Arsenal (1) 2 - 1 (0) ChelseaSaturday 6th May 2000.FA Carling PremiershipSee below for report, plus list of links to reports on other sites, below.PreviewArsène Wenger seems to be saying (on AFCi, Thursday) that he hopes for a fully fit squad going into Saturday's game. So, Petit off the bench (he certainly looked fit when he came on as a sub against West Ham) and Henry available. Not sure if this applies to Ljungberg though - his injury seemed more long-term.
Arsenal (1) 2 - 1 (0) ChelseaSaturday 6th May 2000.FA Carling Premiership
scorers: Henry , 46 Poyet
Arsenal:
Seaman
Dixon Adams Grimandi Silvinho
Parlour Petit Vieira Overmars
Bergkamp Henry
A good win from a hard-fought derby game which Arsenal
dominated almost throughout. Chelsea fought back a bit at
the end but we hung on. Shame not to get a chance to taunt
Chris Sutton directly, as Vialli understandably went with
his good strikers. But we contented ourselves with telling
the away fans in song about how both Lee Dixon and Gilles
Grimandi are better strikers this season.
And it was Grimandi who had out first two chances. First his header from a corner flew over the bar, and then a Bergkamp pass put him clear on De Goey, who was quick to react and got there first. Zola had a shot blocked on the edge of the area but it came square to Weah on his left, and the Liberian forced a good save from Seaman. Bergkamp battled well on the right to win and retain the ball. He ended up out on the touchline but turned back in and whipped a cross to the near post. Henry's diving glancing header was well placed just inside the near post but didn't have the speed to trouble the keeper. An excellent cross-field pass from Overmars fell onto Ray Parlour's chest and he followed the ball into the penalty box. He was shouldered off the ball but it looked legal enough to me. The dfender only cleared it as far as Petit who fed Parlour again and this time he shot from the edge of the box, forcing a flying save from De Goey. The corner, from our left, came into the goalmouth where Henry, on the goal-line, had to reach back for it, and only managed to kick it the wrong way. Up the other end, a near post header by Frank Le Boeuf from a corner, flew just wide of the far post. 20 minutes in and a lovely through-ball from Bergkamp saw Henry facing De Goey. He tried to slip it under the keeper who saved with his legs.I heard some complaints from the crowd which seemed peculiar given Henry's strike-rate this season (even Wrighty didn't score them all!). Anyway, they shut up soon enough. A minute or two later, Petit tried a similar ball, this time on the left of the pitch. Le Boeuf looked to have an easy interception but it slipped past off his chest and Henry was in. This time he took it round the keeper, to the left. But having gone very narrow, wide of the goal, he turned back and brought it a yard infield before slotting it past De Goey and Le Boeuf who'd got back to the goalmouth. Very composed, very "Kanu". 5 minutes later, Vieira nearly started and finished a superb move. His excellent diagonal ball found Henry on the right. He fed Parlour and by the time the cross was coming in Vieira was attacking the goalmouth. It was cleared, but nice to see a midfielder getting stuck in like that. Too often this season there's been no-one trying to get on the end of crosses. Another good break was disrupted by Hnery's straying offside. It was a shame because Parlour had timed his run perfectly, and Bergkamp's slide-rule pass had found him running clear on goal. Then Parlour's battling won another chance as he made a challenge on a defender bringing the ball out. It ballooned forward and Parlour was first onto it, but his cross was much too strong this time. Henry ran onto a diagonal chip over the top and appeared to beat Le Boeuf fairly. the ref saw it otherwise and when Henry showed his anger at the foul being given against him by throwing the ball into the ground a yellow card inevitably followed. Chelsea's chances were decidedly limited. Zola blasted well high and wide from 25 yards out, then Weah and Wise had shots blocked on the edge of the area in rapid succession. 5 minutes from half-time they rallied somewhat. Zola had a better long-range effort go just wide of the far post, and then fed Wise whose low drive from the right hand side of the box was saved by Seaman, but only just. He took most of the pace off the ball but it was still heading for the net till Dixon got in to whack it off the goal-line (with Flo closing in for the kill). At half-time Overmars came off for Winterburn. For a change from his recent midfield cover role, Nige came into defence and it was Silvinho who moved up to Marc's position. Interesting - does Wenger consider Winterburn more effective in the centre of midfield than on the left of it? A minute into the second half, and Bergkamp again provided a through ball for Henry. This time it was straight down the inside left channel, and Henry picked it up and ran straight on at Desailly. The defender looked to be trying to send Henry to the left and Thierry accepted the challenge gratefully. Poking the ball forward he muscled his way past Desailly, and slotted the ball past De Goey from a narrow angle again. There was a dodgy moment or two as Henry appeared to injure himself in the celebrations down by the corner flag in front of the North Bank jumbotron. He stayed off for treatment while the game restarted, only to get straight back into the thick of things when he was waved back on. Some Chelsea players complained to the ref in fact, as Henry came straight on and intercepted a pass near the half-way line. It looked to be a dangerous break that developed, with Bergkamp joining Henry racing towards the box. But Henry perhaps took a but too much time making his mind up, and was thwarted by a tackle. Then Bergkamp hit one from distance which looked much too close to the keeper, but whether it was pace or movement in the air, De Goey couldn't hold it. Adams had a couple of headed chances from corners too, both of which were cleared from the goalmouth. 25 minutes to go, and Bergkamp was replaced by Kanu. His first touch, what woulkd normally have been a simple lay-off, was a sublime flick. One of those little, perhaps unnecessary, touches of skill in unexpected situations which make watching the man play such a joy. And his next contribution was to nearly score. He wriggled his way into the box and hit a near post shot which De Goey could only parry. It fell into space but sadly it was only the space Henry had just run through. Di Matteo beat Dixon easily on the right and crossed back across the box where Adams sliced it clear. A bit lucky, that one. Could have gone anywhere. Then a nice Arsenal move started with a big Winterburn tackle. Via Silvinho and Kanu it came to Parlour racing down the right. He gave it back to Kanu in the box who again forced a near-post save from De Goey with his cross/shot (and again, there was someone attacking the box if De Goey failed). 15 to go, and a great ball from Poyet came to Flo deep on their left. He turned inside and with a good deal of the goal to aim at blasted a shot which clipped the top of the crossbar. Shortly after that, Luzhny came on for Petit (with Parlour moving into the latter's central role). Unusually, we now had 4 full-backs on the pitch. Things nearly flared up just after that, when Vieira fouled Flo. It didn't look nasty, and Flo himself didn't complain. But several players including I think Poyet and Thome rushed over to have words with Vieira and/or the ref. Thankfully Paddy didn't react and this time it was just an opponent (Poyet) who got booked. But it seemed to do him good as a minute later he received a lob into the box from the right (was it a corner? don't remember...) on his chest, and volleyed home. Kanu then had a long-range shot deflected just over, and Luzhny saw a cross, or shot, or something, trouble the roof of the North Stand. Then Luzhny dallied in defence, trying to play the ball through a wall of blue shirts when he had a chance to hoof it (now's the time, Oleg). Then attacked behind him but fortunately Flo hit his volley about 10 yards wide from 6 yards out. A massive win, which takes Arsenal 5 points clear in second. Barring some kind of goal-difference debacle in the other of our two remaining games, a draw in either of them will be enough to secure second, and the automatic Champions League spot, for the second year running. Once again, we're left rueing the fact that Arsenal start their end-of-season run a few weeks late. report by Rupe. Other reports
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