By Myles Palmer
I thought Arsenal would miss Ljungberg and Parlour at West Ham.
Ljungberg to score the first goal, Parlour to set the tempo, as he has been doing.
But I also thought they would win in the last 20 minutes.
West Ham played some lovely football and Kanoute produced a killer near-post finish after 25.
Then Lauren’s cross beat Henry and Repka and bounced and Ashley Cole knocked it in from three yards at the far post.
28 minutes and 1-1 and that’s the way it stayed after Grimandi and Bergkamp hit the bar and the ref failed to spot a Vieira handball.
So Ashley Cole scored his first goal of the season.He can score five.
He is playing well now and he’s one of football’s optimists. He thinks the ball is gonna come to him in a shooting position. And it often does.
Joe Cole was playing like Gazza in 1991, clever turns, cute passes. Or so it looked on the highlights, which was all I saw. I wasn’t there.
Verdict?
Played well, came back quickly, could have won, should have won. But Arsenal have won only one of five derbies so far this season.
Sunday lunchtime I get a call offering me a free ticket for Chelsea v Liverpool.
I’m a reporter, not a fan. Can I can handle being a fan for one day?
I’m in the Matthew Harding Lower Tier with the people who jump to their feet over and over and over again.But it’s a cold day and it keeps us warm.
Liverpool are top of the table and unbeaten in 12 Premiership games.
It’s packed, vibrant, 41,000, blues against reds, English sport at its best, terrific atmosphere, a big game that looks like a big game and sounds like a big game and is being played like a big game should be played : fiercely.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, the pocket battleship, is almost as wide as he is tall. His shirt name letters go right round his broad shoulders and halfway down his arms.
JFH plays a superb ball into the box early doors, as Glenn would say, and Le Saux scores at the second attempt.Yes!
After three minutes it’s 1-0 to Chelsea !
The fans are shouting the usual stuff : Well in, John Terry!Go on Graeme, skin him! Good tackle, Baba! You’re f***ing class, Baba ! Good ball, my son!
And singing : Flying high, we’ll keep the blue flag flying high.
Michael Owen isn’t playing and Heskey is a donkey today and Litmanen isn’t getting a kick.
When Gerrard roars in from the flank, beating two men, I think he will score, but Carlo Cudicini makes a decent low save.
One Cudicini, there’s only one Cudicini!One Cudicini, there’s only one Cudicini!
Then Gudjohnsen plays Hasselbaink in and he conjures an absolutely sensational goal.
World class! Power, speed, experience, nerve, technique – it has everything.
He dummies Dudek, puts him on the dudeck and clips it over his body for 2-0. FABULOUS!
Half time, 2-0.
I chat to a big guy on my left who says he loves JFH,who drives him mad by being lazy.
But JFH ain’t lazy today, I say. He’s chasing every ball, every defender, really putting himself about.
Chelsea have been playing my kind of football : forceful, but technical, very passionate and committed, good shape, good width.
It’s 4-4-2 and dynamic, but also skilful.They lose quite a few balls, but they’re always trying to do the right things, so I’m enjoying it.
The guy next to me on the other side is friendly and informative. He looks like comedian-actor Keith Allen looked in the Seventies when he was this guy’s age.
I’ve been closely watching John Arne Riise, a player I rate, but was hardly in it.
Then Riise goes into the box and beats Melchiot, who brings him down.
I don’t think it’s a penalty. And I don’t think the ref has given a penalty. But he has and Gary McAllister is gonna take it.
Keith Allen says, “He can’t save another one.”
Last week Cudicini saved a penalty by Kevin Phillips at Sunderland.
I hear myself say, “He can actually save it.”
You have these feelings sometimes.
And Cudicini waits and waits and waits and then dives to his left and saves it!
Keith Allen jumps to his feet and shakes my hand and slaps me on the back. He doesn’t say anything but he is grinning like a maniac, like Keith Allen, in fact. We are both delighted.
Then Lampard has a shot parried and it squirts to Dalla Bona, who has a tap-in for 3-0.
Now they taunt Phil Thompson.
It’s :Bignose, Bignose, what’s the score? Bignose, Bignose, what’s the score?
After that they abuse the scousers with: Where’s my car stereo? Where’s my car stereo?
I say, “Dalla Bona’s not bad, he’s got a good engine and two feet.”
Bloke in front turns round and says, “He can’t head the ball to save his life.”
Zola gets five minutes at the end and lays on a goal for Gudjohnsen, who scores in stoppage time.
Again, for the third time, Dudek saves the first shot and the rebound is netted. Only JFH has beaten him cleanly.
Chelsea 4 Liverpool 0!
It’s Liverpool’s biggest defeat of the season. It’s their biggest Premiership defeat in nine years.
And it’s Chelsea’s biggest win of the season.
What can Arsenal learn from this game? They are at Anfield next Sunday without the suspended Vieira.
But Vieira played there last season and they still lost 4-0.
And Liverpool say Michael Owen will be back for the Arsenal game
16th December 2001.