Arsenal (1) 2 - 0 (0) Coventry CityHighbury. Saturday 20th March 1999.FA Carling PremiershipSee below for reports by: Rupe, DerekPreview
Arsenal (1) 2 - 0 (0) Coventry CityHighbury. Saturday 20th March 1999.FA Carling Premiership
scorers: Parlour 16
Overmars 80
Arsenal:
Seaman
Dixon (Ljungberg) Adams Keown Winterburn
Parlour Petit Vieira Overmars
Bergkamp Anelka (Kanu)
A slightly less than emphatic win for Arsenal, which maintains
our challenge for the title without improving it, as both Man Utd
and Chelsea went on to win on Sunday.
Although Coventry had few chances there were some dodgy moments in our penalty area. Early on, one of these was nearly turned into a goal for us, when Seaman got to an underhit Adams back-pass and drove it upfield into the path of Overmars. Marc took it on but hit his shot wide of the near post under challenge. Petit nearly signed off for 3 weeks with a classic goal. Winterburn brought the ball forward and played it to Bergkamp a few yards outside the area on the left, and Dennis flicked it into the path of Manu. He powered his way into the box and slipped a lovely shot wide of the Coventry keepr Marcus Hedman but sadly also wide of the far post. Another player keen to do well in this match was Parlour, and he got his chance to do so. An Adams hoof upfield was collected by Bergkamp on the left again, and he spread the ball quickly to the right where Ray picked it up and forced his way forward through the defence. It looked like he'd pushed it a bit far ahead of himself but managed to get surprising power on the shot and it flew past Hedman. Shortly after, Parlour got a chance to show Keegan the other side to his game, and his usefulness to England, when his versatility came into play. Dixon went to cover a dangerous high cross into our penalty area, and was pushed from behind, causing him to handle the ball off the pitch. Fortunately, the officials saw the foul, but unfortunately Lee had to leave his 500th game injured. Ljungberg came on, and Parlour moved into the right back position. Hedman was called upon to make a few saves, notably from Overmars and Anelka, but the main talking point of the first half was a sure penalty for Coventry, not given. Soldtvedt deflected a cross into our box close to Frogatt, but Seaman got down well to get a hand to it first. It looked like he'd got down well enough to catch the ball, but instead palmed it onto Frogatt. It bounced off the Coventry player goalwards, and he might have been favourite to get to it before Koewn's clearance, had Seaman not wrapped his legs round Frogatt's torso to bring him down. The presence of Keown would have been enough to save Dave from a red card, but we were lucky not to concede the equaliser. Hedman did well in the second half with more saves, from Bergkamp and Ljungberg (one time having been set up by a ricochet off the ref). Roland Nilsson had to be stretchered off after going up for a ball with Petit. It looked like a clash of heads but the later reports of broken ribs and a punctured lung suggest it was the fall which did the damage. Kanu came on for Anelka and again showed great skill. His first act was to set up Overmars for the second goal. Seaman punted the ball forward and Shaw headed it practically vertically, 10 yards outside their penalty area. Kanu, a few yards further out, watched it fly over him and turned to gather it, trapping and turning with the ball in one movement. He dribbled goalwards, through several challenges, always aware of the run Overmars was making into the space on the left. Kanu slipped it to Marc and he slotted it home. The big question about Kanu has to be: can he do this for 90 minutes? If he can - shouldn't he?
Result : Arsenal (1) 2 Coventry (0) 0
Scorers: Parlour 17, Overmars 81
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Winterburn, Keown, Adams; Vieira, Petit,
Parlour, Overmars; Bergkamp, Anelka
Subs: Ljungberg (Dixon 30), Kanu (Anelka 78),
Diawara (Overmars 85), Bould, Manninger
Booked: Winterburn
Coventry: Hedman, Nilsson, Shaw, Konjic, Burrows, Quinn,
Telfer, McAllister, Soltvedt, Froggatt, Huckerby
Subs: Edworthy (Nilsson 69), Gioacchino (Soltvedt 77),
Ogrizovic, Clement, Delorge
Booked: Telfer, Konjic
Att: 38049
Ref: Paul Alcock (Halstead)
A comfortable and competent, if not overly convincing win on Saturday
against a team handicapped by suspension and injury, and consequently
limited in ambition. Coventry played Huckerby alone up front and flooded
the midfield, but still couldn't stop Arsenal starting brightly and
going in front after a quarter of an hour through Parlour. However, an
injury to Dixon and Parlour's move to right back disrupted Arsenal's
rythmn somewhat and it wasn't until 10 minutes from time that the
substitute Kanu's arrival gave the Gunners the impetus to add to the
score.
Arsenal started off quite well and might have scored twice early on before they eventually did go in front. The first chance stemmed ironically from a sloppy pass from Adams which almost gifted possession to Froggatt I think. He couldn't control it but Keown's pass back to Seaman was a little short and the keeper had to hurriedly hoof the ball upfield as Froggatt put him under pressure. It turned into a glorious pass though as Overmars ran clear onto it down the left, but he sliced a left foot shot wide of the near post when a simple pass into the middle would have set up a tap in for Bergkamp. By contrast it was a deliberate and beautiful move which set up the next chance. Winterburn played the ball forward to Bergkamp just outside the left hand corner of the area, and the Dutch master brilliantly flicked it on into the path of Petit as he burst forward into the area. The Frenchman stroked a crisp shot across Hedman which was only a whisker wide of the far post. Not long afterwards Arsenal did go in front with another lovely goal. Bergkamp held off the cloying attentions of Konjic a few yards outside the area and played the ball out to Parlour on the right. Razor cut in towards the area, Anelka made a run across which distracted the defence sufficiently for Parlour to turn inside Burrows just inside the area before confidently bending a right foot shot round Hedman and into the far corner. A couple of minutes later it should have been 2-0 with a similar goal. Overmars broke and played a good long ball from left to right to pick out Parlour again, and he touched a pass inside for Bergkamp just inside the area. A lovely quick shuffle left Shaw stranded and Bergkamp with the time and space to pick his spot, but his attempt to emulate Parlour's shot with the outside of his right foot was well wide. Leave the skilfull stuff to others, Dennis... Some persistent play by Bergkamp then set up Anelka for a snap left foot shot from the edge of the box, but it was too close to Hedman and he made a good save. The keeper then made an even better one from Overmars, after the Flying Dutchman had finished another long run with a well struck 20 yard shot which seemed to be arrowing inside Hedman's right hand post before the keeper made a flying full length parry. Dixon, in his 500th Arsenal game went off with a twisted ankle after half an hour, and with Ljungberg coming on and Parlour moving back into Dixon's position Arsenal lost a bit of thrust. Coventry then got back into the match and in fact probably had the better of the final 15 minutes of the half. Winterburn got himself booked when he reacted angrily to Telfer's blatant dive which won a free kick. After the pair had squared up, forehead to forehead, Nutty was shown the yellow card. Telfer who had been booked earlier, wasn't. However, the only time Coventry really troubled Seaman was about 5 minutes from the break when they might have had a penalty. Huckerby played a ball into the area from the left which Keown was slow to react to and Soltvedt nipped in front of him to play it on into the 6yd box. Seaman looked as though he had time either to catch it or to push it away to safety but instead he pushed the ball straight out to Froggatt. The winger couldn't control it, but still knocked the ball over the prone keeper and looked favourite to bundle it into the empty net until he fell over Seaman's body, and Keown cleard. From the other end of the pitch it wasn't an obvious penalty, but the TV replay suggested Seaman was a little lucky to get away with it. Arsenal resumed their total domination of the game after half-time, and in fact I can only recall one worthwhile Coventry effort on goal, when Huckerby got round Parlour on the right and cut into the area, but his attempt to curl a shot round Seaman and inside the far post was high and wide. However, for all their possession, Arsenal struggled for much of the half to make clear cut chances, until Kanu transformed the last 10 minutes. Probably the best move and chance came fairly early on when Anelka played a lovely pass forward to pick out Bergkamp's run into the left side of the area. The Iceman's first touch was slightly heavy but he still reached the ball first and tried to flick it past Hedman with his right foot, but the keeper had spread himself well and made a great block. Ljungberg also had a couple of decent half chances, the first when the defence opened up in front of him to allow a shot from 25 yards, which went along the ground and was headed either just inside or onto Hedman's right hand post until the keeper stretched to tip it round the post. From the corner Bergkamp's mishit shot was ricocheted off a defender onto the referee and then to Ljungberg's feet, but Hedman was alert to his shot on the turn and made another good save. With just under 15 minutes left Wenger replaced Anelka with Kanu, and a couple of minutes later the Nigerian super-sub had made the second goal which confirmed the result. Shaw headed a long punt forward up into the air and in one movement Kanu controlled and turned on the ball as it dropped, held off McAllister's attempt to pull him back, slalomed past a couple of tackles, nutmegging Konjic in the process and then slipped the ball wide to the unmarked Overmars on his left. The winger crisply dispatched an angled shot from 16 yards past Hedman and into the far corner, before rightfully acknowledging Kanu's brilliant contribution. Kanu nearly capped his cameo soon afterwards with a goal. After his pass had sent Bergkamp into space in the right of the area, he continued his run to the far post where Bergkamp's chip picked him out. The Nigerian's left foot volley looked on target, but it deflected wide off a defender. From the corner Diawara got up well, but headed over the bar. The unbeaten home league run now stands at 25 games, and overall it was a satisfactory result, and an acceptable though not brilliant performance. Arsenal were in comfortable control of most of the game, and while it was slightly nerve racking to be only one goal up, Coventry never looked like score, non-penalty apart. And even if they had, Kanu would have come on and made or scored the winner...
Seaman 7.0 Really underworked, but made a bit of a mess of the
one time he had something difficult to do.
Winterburn 7.5 His usual belligerent self.
Dixon Unfortunate that his 500th game should end early.
Adams 7.5 Apart from that one poor pass, barely put a foot wrong.
Keown 7.5 Also made the one error, but otherwise as solid as
always.
Vieira 7.5 In control of the midfield as per norm.
Petit 7.0 Fairly subdued I thought.
Parlour 7.5 Had a good 15 minutes in midfield, and then did pretty
well at right back too.
Ljungberg 6.5 We certainly lost impetus when Parlour moved into
defence, and it seems to me that Ljungberg also tends
to drift infield too much.
Overmars 7.5 Fairly lively again.
Bergkamp 8.0 Looked in good form to me, and was at the centre of
most of Arsenal's best moments.
Anelka 7.0 Didn't have a bad game, but didn't often get the ball
where he likes it, in space in front of him.
Kanu The man leaves me in awe. Lovely touch, creative
passer, etc, etc.
Derek
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