By Myles Palmer
Arsene Wenger is the most attacking coach in England, maybe in Europe.
His team plays slick, fast,penetrating football in a style so original that no other team has copied it or could copy it.
Their 3-2 win at Blackburn on Wednesday night was a thriller in which Arsenal went 2-0 up in 21 minutes.
It was 2-2 at half time. Bergkamp scored the winner after 75 minutes after Luzhny was sent off in 57.
But if the linesman had not wrongly called Wiltord offside for a goal that would have made it 3-0, the game might not have been close.
Robert Pires had 2.5 assists.
He started the move for the first goal, when Wiltord’s cross reached Bergkamp at the far post, gave Henry a 60-yard pass for the second, and slipped Bergkamp in for the winner.
Playing like this, Pires makes anything seem possible.
Blackburn? A useful, improving side with Matt Jansen looking a possible partner for Michael Owen in England’s World Cup team.
Graeme Souness said ref Dermott Gallagher bottled the sending off of Bergkamp for smacking his defender Johansson in the face after the pair had tangled 30 yards out when the score was 2-2.
Bergkamp was lucky.
Three days after being sent off for the late tackle which missed Jamie Carragher, Bergkamp was NOT sent off for a backhand punch in the face. That’s football, as they say.
Whatever DB’s protestations of innocence, I have seen the replay about 20 times and it looks deliberate every time.
But the video advisory panel will apparently NOT review this clash.
Because Gallagher saw the incident.He deemed the blow, with the heel of Bergkamp’s left hand, accidental.
Two impressive stats : Arsenal are the only team in England who have scored in every league game this season.
Arsenal have equalled Liverpool’s record of scoring in 25 consecutive Premiership games.
A win over Southampton on Saturday will break that record.And the new record could stand for years.
Arsene will be able to field a strong side against Southampton but will have a severely weakened team at Everton the following week, as those suspensions start to bite.
Derby v Spurs will be interesting on Saturday: John Gregory’s first game.
Gregory would have loved the Spurs job.
He was a Spurs fan as a kid and his brothers are season ticket holders.
Spurs have now lost 10 and won 9, so Hoddle needs a win on Saturday.
Everybody needs a win, of course, but Hoddle really needs three points after that second half collapse at home to Newcastle, when they lost 3-1.
31st January 2002.
CORRECTION: The North Bank sang Vieira’s name once near the end of the Arsenal-Liverpool FA Cup tie last Sunday.