Pride may, indeed, come before a fall. However, neither Arsene Wenger or
Sven-Goran Eriksson will appreciate the irony of Frank Lampard's scrambled late
FA Cup quarter-final equaliser at Highbury.
Just 24 hours after Wenger had restated his overwhelming confidence in his
team, they conceded a scrappy late goal to allow Chelsea a replay after an
absorbing cup tie.
However, rather than over-confidence returning to haunt Arsenal, as Sir Alex
Ferguson had taunted, this was more about Chelsea's refusal to give in even
though the odds were stacked against them.
The Blues had actually seized the lead as early as the fourth minute through
John Terry but not even a penalty save by Carlo Cudicini from Thierry Henry had
managed to keep them ahead.
After Francis Jeffers had levelled for the holders, Henry, who also hit the
post, made amends for his penalty miss by scoring an exquisite solo effort on
the stroke of half-time.
Arsenal looked on course to secure victory in an enthralling tie but Henry had
already been substituted by the time that Lampard somehow bundled the ball home
from close range late on.
As a result, Wenger's side face another gruelling game in their already packed
fixture schedule, while Eriksson will also be disadvantaged.
Due to Champions League commitments, this replay will take place on the
Tuesday night during the build-up to England's Euro 2004 qualifier against
Liechtenstein.
Then again, while light entertainment may normally fill the BBC's Saturday
early evening slots, this was high drama at its most compelling.
Chelsea made a storming start, with Gianfranco Zola almost capitalising on a
slip by Martin Keown, only to be denied by David Seaman at the near post.
Arsenal may have thought they had survived that early scare but they were
caught napping after only half-clearing the ensuing corner.
Jesper Gronkjaer crossed the ball back into the area and, with the Arsenal
defence slow to come out, Terry was left unmarked to beat the offside trap and
head past Seaman.
Arsenal were stung into action but their first appeals for a penalty were
turned down when Henry muscled past William Gallas and was then sent tumbling as
he looked to shoot.
When the loose ball was crossed back into the area, Parlour headed over the
bar, yet Arsenal's fortunes improved markedly soon afterwards.
When Jeffers burst through the centre and clipped the ball past Carlo
Cudicini, there seemed to be one thought on the striker's mind - to win a
penalty.
Allowing his trailing leg to make contact with Cudicini, he fell to the floor,
just as he did against Liverpool earlier this year.
The result was also exactly the same - a spot-kick.
But after Cudicini had only been shown the yellow card as Terry was back
covering, the keeper responded by saving Henry's resulting penalty.
Arsenal refused to be denied, however, and while Cudicini acrobatically saved
Giovanni van Bronckhorst's free-kick, the home side's pressure eventually told.
Chelsea still only had themselves to blame as Celestine Babayaro had all the
time in the world to clear the ball inside his own six-yard box only to miss his
kick..
Jeffers was instantly on hand to bundle the ball home from close range and
Henry almost immediately put them ahead when he struck the face of the far
post.
Henry's response was not to be denied, however.
With just seconds left before the break, he latched onto Patrick Vieira's long
through-ball and performed a sublime twist and turn to take him past Cudicini
before rolling his shot into the empty net.
Claudio Ranieri was 'tinkering' again at half-time, replacing Zola with
Boudewijn Zenden and switching to a 4-5-1 formation that almost paid off when
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was only denied by David Seaman's reactions.
While Ranieri's change certainly gave Chelsea more bite in midfield, it left
Hasselbaink rather isolated up front and the Dutchman was left to go it alone as
he blazed his next effort over the top.
There was no sign of any respite for the visitors, however, as Robert Pires
and Sylvain Wiltord both came on, but the Blues came again as Gallas headed just
over.
Wenger looked to stiffen his side's defensive resolve in the final stages,
bringing on Kolo Toure for Henry and leaving Wiltord up front on his own.
But Chelsea still refused to give in and although Keown just managed to
deflect Hasselbaink's shot over the bar, they equalised from the ensuing
corner.
Lampard was not even trying to shoot at the time but, amid an almighty
goalmouth scramble, an attempted clearance by Campbell cannoned onto the
midfielder's leg and rebounded into the net.
The visitors were still indebted to a superb save by Cudicini in the final
seconds to keep out van Bronckhorst's stinging free-kick. Then again, Chelsea
had deserved their replay.
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook