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Edwin van der Sar outstanding against Arsenal
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Arsenal 4(3) Fulham 1(0)
Fulham’s five Frenchmen were emphatically had the better of by Arsenal’s
half a dozen on this largely Gallic occasion.
What quickly became a stroll for Arsène Wenger’s side saw the Gunners
leapfrog both Liverpool and Newcastle to reclaim second place and remain three
points behind the champions.
Though Fulham unexpectedly recovered from Arsenal’s quick opening goal
to equalise, it soon became clear that this would be an afternoon of trying
to limit the damage.
As their own French manager and former France star, Jean Tigana, admitted:
“We started very badly today, and I don’t understand why.”
The explanation might lie in the very tribute that Arsenal’s own French
manager, Wenger, paid to the Fulham team. “Unlike many other teams which
come to Highbury, Fulham came out to play,” he said. This was morally admirable,
one felt, but tactically very dangerous against an Arsenal team that, despite
various absences, brims over with sparkling talent.
As Tigana emphasised, Arsenal’s Frenchmen, by contrast with his own, tend
to be current internationals.
Of these Frenchmen, Thierry Henry, with his dynamic pace and adventurous spirit,
was the decisive player on the field in an Arsenal team that put behind it a
series of disappointing home games in the Premiership.
Tigana praised the player whom he managed at Monaco, which was generous of
him given the fact that Henry and his fellow Monaco attacker of the time, David
Trezeguet, gave Tigana a horribly hard time when he was at the club, even reading
the newspaper during his team talks.
Henry, as Tigana recalled, was a winger then. The Fulham manager said: “Every
day he works very, very hard. That is the difference with some players.”
Arsenal went ahead as early as the fifth minute with a coruscating goal. The
movement began with Giovanni van Bronckhorst, later forced off the field with
a suspected cartilage injury. The ball went from him to Henry, on to Sylvain
Wiltord, still another Frenchman on the left, then in for Lauren, who had adventurously
come across the flanks to beat Edwin van der Sar at his near post.
Arsenal at that stage looked so overwhelmingly superior that you felt a flood
of goals might result.
Instead of which, football being the tantalising game it is, what should occur
but a Fulham equaliser? A very straightforward affair it was, too.
Fulham’s left-back, Rufus Brevett, sent in a long cross from the left
and a sleepy Arsenal defence allowed Steve Marlet, a Frenchman of course, to
head from the far post past David Seaman.
But after just 15 minutes the inspired Henry, coming in from the right, made
the goal for the galloping Patrick Vieira.
We had to wait until the 38th minute before Arsenal got their third, though
it had seemed only a matter of time. Receiving from Wiltord, Henry eluded the
hapless Fulham centre-back Andy Melville with embarrassing ease, and ran on
to beat van der Sar. Poor Melville held his head in his hands.
There could well have been another goal on 43 minutes when Henry found Robert
Pirès, whose shot bounced off van der Sar, only for Wiltord to scoop
over the top from point-blank range.
Fulham both began and ended the second half commendably.
| Match
Stats |
Arsenal |
Fulham |
| Goal
attempts |
15 |
6 |
| On
Target |
10 |
5 |
| Hit
woodwork |
0 |
0 |
| Fouls |
19 |
14 |
| Offsides |
4 |
1 |
| Corners |
6 |
5 |
| Yellows |
0 |
1 |
| Reds |
0 |
0 |
| source:
www.sports.com |
|
On 52 minutes, Melville, perhaps seeking consolation, got his head to a free kick
from the right by Steed Malbranque, but Seaman took the ball well. In the closing
stages, Seaman was three times called into significant action by Fulham though
by then Arsenal were already leading 4-1. There was a free kick by Marlet, a header
by one substitute, Louis Saha, from a cross by another, the under-used Jon Harley,
and almost at the very end, a daring plunge by Seaman to block an incursion by
Marlet. None of which had much to do with the overall result.
Sixteen minutes into the second half, Vieira roared away down the left flank
to find Wiltord, who was thwarted by the resilient van der Sar. But, almost
immediately, back came Arsenal. Robert Pirès crossed from the left, Lauren
headed against a post and the ball went in off Henry. In the very next minute,
Lauren advanced on the left, and Wiltord’s strike was spectacularly saved
by van der Sar in mid-air.
Van der Sar continued to frustrate Arsenal as best he could, blocking a shot
from Henry at his near right-hand post, saving a distant drive from the right-footed
Pirès, but by now, the game was decided. So much so that Wenger was able
to put on yet another Frenchman, the 18-year-old Jeremie Aliadiere, in place
of Henry. The manager told Henry that Aliadiere would always remember he made
his Premiership debut in place of the more famous Frenchman.
Asked, meanwhile, how he could reconcile his own highly logical attack on the
present system in the Worthington Cup, whereby the winners gain an automatic
place in the Uefa Cup, with Arsenal’s fervent support for the competition,
Wenger could only reply: “I am not my club.”
Arsenal: Seaman, Lauren, Campbell, Stepanovs, Luzhny, Pires (Grimandi 73),
Vieira, Parlour, van Bronckhorst (Dixon 43), Wiltord, Henry (Aliadiere 81).
Subs Not Used: Edu, Wright.
Goals: Lauren 5, Vieira 15, Henry 38, 59.
Fulham: Van der Sar, Finnan, Goma, Melville, Knight (Boa Morte 56), Brevett
(Harley 63), Legwinski, Malbranque, Collins, Hayles (Saha 61), Marlet.
Subs Not Used: Taylor, Ouaddou.
Booked: Goma(56, foul).
Goals: Marlet 10.
Att: 38,029 Ref: U Rennie (Sheffield).