By Myles Palmer
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Arsenal 3 Newcastle 0
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Pires 2, Bergkamp 9, Campbell 49
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The Iceberg is hot right now.
Dennis Bergkamp showed Newcastle that he is still a phenomenal technician.
He made a goal in 62 seconds, chipped against the bar in five minutes, scored in 10 minutes, chipped against the post in 22 minutes, and created the third goal in 49 minutes.
Magisterial, razor-sharp, always thinking one move ahead,always purposeful, never flashy, never guilty of showboating,the brainiest and most elegant schemer-scorer in the Premiership, Dennis Bergkamp delighted everyone, especially those who think he is the finest Arsenal player they have ever seen.
Bad news : Robert Pires injured after 25 minutes.
Pires had netted sweetly from Bergkamp’s pass, returned the compliment to give DB a sidefoot from seven yards, and then went off with a knee injury, landing awkwardly as he avoided a Dabizas lunge beyond the goal-line .
Arsene had boldly raised the stakes before the game by saying on Sky Sports that he was 100% certain Arsenal would win the title !!!
Has any manager ever said that since the Football League started in 1888?
That he is 100% certain his team will be champions? I don’t remember that in my lifetime !
Team news was that Richard Wright was playing. Tony Adams was back, Jeffers was on the bench with Seaman.
Arsenal scored with their first attack, Adams a hit a long diagonal pass to Luzhny, who passed inside to Vieira, who fed Bergkamp, who beat his man and played perfect ball wide to Pires, whose sidefoot shot beat Shay Given
comfortably.
This was the 13th goal Pires has scored this season.
Super slick second goal, fabulous precision football, straight off the training pitch. Shenley is Arsene’s kitchen, Highbury his restaurant.
As I was saying about 3 or 4 pieces ago, it’s fun to see Pires and Bergkamp really playing together at last.
At 2-0, Newcastle came back with great spirit and but I always thought (and I’m not being clever here)that Arsenal would score a third goal in the ten minutes after half-time.That tends to be their pattern.
I thought they would ride the storm and come out and click into gear again with precision passes and killer finishes.
Sure enough, Luzhny made a run, got fouled and Bergkamp sent the free-kick dipping down into the area, so that Sol Campbell could head in from seven yards without jumping.
|As I said last week, these free-kick goals are going to be important in March and April. Every team needs that threat.
Edu did well. He needs players making runs for him. He sends the ball, mostly, rather than carrying it. Athough he did beat three men very cleverly after the third goal.
Shame that Edu went off when Jeffers came on because his passes are the kind that Jeffers needed.It was lovely to see Jeffers there, even if he hardly got a kick.
Newcastle had spirit, kept going, rarely fouled, Dyer did OK on his comeback, they had some decent shots and headers,Richard Wright made two saves.
But they were outclasssed.
Bobby Robson admitted,”Arsenal were far better than us. They had a genius in Bergkamp. We didn’t have a genius.”
The semi-final is Sunday April 14th v Middlesbrough at Old Trafford.
Arsenal have already beaten Boro twice in the Premiership.
Middlesbrough shocked Man United today by winning 1-0 at Old Trafford with a 4th minute goal by Alen Boksic.
Reminds me of a Boksic shot that went in off Schmeichel’s face when Juve won 1-0 there.I loved that goal.Hope the Croatian doesn’t do it again on April 14th !
Looks as if the double is ON !
The Treble was never on. But the Double was and today’s games have gone a long way towards convincing doubters.
Can Liverpool beat Chelsea tomorrow? I don’t think so.
23rd March 2002