Chelsea 2 Kanu 3
The greatest hat-trick in recent Arsenal history?
by Myles Palmer
FEATURES
THE ARSENAL AGM - FULL WRITE UP
FIVE REASONS: ARSENAL COULD WIN IN BARCELONA
CARLTON AND ITV UPSET US AGAIN
JEKYLL AND HYDE PLAY THE NOU CAMP
Kanu's third goal was the best you will ever see from a bad pass by Davor Suker.
An African goal that came from Nigeria via Croatia and Hammersmith.
The score was 2-2 when West London urchin Dennis Wise made a mindless pass in the centre circle. Overmars chested the ball to Suker, who was wide right on the half way line.
Suker cruised infield on his left foot, beating Wise. Overmars, playing on the right side after Thierry Henry had come on for Ljungberg, scooted forward looking for a return pass from Suker, with Leboeuf coming across to cover him.
But Suker passed wide to Kanu, who was standing near him on his left.
It was the wrong pass. It was a pass that said: "You get wide and cross for me to score the winner". Kanu chased the ball to the touchline, but Chelsea right back Albert Ferrer got there first and cleared down the line.
Kanu somehow blocked, regained the ball and ambled down the left touchline.
Incredibly, Chelsea keeper Ed De Goey was already coming out of his area near the corner flag. De Goey lunged in, trying to tackle Kanu, a big mistake for any defender, let alone a six foot five goalkeeper.
Although there was less than a yard of space between De Goey and the line, so 99 times out of 100 this situation would have been a corner or a goal-kick or a free-kick for a foul by the keeper.
But Kanu is a world class dribbler, an improviser of genius.
What did he do?
As De Goey came at him left foot first, Kanu jerked the ball with his right foot against his left ankle, so that it bounced up and hit his right knee. Desailly was by now running back to cover the near post.
Kanu then took a very delicate touch with his right foot as Leboeuf ran to cover the middle of the goal. This set-up touch was perfect, but he was a long way from the goal with a very unfavourable angle: a yard inside the penalty area and a yard from the goal-line.
Kanu then hit an instant and fierce right foot shot which curved into the far side of the net for the winner. The ball flashed past the two Frenchmen on the line.
What a moment! What a goal! What a player! What an important hat-trick! Chelsea 2 Kanu 3!
Was this Kanu's finest late strike among his many late, late strikes? Was it the greatest hat-trick in Arsenal's recent history?
Ian Wright scored some sensational hat-tricks, and Anelka scored one in the 5-0 demolition of Leicester in February.
Leicester boss Martin O'Neill said Bergkamp's hat-trick against them (August 27th 1997) was the best he has ever seen, but that game was a 3-3 draw.
Kanu's treble won this game, earning the three points which put Arsenal second in the table a point behind Leeds.
The game had started with Vialli resting Zola, and Wenger resting Winterburn and Bergkamp, who was said to have a slight hamstring strain.
So Silvinho was at left back, a test of his positional discipline. And Petit was back in midfield alongside Parlour, as Vieira was suspended after being sent off at West Ham.
On the TV highlights we saw Dan Petrescu make the first goal and score the second.
Tony Adams was dragged out to the left back position by Petrescu, with Petit covering the middle. Petrescu's cross to the far post where Flo was six foot four against Lee Dixon's five foot eight.
Keown jumped, the ball went just over his head, and Flo headed back across Seaman into the far corner for 1-0 after 38 minutes.
Then Petit was booked for ironically applauding a linesman who gave a harsh free-kick against him.
Graeme Le Saux, a fit boy and quite quick, was beating Petit and there was slight contact between their arms, but Le Saux was not going to beat Dixon.
Wise took the free-kick, Parlour headed it back to him, and Wise slipped it down the line to Le Saux, who delivered a very good cross.
It was early and hard and it curved away from the goal. As the ball swung outwards, Petrescu headed in from five yards.
So Arsenal were 2-0 down after 52 minutes against a team who were coming off a 5-0 win in Istanbul in the Champions League.
One could not really fault Seaman on either goal. The Petrescu cross was too high and too far out for him to come and punch, and the Le Saux cross, although nearer, was too fast to allow a catch.
But the suspicion remains that Seaman has become an Italian goalkeeper. He invariably stays on his line now. When the ball goes past him his body language usually says: "What could I do? It wasn't my fault!"
Most of the match was played in a monsoon, so the pitch was covered with surface water.
The first Kanu goal came in 75 minutes. Dixon crossed and the ball rebounded from Babayaro to Overmars. He hit a feeble shot from 25 yards that was going wide but Kanu stretched to control the ball with his left foot.
Desailly lunged in from one side, Leboeuf lunged from the other.
But Kanu toepoked the ball into the corner of the net. A right-foot
toepoke into the bottom corner, hard enough to skim through the
water and beat
De Goey's right hand.
Kanu had become the first player to score against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the Premiership this season.
His second goal came in 83 minutes. Overmars, on the right, crossed left footed, craftily, to the rear of a crowded penalty area, picking out his old mate from Ajax.
Kanu cushioned the ball at an angle away from the goal, avoiding the nearest defenders, so that the ball rolled towards the corner of the six yard box.
He got to it just before Desailly and buried a powerful right foot shot at the near post for 2-2. De Goey got a hand to it.
Thierry Henry had been standing just in front of Desailly and very close to him. Henry did not obstruct Desailly, but he obscured his view momentarily, and the split-second delay in the defenders reaction allowed Kanu to reach the ball first.
I wish I had been there. I really, really wish I had been there. But, due to professional duties, I was at White Hart Lane, where Spurs beat Man Utd 3-1, a result which helps Arsenal a lot.
It was by far the best team performance by Spurs under George Graham. And it was United's fourth defeat in five games.
Martin Edwards and Alex Ferguson are split, the defence is a shambles in front of a different goalkeeper every week, and the Red Devils really don't look like winning anything at the moment.
Over the 90 minutes United's best player was Andy Cole, who was showing George Graham why he was wrong to sell him to Bristol City for £500,000 in 1992.
Spurs 3 United 1 was a second result for Arsenal and Everton 4 Leeds 4 was a third.
Its not often you get a hat-trick of results as well as a hat-trick of goals on the same weekend.
You need luck in football, and Arsenal did not have it against Barcelona. That seems to be changing.
A slice of European luck would be welcome against Fiorentina on Wednesday night.
Sunday 24th October