Arsenal (1) 1 - 0 (0)Highbury. Sunday 8th November. kick-off 3pmFA Carling PremiershipSee below for reports by Derek and Paul
Preview
Arsenal (1) 1 - 0 (0)Highbury. Sunday 8th November. kick-off 3pmFA Carling PremiershipArsenal:
Seaman
Dixon Keown Grimandi Winterburn
Parlour Vieira Petit Overmars
Anelka Ljungberg
Nicolas Anelka continued his run of scoring with an excellent goal after
just 6 minutes, and then Arsenal as a team continued their run of
dominating inferior opposition without actually scoring the goals that
would reflect that dominance.
None of Bergkamp Adams and Bould made the match, although Dennis was at least on the bench. But Grimandi filled in well at the back, and the return of Overmars and Anelka gave us a lot more threat up front than we'd had midweek. Ljungberg played as a second striker. Parlour played a blinder, and provided the pass to Anelka that set up the goal, which the Frenchman walloped into the far corner. Arsenal were constantly looking for the second, and creating chances missed by most of our outfield players. While the threat of Ferguson at the other end never really materialised (they had one chance all afternoon), results like the draw with Southampton make it impossible to be complacent about games like this. Still, 1-0 to the Arsenal. That's how we like it, isn't it?
This win, and Man Utd's draw with Newcastle, takes us
second in the table.
Result : Arsenal (1) 1 Everton (0) 0
Scorers: Anelka 6
Arsenal: Seaman; Dixon, Grimandi, Keown, Winterburn; Vieira, Petit,
Parlour, Overmars; Ljungberg, Anelka
Subs: Bergkamp, Hughes, Upson, Wreh, Manninger
Booked: Grimandi, Keown, Petit
Everton: Myhre, Cleland, Ball, Watson, Unsworth, Materazzi, Dunne,
Dacourt, Collins, Ferguson, Bakayoko
Subs: Cadamarteri (Watson 45), Hutchison (Cleland 77),
Milligan (Materazzi 84), Short, Simonsen.
Booked: Dunne, Materazzi, Collins, Ferguson, Cadamarteri
Att: 38088
Ref: G Willard (Worthing)
Another of those games which seem to be rather common this season.
Arsenal played well for the first hour of the game and created enough
chances to have been comfortably sitting on a 3 or 4 goal lead, but
instead had only an early brilliant goal from Anelka to show for their
efforts. The last 15-20 minutes then became a rather nervous affair for
players and spectators alike as the tiring Gunners were forced to defend
a slender one goal lead.
With Bergkamp not risked, and Adams & Bould still injured, Arsenal had Ljungberg supporting Anelka up front, and Grimandi alongside Keown in defence. And in the first half the leading lights were barely missed as the Gunners played some sharp attacking football which should have seen Everton buried by half time. In the first couple of minutes Arsenal forced a trio of successive corners, from one of which Ljungberg got a flicked header at the near post which I think had the keeper beaten, but Watson rescued his team, heading out for a corner from virtually beneath his own crossbar. We didn't have too long to wait for the first goal though, another stunning strike from Anelka. Dixon played a perceptive pass over the half way line to pick out Parlour in the middle of the Everton half, and he in turn cleverly touched it on to Anelka. A brilliant change of feet by the Frenchman took him clear of a defender and he carried on to the edge of the area. Ignoring Overmars on his left he struck a tremendous left foot shot from the 18yd line across the keeper and into the far top corner. It seemed only a matter of time before Arsenal would add to their tally. A superb long pass by Petit picked out Anelka's run down the inside left channel. His pace took him clear but Myhre was out quickly and blocked Anelka's attempt from an acute angle. The ball rebounded back to Anelka but his attempt to hook the ball back on the volley from virtually on the byline was again well blocked by the keeper. Anelka had an easier chance sometime later. This time it was a superb through ball by Ljungberg which sent him clear, and with more space and time on the left again, he struck another left foot shot across Myhre which beat the keeper this time but rolled agonisingly a few inches wide of the far post. Ljungberg also had a couple of decent chances. A Petit corner from the right picked him out unmarked at the near post, but his header from about 10 yards flashed just wide of the post and into the side netting. Then Dixon clipped in a cross from the right which found Ljungberg in space in the area, but the ball perhaps was slightly behind him and his volley from 15 yards sailed a couple of feet over the bar. Petit had a couple of chances from long range, but neither really threatened the goal. Dixon also had a 25 yarder which flew only a foot or two over the bar. Towards the end of the half Arsenal were denied what looked a pretty clear penalty. On a run down the middle Parlour went round one defender and then stumbled through a couple of others on the edge of the area to find himself clear with only the keeper to beat. Materazzi, I think, clearly grabbed his arm and pulled him back, and Parlour stopped expecting the penalty, but the ref waved play on. From the other end it seemed to me that had Parlour carried on he would still have had a chance to score. At the other end, the only time Everton remotely threatened was from a couple of corners. The first Ferguson charged at from deep and got his head to, but fortunately the ball glanced off the top of the crossbar. The second Seaman went for but he bumped into Bakayoko to leave Ferguson with a free header, but from the corner of the 6yd box his header flashed wide of the opposite post. Everton replaced Watson with Cadamarteri at half time, but with little apparent effect early on in the 2nd half as Arsenal picked up where they left off. Overmars and Ljungberg seemed to swap places for much of the half with Ljungberg drifting out to the left and Overmars supporting Anelka down the middle, and it was a while before the chances started to arrive again. Petit had probably the best one, but unfortunately didn't know it till it had almost gone. On a break down the right, Parlour I think played a pass inside to Petit, which a defender just got a touch to, and the ball hit Petit on the back of his legs. It rebounded out in front of him as he ran into the box, but for a crucial second he didn't realise where it was, and by the time he'd located it Myhre was closing him down. He still got in a shot from an angle but the keeper made a good block. Parlour then made another good chance for Anelka. After a typically strong break down the middle he slipped an angled pass outside a defender for Anelka to run round him to collect. As Materazzi got back to close him down the young Frenchman had to stretch and hooked a left foot shot goalwards which beat the keeper but dropped a few inches over the bar. Arsenal again went close when a Parlour corner from the left was cleared back to him, and he evaded a challenge before chipping in a diagonal cross from the corner of the area which picked out Vieira, virtually on the penalty spot. His glancing header beat Myhre but again dropped inches the wrong side of the post. Dixon then again went close from another long range effort, but his beautifully struck goal bound 20 yarder was deflected over the bar. Arsenal's final decent chance of the game came from another break. Anelka I think it was, played Overmars in as he overlapped on the right, but from a fairly acute angle he put a fiercely struck shot into the side netting. The final 20 minutes or so of the game were slightly nerve wracking from a home fan's point of view, as Arsenal appeared to become overly cautious. They were perhaps also suffering from the effects of the arduous trip to Ukraine, and for the last phase of the match let Everton back into it. The defence held out without too many alarms though, and I don't recall Everton creating a worthwhile chance. Only one goal, but 3 points nonetheless so a pretty satisfactory afternoon. The only real worry is our inability to put games away, which seems to have happened too often this year. Plenty of chances and good positions have been created but not enough made of them. Against a team with more ideas than Everton I think we may have struggled to hold out during that last 15-20 minutes when the team seemed to have settled for the one goal. Though to be fair that may have also been due to a bit of tiredness after the Kiev game.
Seaman 7.0 Don't think he had a serious save to make, but made a
couple of good catches late on to help settle things.
Dixon 7.5 Had a pretty good game all round, particularly going
forward when he was getting a lot of space down the
right in the 1st half.
Winterburn 7.0 Uncharacteristically sloppy a couple of times early on,
but thereafter a typically good game.
Keown 7.5 Pretty solid and dependable as usual and did well in
his running battle with Ferguson.
Grimandi 8.0 Possibly his best game for Arsenal, solid and decisive
in the tackle. Only one real error that I can recall
when he gave the ball away near his own area, but
fortunately Ferguson cocked up the chance to make
anything from it.
Ljungberg 7.5 Another lively and promising performance, his running
with the ball caused frequent problems.
Vieira 7.0 Relatively quiet game.
Petit 7.5 Strong and impressive performance again. Went into a
brief headless chicken mode in the 2nd half after
getting wound up by some fouls and ref's decisions.
Parlour 8.0 The usual strong running and hardworking capped by
some good final passes.
Overmars 7.0 Still some occasions where his first touch isn't quite
as deft as we normally expect, but plenty of
threatening running all the same.
Anelka 8.0 Perhaps his finishing could be criticised but that
would be harsh, and overall he gave another impressive
demonstration of forward play.
Derek
OK, hands up all those out there who think that Le Boss should dust off the AFC Company Cheque book and spend lots of our money on a striker ? Judging by the response of those who called into Capital Gold Sport last week post Kiev I reckon at least 60% of Gooners think that we need a 'proven' goalscorer asap - eg Dublin. Yesterday afternoon, the Toffees second forward was Ibrahim Bakayoko - cost (I think) £4.5m - a comparative bargain in today's climate for a player of 'proven (In the French league) goalscoring quality' - one of those clever tabloid sports reporters said at the time. What did he do during the game - absolutely nothing. We had the same chap with us for two or three weeks before he joined Everton, Wenger offered a reasonable sum for his services - between £1.5 and £2m I believe - and was told to up that offer by a further £2m to get the player. If anyone out there needs further evidence to prove that Wenger has an astute brain when it comes to assessing a players qualities and worth to a club, and what he will actually pay for that package, just compare Anelka and Bakayoko.... I firmly believe that there is only one striker in Britain, and possibly Europe, that AW will be tempted to spend big on - Fowler. It's reported that he is not a happy bunny at Anfield and he's getting understandably more fed up by the day with the Owen hero worship. Don't be too shocked to see Wenger move for him (with a swap deal for Seaman ? Rumour monger !) soon. The regulars in the Lower West, me included, wondered whether Nic could develop into the sort of player that he is fast becoming - fast, skilful, strong and clever. Did he have the character, the hunger, the commitment to be a true Arsenal front man we asked ourselves ? I would like to think that many of the doubters have now been silenced. Let us pray that he stays clear of injury over the next few years. Yesterday's goal outlines the massive potential that this guy has. This Saturday, against Judas Graham and his motley crew, we can place a marker on Anelka's development chart. This match is about 99% spirit, 1% skill. Let's see if he responds to the challenge in the correct way - by kicking the c**p out of Justin Edinburgh ! Back to the match. A cricket score would have been in order. If the man with the white stick spotted what 38 thousand others saw (Parlour fouled), the penalty and probable 2-0 score would have opened the floodgates but it was not to be. Who cares, we got the points. Honorable mentions go to Grimandi, who apart from one silly blunder was superb, and Freddie, who ran his guts out for the cause. Not forgetting another awesome performance from the Ref who really wasn't quite sure what day it was half the time, not that his Assistant Blind People helped him cross the road at all. Keep the faith. Roll out the reserves + Dennis on Wednesday. Other reports
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