ARSENE WENGER WAS STILL arguing that his team is the best in the country last night and the sincerity in that conviction was why Arsenal’s surrender of the Barclaycard Premiership title to Manchester United was causing him so much pain. Letting the crown slip after the Double in 1998 was bad but this was far, far worse for the Highbury manager. “We were much closer this time,” he said. “We had it in our hands. If you look at the FA Cup and the championship, we are certainly the best team in England.”
He did not reflect for a second on yesterday’s chaotic defeat to Leeds United, which he regarded as incidental, but took his listeners back eight days to the trip to the Reebok Stadium. Leading 2-0 away to Bolton Wanderers, they were still in control of the championship but then came the injuries, the substitutions and the goals that left them knowing that the trophy had slipped out of their grasp.
“If we won at Bolton, we would certainly win the championship,” Wenger said. “It was very, very close. As close as that. Bolton was the turning point because we were 2-0 up with 15 minutes to go but lost three players in five minutes. Add the problems with Patrick Vieira and Sol Campbell and, if you miss half your army, it is difficult.”
Wenger was prickly last night in anticipation of criticism that his team has underachieved and he was entitled to point out that “as long as it is a disaster to come second, then it is not too bad”. He will know, though, that weaknesses in his squad have been exposed by United’s charge over the past couple of months and by injuries and suspensions. Sol Campbell’s four-match ban for a clumsy elbow on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer still rankles. “We will have to get Sol out of jail,” Wenger said.
Yesterday’s extraordinary defeat to Leeds encapsulated their defensive problems as Kolo Touré spent the game trying to work out what he was meant to do as Lauren’s deputy at right back while Oleg Luzhny was making some laughably bad judgments. If Igors Stepanovs cannot be trusted ahead of Luzhny, he must be a danger to Arsenal just sitting on the bench.
It was Luzhny’s introduction that started the panic against Bolton and it is an area that Wenger must address properly this summer. His claim that he bought Pascal Cygan for £2 million at a time that United spent £30 million on Rio Ferdinand may highlight the superior financial clout of his rivals but it is still not a convincing defence for buying average players.
Peter Reid deployed an 8-2 formation yesterday in which Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka were told to forage on their own while the rest of the team scrapped behind them, but the two Australians were still able to torment Arsenal’s wobbling back line. Kewell was in the sort of form that should persuade one of the leading clubs to take him off Leeds’s hands this summer. In the sixth minute, he chested down a long clearance from Jason Wilcox and struck a thunderous left-foot drive from 25 yards that fizzed across David Seaman and into the far corner. He could have had a second in a one-on-one against Seaman soon after and was a mesmerising presence throughout.
His early goal made for a wonderful afternoon of drama in which Arsenal, led by the indefatigable Ray Parlour, came back at Leeds in numbers if not with their usual poise. They were level after 31 minutes when Parlour’s drive from outside the area was tipped on to the post by Paul Robinson and Thierry Henry pounced for a poacher’s goal with his head.
It looked at half-time as if Arsenal would go on to victory but, four minutes after the restart, they were trailing again when Ian Harte’s free kick was deflected past Seaman off Ashley Cole’s brow. Highbury roared their team forward and, in the 64th minute, Dennis Bergkamp arrived at the near post to turn in a cross from Pires.
Cue pandemonium as Arsenal searched desperately for the winner, Henry striking defenders, a post and even his own team-mates as he peppered Robinson’s goals with shots form the edge of the penalty area. It was all becoming a little frantic and the storm blew itself out when Viduka struck on the counter-attack with two minutes of normal time and five minutes of stoppages left. He turned Luzhny, not for the first time, and tucked in the left foot shot that secured Leeds’s place in the Premiership and saved them from administration.
For Wenger, the championship had already been lost at Bolton a week earlier and he was not, in any case, going to either praise United or condemn his own players. “We won a championship once when we were 13 points behind them at one stage,” he said, in response to an accusation that his players had thrown away their advantage. “We have been unlucky because United have had easy games while we have played teams fighting to stay up.”
Asked if he regretted the confident predictions of early season, he was also pointed. “Why do people criticise when all I say is our ambitions?” he asked. That ambition is now reduced to the FA Cup Final on May 17, when Southampton might just fancy an upset.
Arsenal (4-4-2): D Seaman 7 — K Touré 5 (sub: Kanu, 70min 4), O Luzhny 4, M Keown 5, A Cole 7 — S Wiltord 5 (sub: J Pennant, 76), R Parlour 8, Gilberto 4, R Pires 5 (sub: G van Bronckhorst, 80) — D Bergkamp 5, T Henry 7. Substitutes not used: S Taylor, I Stepanovs. Booked: Bergkamp, Keown. NEXT: Southampton (h). FORM: LDWDDW
Leeds United (4-4-2): P Robinson 7 — D Mills 6, L Radebe 7, M Duberry 7, I Harte 6 — G Kelly 6, E Bakke 6, D Matteo 6, J Wilcox 6 — H Kewell 8 (sub: S Johnson, 80), M Viduka 7. Substitutes not used: N Martyn, R Bravo, N Barmby, J Milner. Booked: Viduka. NEXT: Aston Villa (h). FORM: WLWLDW
Shots on target: (h) 19 (a) 9. Fouls: (h) 16 (a) 16. Offsides: (h) 2 (a) 6
The decline
Although Arsenal played their finest football before Christmas, results nosedived after their visit to Ewood Park seven weeks ago.
0-2 v Blackburn (a), March 15
2-1 v Everton (h), March 23
1-1 v Aston Villa (a), April 5
2-2 v Man Utd (h), April 16
2-0 v Middlesbrough (a), April 19
2-2 v Bolton (a), April 26
2-3 v Leeds (h), May 4
