Arsenal crash Spanish leaders

Arsenal crash Spanish leaders

A classic night of European football at Highbury, as Arsenal left Spain's leading side feeling that they are all but out of the UEFA Cup before a ball has been kicked in next week's second leg of this fourth round tie.

The goals came from first half efforts from Dixon and Henry, who then added his second after the break as Kanu and Bergkamp proceeded to earn their name's a place on the scoresheet.

We dominated throughout and the players seemed genuinely fired up for this one from the start, but that could partly be down to Arsene Wenger as he pulled a major surprise on the Spaniards, and most Arsenal fans, with his team line-up.

Adams, Kanu and Parlour were left on the substitute's bench, Henry started in attack alongside Bergkamp, Luzhny filled Adams' role at the back and Overmars and Ljungberg reversed their normal wing positions on the left and right. Grimandi was the choice to replace the suspended Vieira in central midfield.

Maybe Wenger had an eye on Sunday's Premiership match at Aston Villa and the value of three points there, but the tactics clearly unsettled Deportivo as soon as the masterplan unfolded.

Wenger said afterwards that Adams had sustained a slight injury in training before the game, but would be fit for the Villa match.

And he naturally concentrated on what was an outstanding team performance. Wenger said: "We can not say the tie is over because we know what great quality Deportivo are capable of. But I would have settled for one or two-nil beforehand so to score five exceeded my expectations.

"I think we have played as well as that at home this season and it has been our bad spells away from home which have cost us the championship.

"The challenge now is to maintain the consistency of this high level because we have not done that in the way we did in the last two seasons.

"I think we have shown what great potential we have, however, and how we missed players such as Bergkamp, Overmars and Kanu during the middle of the season.

"It was not that Deportivo lacked aggression, as they caused us problems when they had the ball, but they found it difficult to cope with our pace and we played very well."

How different the outcome could have been had the start set a trend as Deportivo created the first chance on goal inside the second minute, after Luzhny conceded a free-kick ten yards outside the penalty area.

Djalminha seemed set to cross to the far post, but went for a direct shot which Seaman had to quickly shift behind with the wind driving the ball at goal.

The warning proved to be a false one as, with four and a half minutes gone, Henry and Dixon combined to give us the lead with our first attack of the game.

Henry worked himself into space on the left with some close juggling skills and whipped a cross deep into the area as Dixon timed his run to perfection to sneak a classy header just inside the far post.

Another Henry cross, a minute later, set Ljungberg up with a chance, but he could only control the ball sufficiently to knock it back to Bergkamp, who failed to get any power into his header.

Deportivo then slowly played their way into the game. And they can play. With quality internationals and an abundance of Brazilian flair to prompt their attacking play, there were flashes of the skills that has taken them to the top of the Spanish Primera Liga.

But Arsenal can turn it on too these days and Bergkamp went so close to scoring one of his magical goals in an attempt to double the lead. He half-controlled a deep pass from Dixon with his head, completed the task by knocking it onto his right foot with his chest and goalkeeper Songo'o had to save well from a bouncing volley.

Deportivo looked a bit frustrated and Flavio was booked for a foul, not the first one, on Ljungberg.

Keown then headed no more than a foot wide from a Bergkamp corner as he we kept the pressure on midway through the half. And Bergkamp did it all on his own when an outstanding tackle rescued a seemingly dead situation before he drilled a shot which deflected just wide for a corner.

The near capacity crowd then witnessed a ferocious free-kick from the Brazilian Flavio and Seaman made a great punch clear after the ball had picked up even more pace after it had been deflected off Petit's head.

Clearly more goals would be needed and another almost came when Grimandi's cross to the far post found Bergkamp unmarked. The non-flying Dutchman controlled before unleashing a left foot shot which Songo'o just managed to block and concede another corner.

Our second goal finally came in the 29th minute and was result of one of those rare moments when players seem to find a telepathic link to produce perfect timing. Bergkamp slipped a ball down the right to Overmars, who ran clear to find Henry running towards the near post and the Frenchman swept home a first time shot as the ball skimmed into his path.

Bergkamp nearly added a third, a minute on. Grimandi's cross to the far post found Bergkamp unmarked and he controlled, with the sweetest of touches, to then unleash a venomous left foot shot which Songo'o just managed to block and concede another corner.

Deportivo were not out of it at the start of the second half, though, and ideally we needed a third goal to counter the possibility of an away goal from the Spaniards.

And it nearly came a couple of minutes into the second half when Overmars shot with power from a few feet inside the right hand side of the penalty area.

The tie then appeared to change course dramatically in two potentially disastrous minutes. First Keown received a justifiable booking for a foul on Jakonovic which means he will now miss the second leg. Nothing came of the resulting free-kick and Deportivo made an instant substitution, replacing Jokanovic with Victor.

But worse followed in the 54th minute when Deportivo scored a goal through a highly controversial penalty from Djalminha. Flavio looked, at first sight, to have dived when he was challenged by Ljungberg and successfully conned the referee into awarding the spot kick. Ljungberg was booked, presumably for complaining about the decision.

Djalminha scored with a brilliantly executed chip which looped slowly into the middle of the goal as it deceived Seaman into diving the wrong way.

But what goes around, comes around and Djalminha was booked, in the 59th minute, for diving. He even had the nerve to try and persuade the Bulgarian referee, Ouzounov, to book Dixon for a foul.

Djalmina would have missed the return game in La Coruna for that offence alone, but he doubled his detention 60 seconds later when he was sent off.

Grimandi initially fouled the Brazilian, but he reacted by shoving the Frenchman to the ground. A mini scuffle ensued before Djalminha was dismissed with a flourish of the red card. Grimandi was booked for his part in the incident and is also suspended next week.

Highbury was now the place to be as the atmosphere, generated by both sets of supporters, overwhelmed the persistent chill of an intensely wintery, north London night.

The temperature seemed to rise again, five minutes on, when the crowd stood to applaud the introduction of Kanu and the player he replaced, Overmars. It was an inspired switch as Kanu's first touch, in the 67th minute, led to our third goal.

Kanu's skills drew a foul and we were awarded a free-kick on the right-hand side of the Deportivo area. Petit drove the ball in and Henry flicked home to launch further celebrations in front of the North Bank.

Henry shared another ovation with Suker when he was replaced by the Croatian with 15 minutes to go. Wenger must have been feeling like he had special powers now because our next goal followed almost instantly, just as had happened after his first substitution.

And anyone vaguely into football should try to see a replay of Kanu's 77th minute goal, which made it four. He was first to react to an under strength header back towards Songo'o and then let the ball do the work, as his twisting body movements alone sent all around him tumbling to the ground, before stroking into an empty net at the last possible moment.

At 4-1, Wenger would have probably settled for a result there and he attempted to give Bergkamp a rest by sending on Parlour as his substitute. He presumably sensed a third goalscoring substitution too. He got it, in a sense, as we failed to complete the switch before being handed another free kick, on the left of Deportivo's penalty box, with eight minutes to go.

It was sheer Bergkamp territory and he reaffirmed his claim by scoring our fifth goal with the help of a deflection. His celebration consisted of of little more than running straight to the bench and a shake of Parlour's hand as he finally answered the call to come off. His smile, as he pulled on his tracksuit to deafening cheers, was a beautiful sight.

Bergkamp misses the second leg through his fear of flying. He should be able to follow it on AFCi in the knowledge that he has done his fair share to get us into the quarter-finals against either Werder Bremen or Parma.

(Arsenal Football club web site)

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