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Arsenal v Everton 08/11/98 3.00Arsenal (1) 1 Everton (0) 0 FT Anelka 6 Nicolas Anelka's sixth-minute strike cured Arsenal's hangover after their midweek Champions' League beating in Kiev and put them within three points of FA Carling Premiership leaders Aston Villa. ![]() And with Manchester United held to a goalless draw by Newcastle the Gunners climbed to second place in the table despite a nervous finish at Highbury after they had dominated Everton but missed countless opportunities to seal a runaway victory. In the closing minutes Arsene Wenger's team had to work their socks off to prevent the Merseysiders snatching a vital point but that would have been an injustice on an afternoon when all the football came from the Double winners. They were still without injured skipper Tony Adams and his reliable deputy Steve Bould but Martin Keown and Frenchman Gilles Grimandi battled manfully to contain the lurking menace of big Duncan Ferguson although the Scotsman should have buried two glorious chances in the first-half. Anelka, who joined Arsenal's lengthy list of casualties in the Ukraine on Wednesday when an infected foot made him a late withdrawal, swung his left foot with enormous power in the sixth minute to register the game's only goal. He slipped neatly onto Ray Parlour's pass and shrugging off Richard Dunne's ineffective challenge before drilling his drive across goalkeeper Thomas Myhre and into the far corner. Little did any of the 38,000 Highbury crowd imagine that this would be the only goal of the afternoon, such was Arsenal's dominance of the next 39 minutes. Fredrik Ljungberg headed wide and then volleyed over when set up with opportunities while Overmars shot tamely at Myhre from close in and the goalkeeper also did well to keep out another double blast by the powerful Anelka. By this time Everton's only chance had inevitably come to the head of Ferguson who hit the top of the bar from Michael Ball's corner in the 11th minute and then missed an even easier opening when David Seaman failed to collect another ball from a flag kick nine minutes before the break. ![]() But Everton were never able to give their targetman sufficient service and they were restricted to only sporadic attacks as Arsenal overran their midfield with clever passing and energetic running. Manager Wenger put Dennis Bergkamp on the bench with the obvious intent of trying him out following two weeks out with a back injury in the second-half but Arsenal could never make the game completely safe even though Ljungberg and Parlour went desperately close to doubling their tally - foiled only by marvellous interceptions by Italian centre back Marco Materazzi. As the margin between the two sides stayed slim, tempers flared and Gary Willard, who denied Arsenal two decent shouts for penalties when first Parlour was held back by Dave Watson and then Anelka was tripped by Olivier Dacourt, finished with eight names in his notebook for a variety of spiteful fouls. Ferguson, who was continually embroiled in battle with Arsenal's defenders, finally saw a yellow card for a dangerous foot up against Keown who had himself been booked for a foul on the Scotsman earlier. Arsenal were disappointed at not winning the game more comfortably and their fans were holding their breath at the end as Everton peppered the box with hopeful crosses but three points were finally theirs to keep the home fires alive even though they may be fading in Europe. ![]() Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Winterburn, Vieira, Ljungberg, Anelka, Overmars, Keown, Parlour, Petit, Grimandi. Subs not used: Bergkamp, Wreh, Manninger, Hughes, Upson. Booked: Grimandi, Keown, Petit. Everton: Myhre, Cleland (Hutchison, 77), Ball, Dacourt, Watson (Cadamarteri, 45), Unsworth, Collins, Ferguson, Materazzi (Milligan, 84), Bakayoko, Dunne. Subs not used: Short, Simonsen. Booked: Dunne, Materazzi, Collins, Ferguson, Cadamarteri. Attendance: 38,088. Referee: G Willard (Worthing). |
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