By Myles Palmer
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Derby 0 Arsenal 2
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It did not take a genius to figure out that Arsenal would play better without Wiltord and Seaman.
They played a lot better and beat Derby comfortably with two goals by Thierry Henry in 21 and 67 minutes.
So they are now top of the table, above Manchester United on goal difference.
The first goal was a free-kick over the wall.Jeffers had started, replacing Wiltord, and he was fouled on the edge of the D.Referee Rob Styles saw a tug, which TV replays did not confirm
Not a great free-kick by Henry,no great pace, not a pinpoint placement in the postage stamp, but it went in.The keeper, Andy Oakes, got a hand to it.
Second goal was a soft penalty when Kanu fell over Oakes after kicking the ball out of his hands. Never a penalty in a billion years!
Oakes got a hand to Henry’s penalty as well.
But Henry keeps scoring and could have had a hat-trick after Kanu’s crafty pass gave him a promising one-on-one.
He clipped his shot a yard wide of the post from a central position.
But the big story, the story with long-term significance,was Richard Wright, the 23-year old goalkeeper who made his Arsenal debut.
At half time I got a phone call from a friend who was watching the game in a pub, an illegal screening of a broadcast to Norway.
My friend said,”He CAN’T put Seaman back in now!Wright made a low save that Seaman would never have made!”
Wright made saves from Ravanelli, from Christie, and from Ravanelli again – a free kick round the wall, well held low down.
I would like to see Wright play against Greece, keep a clean sheet, play against Southampton in a 1-0 away win, and then play against Panathinaikos.
But he will not play for England against Greece at Old Trafford and if he plays against Southampton in two weeks time it will be like making another debut.
It was a shame Keown got himself sent off after 57 minutes for a second yellow, a foul on Christie on the edge of the box. It was a silly tackle.
Christie could not have beaten Richard Wright from where he was and there were other covering defenders who would probably have made a tackle.
It is a pity that Keown is still rash enough to make such a challenge,especially when he knows he has one yellow card already.
That first yellow was a mistake by Styles because Christie ran into Keown.Pure gamesmanship and Styles was conned by it.
Keown’s biggest fault is trying too hard and, as George Graham used to say, you can forgive them for that.
Wenger said, “We had eight players on the pitch under the age of 25 and that is very positive. We have won three out of four away games and that shows that we are not as bad as everyone wants us to be.
“If you had told me that after seven weeks we would be top of the league, after losing our second game at home to Leeds, I would have said that was not realistic.”
Arsene is never going to forget losing that game to Leeds.
He really hated losing that game.
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DERBY: Oakes; Jackson (Burton 66), Riggott, Higginbotham, Boertien, Murray (Kinkladze 45), Powell, O’Neil, Johnson, Christie, Ravanelli.
ARSENAL: Wright;Lauren, Keown, Upson, Cole; Ljungberg (Luzhny 60), Vieira, van Bronckhorst; Pires, Henry (Grimandi 78), Jeffers (Kanu 48).
Subs Not Used: Wiltord, Taylor.
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P.S. There has been a story going round that the police have banned all Arsenal fans from the Spurs game on November 11th.
The story claimed that 3,000 Arsenal fans would be so incensed by the abuse of Sol Campbell that a riot might be caused.
Happily, the story is not true.
David Dein has said it is a load of rubbish.