bad run of form. The defence and midfield were characteristically unbreachable, and it was nice to see a few goals at last, a result of Bergkamp and Overmars now being close to their best. Just a shame Bergkamp and Petit miss the Man United game. I would have been pretty confident otherwise.
Seaman 7.5 One great and one competent save, but otherwise had
little to do.
Dixon 7.5 Solid, reliable, etc, etc.
Winterburn 7.5 Ditto, though he picked up his 8th booking which means
another 1 match suspension (v Leicester).
Adams 7.5 The usual Adams performance.
Keown 8.0 Another superb display of defending.
Vieira 7.5 Looked a little rusty early on, but otherwise as
commanding as ever in the middle.
Petit 8.0 Another superb game.
Parlour 7.5 Energetic as ever, and put over a couple of decent
crosses.
Overmars 7.5 Looks much like the Overmars of last season again.
Anelka 7.0 Relatively quiet and a bit detached again, though he
perked up a bit after scoring a brilliant goal.
Bergkamp 8.0 Virtually back on song. At the heart of most of
Arsenal's best creative moves.
Derek
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