LONDON : William Gallas's goal nine minutes from time
enabled Arsenal to reclaim fourth place in the Premier League with
a 1-0 win over Portsmouth at the Emirates Stadium here
Sunday.
Victory saw the Gunners move ahead of Aston Villa, who do not play
until Tuesday, on goals scored, although they remain 10 points
adrift of leaders Liverpool.
The win also ended a run of three successive drawn games that had
also seen captain Cesc Fabregas ruled out until March by
injury.
Portsmouth, managed by former Arsenal captain Tony Adams,
frustrated Arsenal for long periods but had no answer to Gallas's
81st-minute header.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger made three changes from the side that
drew 2-2 at Villa on Boxing Day.
Alex Song missed out through injury but Robin van Persie and Kolo
Toure found themselves on the bench as Gael Clichy, Nicklas
Bendtner and Emmanuel Adebayor returned, with the latter having
served a one-match ban following his sending off in last week's 1-1
draw with leaders Liverpool.
Adams also made changes following his side's 4-1 defeat at home to
West Ham. Papa Bouba Diop and David Nugent came in for Glen Little
and Jermain Defoe, the former Spurs striker, who were named as
substitutes.
Current Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp, who signed Defoe for
Portsmouth 11 months ago, chose the occasion to go public on his
attempts to re-sign the 26-year-old, claiming the south coast club
had already received a "massive offer" he was unwilling to
match.
Whether Pompey have now decided to sell the England forward was
unclear but this was Nugent's first start of a season in which
Adams had not given him even an hour's worth of action before
kick-off.
Nugent began on the right of a five-man midfield as Pompey opted to
use Peter Crouch as a lone front-man.
The plan worked as Arsenal were able to exert pressure only
occasionally in the first 20 minutes through set-pieces that came
to nothing.
It was Pompey who at last brought the game to life when Crouch hit
a post in the 23rd minute.
Nugent crossed from the right and the striker, having out-jumped
Gallas, saw his header bounce back off the post with Gunners keeper
Manuel Almunia beaten.
Sylvain Distin prevented Adebayor from giving Arsenal the lead
eight minutes later with a superb late intervention
Samir Nasri saw a shot deflected narrowly behind after Richard
Hughes had been booked for chopping Abou Diaby down but the half
ended with Portsmouth's David James not having had to make a single
save of note.
The England goalkeeper almost gifted Arsenal an opener two minutes
into the second-half when he flapped Nasri's corner to Mikael
Silverstre.
Adebayor tried to pounce but the ball was cleared. Adebayor had
only himself to blame for wasting Arsenal's next attack, which saw
James punch a Denilson cross straight to the forward on the left of
the box.
Again defenders were quick to react but Adebayor could only hit the
side-netting with a right-footed effort.
Wenger sacrificed Emmanuel Eboue for an extra attacker in the 66th
minute but it was the teenager Carlos Vela who came on, not van
Persie.
James made a fine save with a leg to deny Nasri, who fired in a
shot from a tight angle, before Arsenal Aaron Ramsey replaced Diany
with 15 minutes left.
Nadir Belhadj forced a rare save from Almunia following a Crouch
back-heel.
But hopes of an away win were dashed when Diop rashly fouled Vela
near the left touchline and France defender Gallas headed home
Denilson's free-kick, with James again failing to make any contact
after coming off his line.
There was a further blow for the away side when Diop, taken off on
a stretcher, was hurt as Denilson challenged.
i am not optimistic. it seriously show the flaw in arsenal play
again. lack of midfielder authority that has shown in arsenal play
for the past decades.
i seriously hope kolo toure will not be force out of
arsenal.
there are worset performers like clichy,eboue who should be kick
out at emirates for showing lack of characters and motivation to
win!