By Myles Palmer
It seems I was wrong about Bergkamp on Saturday.
I’m reliably informed that he was at Highbury early and did some running that was seen by TV technicians.
He had not recovered from his stomach upset. He did not feel right and was not fit enough to play.
Arsene had decided not to play Thierry Henry. His ankle was not 100% and the manager did not want Thierry to play.
He had decide to stick with Bergkamp and Wiltord, who had played at Carlisle.
We know that Arsene invariably errs on the side of caution in such fitness matters.
He did not want to play Patrick Vieira at Spurs.PV had not trained and was not fit.
And he did not want to put Patrick on the bench. But he did. And he brought him on to score the equaliser.
On reflection, that 1-1 against Chelsea was not such a bad result or such a surprising result.
Roma 1 Bari 1 – now THAT was a surprising result.Roma were topand Bari were bottom. So a bet on Roma was at odds of 6-1 ON !!!
Saturday’s 1-1 draw was just a reflection of Arsenal’s current form.
Arsenal are 13th in the form table.
Form being the results in the last six Premiership games.
Leicester are 10th in the form table.
Leicester have won three and lost three of their last six.
Arsenal have won one and drawn three and lost two.
Leicester is the next game at Filbert Street on Saturday.
My view is that when you lose games you probably then draw games before you start winning games. So Arsenal are in a period where they are drawing games.
To win games they need to buy a goalpoacher or a goalkeeper who can keep clean sheets.
But it’s unlikely they will sign either before the summer.
So it’s : Watch Arsene.Wait and see what he is gonna do.
I think a radical re-shuffle is due soon.Maybe he will take my advice and play 4-5-1.
16th January 2001.