Coventry vs Arsenal. 31/10/98

(0) 0 - 1 (0) Arsenal

Highfield Road. Saturday 31st October 1998

FA Carling Premiership

Saturday 2.45pm - Steward injured by Arsenal bus
The following just reported on Grandstand:
As the coach carying the Arsenal players was backing in on arriving at Highfield Road today, a steward became trapped behind the vehicle which failed to stop in time to prevent serious injury. Medics rushed to the scene and he was taken immediately to hospital. They said "a pulse was detected but he is still in a grave condition".
post-match update
Sadly the man did not survive. The thoughts of Arsenal supporters everywhere will be with his family at this time.
Coventry City have set up up a memorial fund for the steward, whose name was Ron Reeves. Cheques can be sent to:
```
Ron Reeves Memorial Fund,
c/o John Street,
Finance Department,
Highfield Road Stadium,
King Richard St,
Coventry CV2 4FW.
```
envelopes should be marked (and cheques made out to) "Ron Reeves Memorial Fund".
Alternatively, donations can be made to
```
Ron Reeves Memorial Fund,
c/o Co-Operative Bank,
6 Warwick Road,
Coventry
```
or at any branch of the Coventry Building Society, or Coventry City Club Shops.

Match Preview

There is concern over the back injury suffered by Dennis Bergkamp against Blackburn last weekend. It has showed no signs of improvement. So he's out of this match. Because he won't be going to Kiev midweek, he has at least got a bit of a rest before his next possible start (against Everton in the league on Sunday 8th).
Tony Adams will also miss the Coventry game, hopefully this is at least partially as a precaution against losing him for the important match in Kiev. Ray Parlour however, has recovered and should be available for Coventry.
update 31/10 - Arsenal team news: Bad news I'm afraid, Christopher Wreh has gone on the injury list having hurt an ankle in the win at Derby. He is rated doubtful for the Kiev match, never mind today's. Added to Bergkamp's back and flight problems, we're now looking a bit light upfront. Ljungberg could get an advanced role, or could go on the left with Overmars playing up front with Anelka. Parlour, at least, is still expected to be back. Tony Adamsis alsodoubtful for Wednesday but the cover is better in his position with Bould probably stepping in as captain again.
Coventry may be without their best player Dion Dublin again. He seems to be on some sort of "want-away" strike. In the Worthless cup midweek a Dublin-less Coventry were beaten (and outplayed) by Luton. Roland Nilsson is expected to have recovered sufficiently from his thigh injury, which kept him out of] the loss to Luton. David Burrows, however, is out injured.
Take a look at the FART page. That's "Fans Against Rupert's Takeover", an anti-Murdoch campaign aimed at fans of clubs other than Man Utd. Please note that the FART site has no connection with the Rupert that runs ArseWeb.

(0) 0 - 1 (0) Arsenal

Highfield Road. Saturday 31st October 1998

FA Carling Premiership

The only goal of the game was scored by Nicolas Anelka on 63 minutes, but most of the credit for the goal has to go to Overmars, who picked the ball up after a Coventry corner and ran with it the lenght of the pitch. Goalie Hedman saved Overmars shot but fortunately we're one of the few teams with a player who can keep up with Overmars, and Anelka was in position to hit the rebound home.

As suggested above, Overmars played a more central role in the absence of Bergkamp and Wreh, with first Ljungberg and then Boa Morte helping to provide width.

The match was overshadowed by the sad death of a Coventry Steward in an accident involving the Arsenal team coach. (see above).

Full report here soon. Meanwhile check out the AFCi report.

Liverpool lost to Leicester and Villa's match with Chelsea was called off. Despite Man Utd's big win at Everton, therefore, we have consolidated our position at 3rd in the table

Rupe.