Arsenal 2 - 2 Chelsea
Highbury, Saturday 8th March 2003
FA Cup quarter-final
I spent all day with a friend who'd had to be rushed to hospital. Didn't even have time to give my ticket to someone and still haven't seen the goals. So thanks to the readers who sent in their reports (below).
In brief: the visitors scored first, JOhn Terry with a header after 3 minutes. Arsenal pulled level with a scrappy Jeffers goal (with Jeffers in the side we have the capacity for scrappy goals, and I mean that as a compliment!). Arsenal went 2-1 up with a great Henry goal. But Chelsea equalised near the end through Frank L(amp)ard.
Thierry Henry missed a controversial penalty, and was hit by a coin thrown from the Chelsea end,
an investigation is under way.
The replay at Stamford Bridge will be on Tuesday 25th March. Whoever does go through will have at most a 1 in 3 chance of facing another Premiership side in the semi. Sheffield United have beaten Leeds. Watford are about to start vs Burnley, and Southampton play Wolves later.
Here are a few reports from other sites (haven't had time to read them yet!).
Rupe adds...
Thanks to Jason Farrant for the following report:
Arsenal have to go to Stamford Bridge for a replay they could have done without after
conceding a late scappy goal. We got off to the worst possible start when a well worked Chelsea
corner ended in a headed goal for John Terry after the Arsenal defense failed to push out quick enough and Terry
sneaked in at the far post. After that the first half was dominated by Arsenal with Henry providing plenty of
"VA VA VOOM" with a show all on his own. A penalty was awarded to Arsenal midway through the first half when
Franny Jeffers was one on one with Cudicini who brought him down as he went past. As usual Franny has been
slated for diving but, having watched the replay, in my opinion Cudicini clearly caught his left leg. No doubt
the FA's disciplinary panel were watching and Franny will end up with a 3 match ban. Henry then missed the penalty
after a fine save from Cudicini who was possibly lucky to only escape with a yellow card. Arsenal did finally get a
deserved equaliser when Jeffers scored the type of goal Wenger bought him for and bundled the ball in the net from
close range. A few minutes later we were ahead when a Vieira through ball to Henry resulted in a glorious
finish in which he did a complete 360 degree turn around Cudicini and put the ball into an empty net. Chelsea came back
into it in the second half after stringing 5 players across the midfield and had several good chances to
equalise. Arsenal had chances too but after failing to score the all important third goal Chelsea got their equaliser
when Sol Campbell missed an attempted clearance after a goal mouth scramble and Frank Lampard had the finishing
touch. With Henry, Freddie and Franny now off the pitch the game was always going to finish in a draw which sets up a
mouth watering replay at Stamford Bridge on Tues 25 March."
And to Alan Lawson for this one:
"Lauren replaced Toure who had played well against the Addicks and Jeffers
stayed up-front in place of the injured Dennis. Pires and Wiltord were on the
bench and Gilberto was rested. Ray played on the right and Freddie on the left with Edu and Vieira in central midfield.
Arsenal started slowly and seemingly made a basic defensive error when undone
by a short corner on our left. With Freddie back on the post Chelsea pulled
the ball back [shades of Hitselsperger for Villa] where it was swept to the
far post. The defenders rushed out but Freddie had no chance, being so far
back and probably unsighted. Terry was left unattended and on-side and thumped home a diving header.
Zola should have scored before that goal, Dave making an excellent blocking save at his feet.
It took a long time for the good guys to settle down but Thierry looked to be
in form and gradually we began to make chances, though they came and went
without really troubling Cudicini. Henry hit a post after doing the hard bit
[he looked possibly off-side] and then Frannie cut into the area but on an
angled run to the right. Cudicini advanced, Frannie knocked it past him and,
probably looking for the pen, went down under the challenge which the replays
suggested was probably minimal, though he seemed to catch his trailing foot. Thierry promptly missed the pen, Cudicini diving a long way to his right.
Was it to one of those days?. It looked that way until a comical piece of
defending evened things up. A Chelsea defender missed his kick, the ball spun
and was eventually bundled in by Frannie.
A piece of French magic then turned things around completely. Henry, staying
on-side very astutely, raced away and as Cudicini came to meet him on the
edge of the area, Thierry stopped the ball, turned his back on the 'keeper
while, in the same movement, turning to his left and back towards the goal
while shielding the ball. Cudicini was left floundering and as defenders
converged Thierry sidefooted the ball into the open goal.
The first 15 minutes of the second half was Arsenal's and it seemed only a
matter of time before we added to the lead. However, how many times has that
happened this season?.. Chances came and went and there seemed a lack of
urgency about it all, as if the players expected to score at any moment and
were conserving energy for the games ahead.
When will they learn, Liverpool away being another glaring example?. The goal
did not come and it became abundantly clear that the team thought that they
could defend the lead. 2-0 maybe but not a single goal against a team with
two or three goal scorers who can change games very quickly.
Hasselbaink was not getting much change out of the Campbell-Keown axis but
when Gudjonsen came on the game changed perceptibly. Our one touch football
kept putting us in difficulty when passes did not quite reach the target but
even so the goal was something of a mess, not dissimilar to our first. A
cross into the box from a corner, bounced around like something on a pin
table and, as Sol tried to hack it away, it hit Lampard on the shin and
squirmed past a largely unsighted Seaman.
By this time Henry and Jeffers had been replaced by Wiltord and Pires, with
Toure on in place of Freddie. Why take off both goal scorers, particularly
Frannie who needs a full game or six under his belt?. Wiltord has become
predictable and rarely scores these days but chances still came and were
missed.
At the death we got a free kick in the middle of the field and just outside
the area. Bob looked as though he might take it by Gio thundered a left
footer which took a slight deflection only for Cudicini to make an excellent
save beating the ball away." |