Arsenal (1) 1 - 0 (0) Blackburn RoversHighbury, Tuesday 6th April 1999. kick-off 7.45pmFA Carling PremiershipPreview
Arsenal (1) 1 - 0 (0) Blackburn RoversHighbury, Tuesday 6th April 1999. kick-off 7.45pmFA Carling Premiership
scorers: Bergkamp 42
Arsenal:
Seaman
Dixon Adams Keown Winterburn
Parlour Vieira Vivas Overmars (Bould 72)
Bergkamp Diawara (Kanu 60)
A crucial win that takes us one point away from
Man Utd (having played a game more, though - see
table), from
a tense match in which referee Graham Poll took
centre stage.
He sent a player off for both sides (both slightly controversial in different ways) and kept making strange rulings, particularly with regard to who had last played the ball when it went out of play. Sometimes one can understand someone not seeing a deflection, but sometimes today Poll was in the perfect position but failed to see quite significant touches. One time in particular a Diawara shot was clearly deflected wide for a corner, with the ref standing right behind Kaba, and he gave a goal kick. Another time he indicated that a cross had gone straight out when it had been cleared by a defender, leaving one to wonder how he thought the ball's downward trajectory had been reversed. We started with Diawara in place of Anelka, who was on the bench (I think) and so hopefully was just being rested for Sunday's FA Cup tie. Parlour stayed on the right, leaving Petit's place to be taken by Vivas. Presumably this was a rehearsal for Petit's continued absence in the aforementioned semi-final, and on todays showing one has to hope so, the little Argentinian putting in another whole-hearted and very effective performance. Blackburn came for the point, their attacking strategy limited to pumping the ball forward for Sutton. Although we had a few dodgy moments at the back Seaman had almost nothing to do and I can only recall 2 Rovers efforts on goal. In the first galf a misplaced Adams header that allowed Ashley Ward to set Sutton up in the box, but the fiercely struck shot flew just wide. And in the second someone headed tamely over the bar. They got lots of men behind the ball which frustrated our passing game, but Arsenal's attacking play was pretty good on the whole, with Bergkamp and Overmars looking encouragingly dangerous. We were at them from the start. Parlour hit a shot too close to keeper Filan, then was nearly set up by an audacious Overmars flick in the area. Some great wing-play from Overmars resulted in a good cross to Diawara but Peacock pulled off a superb tackle (I've never thought much of Peacock but he was superb today). On 16 Diawara won a corner on our left, and Filan had to punch it off the head of Adams beyond the far post for another corner. This time Parlour pulled the corner back to Dixon who passed it square for Vieira, whose shot through a crowded area again was too close to the keeper. After Sutton's shot, Bergkamp had one deflected for a corner (it was goign well wide anyway) which Vivas took on the left (he took some of them on the right too). It went long and Keown did well by the goal-line to keep it in and turn it back out to Parlour, whose cross also looked too long but found Vivas coming in from having taken the corner. His diving bullet header went right across the face of goal to Adams, back on our right, but he drove it high. The first booking (of many) went to Filan who raced towards the linesman to complain - presumably having thought there was an offside somewhere in all that. Shortly after this, Keown picked up his first booking, apparently for a scuffle of some short with Ward (who was also booked). I didn't see what happened and to confuse things more the game was restarted by a drop-ball, although it appeared to have gone out for a thro-in before the ref pulled things back to show the yellow cards. Parlour played a lovely 1-2 with Vieira and crossed to Bergkamp, but it was flicked off his head by Henchoz (result: throw to Blackburn). Then Bergkamp brought the ball forward nicely to the edge of the area, waited for Overmars to make the overlapping run, and fed him perfectly (beautiful football made to look easy). Marc squared it to Diawara but again the shot went straight at Filan. Then it was Winterburn's turn, firing in a shot at Filan from the left after Parlour had switched the play from the right wing. As the first half drew to a close, there was a lot of crowded goalmouth action in front of us at the Clock end - all too complicated to remember properly. At one point Winterburn could have gone down for a propbable penalty but to his credit jumped the "tackle" and put a cross in, but it ended with Vieira blasting well over the bar. But with 3 minutes left one of these scrambles ended with a defender handling the ball just outside the area. Bergkamp hit the free-kick with his right foot but straight into the wall. It rebounded to Dennis who hit it first time, this time with his left, and it curled into the far corner. The second half started with a worrying injury to Winterburn, who hooked the ball away from the touchline with Gillespie in hot pursuit. It looked bad as Nige went down in great pain, Gillespie having (inadvertently) followed through on his leg. But he was back on before long and perhaps it was just a dead leg or something. The ball was played off for Nutty to get attention, and inevitably big cheers went up from the Arsenal support when Ashley Ward threw it back to Seaman (and a round of "Are you watching Chris Sutton?"). Vivas went on a good run through the middle, feeding Parlour at the end for a shot from the right side of the penalty area, which forced a good save from Filan. Adams nearly got to the corner at the far post, but did enough to force another corner, and from this one Vieira's header was saved. Overmars cut in from the wing and crossed to Diawara whose clipped shot went just over the bar. Then some brilliant play from Bergkamp on the right wing set Parlour up in the box but he tripped over himself as he was winding up for the shot. Kanu came on for Diawara, who'd played well I thought. And actually Kanu didn't have such a good time - looking a bit slow at times and standing on the ball a couple of times (in the normal negative falling over way rather than the delightful dragging it around stuff that he normally does). So we were well on top but it was pretty nervy with just one goal to show for it. And with 20 minutes to go the tension raised when Keown was fouled by Sutton but reacted by foolishly swinging an arm at him. Poll showed a yellow then a red, which is good news (so long as the FA don't step in and make it a straight red) as it means just the one match ban rather than the three that'd come for a red card for violent conduct. It looked dodgy with the diminutive Vivas filling in for Martin but there weren't any dangerous high balls up to Sutton and Ward in the few minutes it took Wenger to decide who to sacrifice for Bould. It was Overmars, with Kanu replacing him on the left meaning that we stopped looking quite so dangerous down that channel. Adams went on a run down the middle, played a 1-2 with Vieira on the edge of the box but fired his shot high. Then Blackburn sub Marlon Broomes hassled Bergkamp from behind and went down as if poleaxed. It was on my blind side but according to the radio Dennis kight have been lucky that the ref, in the strange mood he was in, didn't have a good view of it either. Then on 83 minutes Bergkamp approached the area from the left, and cut into the box with Kanu and Parlour making themselves available to his right. But before he could get the ball awya (I think he was trying to set himself up for a shot with his right foot) Gillespie brought him down for a penalty. It didn't look a particularly bad foul, but perhaps doubts over whether it should have been an automatic red card prompted Poll to show Gillespie a yellow card. Gillespie reacted stupidly and was promptly booked again for dissent and off he went. Filan did well to get down to his left to save Bergkamp's penalty. It was nice to see some patient play from Arsenal in the last few minutes, keeping hold of the ball to run the clock down, and the match finished with the all-important points coming our way. Another unpleasant home match against Blackburn, whose season-turning win (possibly the best thing to happen to us last season!) was the last time we lost at Highbury. I really really really hope Rovers go down. On to Villa Park. With Bergkamp and Overmars looking good, Anelka hopefully to come in with Kanu on the bench, and Vivas deputising well for Petit, this was quite an encouraging performance despite the lack of goals.
It was one of those matches which people will inevitably have seen
in all sorts of different ways, so it'll be interesting to see
what Derek makes of some of the incidents described above.
Watch this space...
Result : Arsenal (1) 1 Blackburn (0) 0
Scorers: Bergkamp 42
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Winterburn, Keown, Adams; Vieira, Vivas,
Parlour, Overmars; Bergkamp, Diawara
Subs: Kanu (Diawara 62), Bould (Overmars 72),
Anelka, Grimandi, Lukic
Booked: Keown, Dixon, Vivas
Sent off: Keown (69, 2nd bookable offence)
Blackburn: Filan, McAteer, Peacock, Henchoz, Davidson, Gillespie,
McKinlay, Carsley, Wilcox, Sutton, Ward
Subs: Johnson (McKinlay h-t), Broomes (Carsley 67),
Flowers, Davies, Marcolin
Booked: Filan, Ward, Davidson, Gillespie.
Sent off: Gillespie (83, 2nd bookable offence)
Att: 37762
Ref: Graham Poll (Tring)
First against second, and the game finished all square at one red card
each. Funny how the media all mention Arsenal's 9 red cards this season,
but none see fit to note that it is in fact Blackburn who top the league
sending off table this season. With the addition of Mr Poll to the
Arsenal-Blackburn cocktail, it wasn't really surprising that each side
finished a man down. The football side of it wasn't too surprising
either. The Gunners earned a hard-fought but deserved and ultimately
comfortable 1-0 win. The last 20 minutes may have been a little
nerve-wracking but Blackburn never really threatened to score, and
Seaman had not a save to make.
Bergkamp and Overmars were fit to play after missing the Southampton game on Saturday through illness & injury, but the surprise was to see Anelka on the bench (rested I think, after two internationals and a league game in the previous 10 days) and Diawara up front alongside Bergkamp. Vivas replaced the suspended Petit, which meant Arsenal played more of a 4-3-3, with Parlour, Vieira & Vivas forming a tighter midfield trio. Blackburn had Carsley playing just in front of the back four, though he didn't appear to be specifically marking Bergkamp - it seemed to be McKinlay who most often shadowed the Dutch master. Arsenal started fairly quietly, but a few minutes into the game a superb move nearly set up a debut goal for Diawara. Bergkamp's lovely ball inside the full back released Overmars down the left, and he squared a pass for Diawara charging into the middle. A desperate lunge by Peacock blocked the Frenchman's effort and he recovered his feet the quicker to scramble the ball clear. Soon afterwards a neat turn in the area by Diawara won a corner, and Overmars lofted it to the far post where Filan just got a hand to the ball to take it off the head of the inrushing Adams. Parlour played the subsequent corner short to Dixon who pulled a short pass across to Vieira on the edge of the box. The Frenchman's shot was firmly struck but more or less straight at Filan, though it came through a crowd of players so the keeper did well to hold on to it. At the other end Blackburn's main tactic was to loft high balls in for Sutton and Ward, which initially Adams and Keown weren't entirely comfortable dealing with. On one occasion Sutton beat Adams to nod the ball on, and it dropped from Keown's challenge with Ward back to Sutton's feet a couple of yards inside the area. He hit a vicious first time volley which fortunately flew a couple of feet wide of the far post. However that was the visitors' only real chance of the half, indeed of the match and Arsenal gradually cranked up the pressure at the other end. From another corner the ball was half cleared to Bergkamp, I think, on the right and he chipped in a cross to the far post which looked to be dropping safe until Vivas made a late charge and got in a diving header which flashed back across the face of goal and reached Adams at the opposite post. He hit a hurried left foot shot from the corner of the 6yd box which almost cleared the Clock End boxes. Filan went beserk at the linesman, presumably claiming Adams was offside, and was booked. Must have been swearing in Australian so the ref couldn't understand what he was saying. If it had been in French he'd surely have walked... The next bookings occurred in a rather bizarre incident at the other end. The ref blew up having spotted a minor confrontation between Keown and Ward after they'd both gone up for yet another high ball. He booked them both, and then awarded Blackburn a throw-in despite the ball never having gone out of play. After furious Blackburn protests the linesman eventually informed him of this fact, and he restarted with a drop ball which Dixon hoofed to the half way line. Another lovely move involving the two Dutchmen then set up another chance for Diawara. Bergkamp broke down the middle, appeared to have dallied too long on the ball, but then played a deft little pass into the area for Overmars to run onto and cut the ball back. Diawara intercepted it on the penalty spot when Vieira behind him appeared slightly better placed, but still controlled, turned and got in a good shot which was again too close to Filan. Winterburn also had a long range shot which went straight at the keeper, and we then almost witnessed a rare headed Bergkamp goal, from a brilliant cross by Parlour no less, but Henchoz just got his head to the ball ahead of the Dutchman. Winterburn then superbly blocked a clearance just outside the Blackburn area and took the ball on, seemed to be fouled but stayed on his feet to cut the ball back into the middle. A bit of a scramble ensued which ended with Vieira blazing over the bar. It seemed then that Blackburn would hold out till half time, but 3 minutes before the break McKinlay handled as he tried to clear from just outside the area. Bergkamp tried to bend a right foot shot round the wall from the resulting free kick, but it hit the last man, rebounded back to his feet, and he hit an instant shot with his left foot which arrowed into the far bottom corner. Probably sacrilege to suggest that he just swung his foot at the ball... Rovers replaced McKinlay with Johnson at half time, but to little effect as Arsenal dominated the first 20-25 minutes, and with a bit more luck and a less able keeper might have scored 2 or 3 more goals. Early on a superb Overmars run down the middle ended with him slipping a pass to Parlour making a run into the area on his right. Parlour crashed in an angled shot which looked a certain goal, but Filan made a brilliant save. Vivas' resulting corner picked out Vieira about 8 yards out at the near post, and his glancing header again looked a goal but Filan was in the right place and made another great save. Another Overmars run, down the left this time, ended with him cutting the ball back from the byline to pick out Diawara just inside the area. The striker controlled and hit an instant shot which curled just over the bar. Soon afterwards Diawara was replaced by Kanu, and Arsenal continued to press forward. A brilliant pass from Bergkamp sent Dixon clear down the inside right channel, but with Kanu making an unmarked run on his inside the old boy couldn't decide whether to take it on himself or pass to the Nigerian and ended up confusing himself about what even his legs were supposed to be doing, and lost possession. About 20 minutes from time the ref decided to crank up the nervous tension by reducing Arsenal to 10 men. Keown rather foolishly reacted to yet more tugging and niggling from Sutton by swinging his arm back. Poll had already blown up to give Arsenal a free kick, but then reached for his pocket and produced a 2nd yellow for Keown, quickly followed by red. Vivas briefly dropped back alongside Adams, until Bould came on for Overmars a couple of minutes later. Things were now a little fraught, though Blackburn still couldn't create any clear openings and Adams nearly eased the nerves by scoring a second for Arsenal. He intercepted on the halfway line and went on a storming run down the middle before passing to Vieira who was overlapping on his right. The pass was slightly behind the Frenchman, but he checked to collect the ball and then laid it forward to pick out Adams as he continued his run into the right of the area. His shot from an angle beat Filan but also cleared the bar. Bergkamp then risked getting himself sent off when he flung both arms back as Broomes hacked at the back of his legs. The substitute collapsed to the floor, but the ref who seemed well placed, waved play on and later booked Broomes for his protests. A few minutes later Arsenal had an even better chance to make the game safe. A lovely Bergkamp run in from the left was ended when Gillespie clipped his heels as he ran into the area and the ref immediately pointed to the spot. Gillespie was booked for the foul, but then went up to the Dutchman and yelled something at him, and the ref swiftly pulled out his yellow card again, and it was 10 v 10. Not entirely sure what the 2nd booking was for, abusive language, ungentlemanly conduct? Anyway, Bergkamp got up to place a rather over deliberate shot which would have gone just inside Filan's left hand post had the keeper not dived to produce a brilliant save, albeit with a bit of luck as the ball bounced up off his left hand onto his right and out for a corner. I guess Bergkamp just wanted to keep the last few minutes exciting, but although they were certainly tense there were no real alarms at the other end, and after a couple of minutes of injury time the points were safe. Overall it was a pretty good performance from Arsenal only really lacking the goals it deserved, and with the semi final coming up it was encouraging to see Bergkamp and Overmars both looking in pretty good form. Vieira also looks close to his imperious best which will be important, though Vivas did a pretty good job in midfield.
Seaman 7.5 I don't think he had a single shot to save, and only a
couple of crosses to catch.
Winterburn 8.5 Stormin' Nutty - kept going even after Gillespie's
attempt to castrate him early in the 2nd half.
Dixon 7.5 A pretty good game too.
Adams 8.0 Typically imposing and inspiring game.
Keown 7.5 I was all ready with a rant about how footballers'
capacity for rational thought must be limited by the
overdeveloped motor control side of their brain, but I
guess the news about his son mitigates it somewhat.
Vieira 8.0 Commanding and controlled in midfield.
Vivas 8.0 Had a great game I thought. A couple of passes did go
astray, but I think both times he tackled back to
regain possession. He also took most corners and I
reckon we looked more dangerous from them.
Parlour 7.5 Another pretty good game.
Overmars 8.0 Looked pretty sharp and lively to me.
Bergkamp 8.5 He said afterwards he didn't feel completely fit. Can't
wait till he is.
Diawara 7.5 Did pretty well I thought.
Kanu Didn't have his normal impact, though the even greater
frenetic style of the game after Keown's sending off
didn't suit him.
Bould Steady as ever.
Derek
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