Football Live

Wednesday December 26, 2007 Finished Fratton Park

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Portsmouth

Arsenal

  1. United top as Arsenal held

    United top as Arsenal held

    Arsenal slipped behind Manchester United to second place in the Premier League after being held to a goalless draw by a stubborn Portsmouth side at Fratton Park. More

  • Live Commentary

    Time:90'
    • Portsmouth
    • Arsenal
    • 90+2 Bendtner on the right, weaves into the box and drills the ball TO ROSICKY UNMARKED ON THE EDGE OF THE BOX WHO MUST SCORE BUT HE PUTS IT INCHES WIDE! It looked destined for the bottom left but it curled just away at the death!
    • 90' Four minutes injury time being played... enough for either side to win it as Utaka sends a low ball in, Arsenal break but Campbell slides in again to clear.
    • 89' Bendtner skins Hreidarsson and pings in a low cross but Big Sol is there to whack it behind for a corner.
    • 88' Fabregas gets the ball on the edge of the box and touches it into GALLAS ON THE EDGE OF THE SIX YARD BOX BUT HE BLASTS OVER! He's hurt too as Campbell caught him sliding in to block but he'll be alright.
    • 82' ... Clichy sends it well over though.
    • 81' ARSENAL SUB: Bendtner on for Hleb. Can he do it again? Free kick to the Gunners...
    • 77' Pompey take a quick free kick that sends Benjani free down the right but Gallas is alive to the threat and gets back in time to put it out for a throw.
    • 76' PORTSMOUTH SUB: Taylor on for Krancjar as Pompey go to a conventional 4-4-2.
    • 74' Benjani is played clean through, he's beaten the offside trap to get onto Muntari's ball and he's one-on-one and knocks it right past Almunia but takes it too far wide and the chance goes! He should have tried to loft it over him or gone the other way, should have been the opener.
    • 71' Rosicky and Diop clash accidentally and Diop seems to have twisted his knee...
    • 66' Muntari gets forward on the left and swings a cross in for Benjani at the far post but his downward header is straight at Almunia.
    • 59' Eboue cannot believe that he is getting booked for clipping Muntari and actually gets down on his knees to beg the lord for forgiveness as Steve Bennett whips out the yellow. Hilarious theatre from the Ivorian.
    • 56' Lauren booked for trying to strip Rosicky.
    • 55' Rosicky looks to Fabregas slightly to the right, he spots Adebayor's diagonal run and swings a cross over FOR ADEBAYOR WITH THE VOLLEY but it's just over! Flag was up anyway, offside.
    • 53' Corner to Arsenal on the right... decent delivery but Sagna's good near post run is not matched by his header, which is well wide.
    • 51' Good run from Eboue on the right, he's in space and well away from Krancjar when he swings the ball in but it evades everybody, which isn't hard when you're playing one up front.
    • 49' Decent start to this second half as both sides make meaningful forays forward...
    • 46' Second half underway!
    • 45+2 Clichy gets himself in trouble with Benjani bearing down on him but Almunia saves his bacon by sliding out to claim... the whistle goes, 0-0 in a fairly incosequential first half.
    • 45' Two minutes added time being played at the end of this first half.
    • 44' Worry for Arsenal with Gallas down nursing a leg injury...
    • 42' Eboue tries to combine with Adebayor and wriggle past Distin but the former Man City man is having none of it and uses his frame to shepherd it out for a goal kick.
    • 41' Hleb finds Sagna on the overlap, he crosses in for Adebayor but Pompey get it away, now Rosicky has a pop but high, wide and not so handsome.
    • 39' Adebayor could be in here on the left and Distin is out of position but James slides out, great improvisation to nick the ball away, stand up and clear long. He's rather athletic for an old 'un.
    • 36' The ball drops to Rosicky on the left, he cuts inside and sends a dipping, curling effort towards the top right but James is agile like a cat and gets across to pluck it out of the air and hold on to boot.
    • 30' Corner to Pompey which Campbell connects with but blocked and Arsenal clear... the go down the other end and after some good pressure win a corner, Clichy from Lauren.
    • 28' Muntari running with the ball though the middle into Krancjar on the edge of the box, he turns Sagna and sends in a low drive but just wide! Good effort from the Croat.
    • 25' Kanu tries a shot from the edge of the box but blocked by Gallas and cleared long by Sagna, James comes sprinting out to send it back from whence it came.
    • 20' Almunia with a great save but the whistle had gone, Benjani fouling before Diop half-volleyed the shot from Muntari's cross.
    • 17' Great chance for Pompey as Muntari finds space on the right and Arsenal are slightly out-of-synch at the back as he sends a low cross in but no-one is near enough to it and Sagna clears.
    • 16' The ball is crossed into Adebayor from the right but the Togo hitman can't get a header away under pressure from Campbell and Pompey clear... it's sent through to Adebayor again but this time he's offside.
    • 15' Fabregas gets the ball on the left and cuts inside towards goal, he's in the box and can centre it to Adebayor but the low cross is to no-one in particular, well to Hreidarsson in fact, and the Icelandic defender slides in to knock it away for a throw.
    • 13' Rosicky on the ball, works through the middle and looks wide right to Eboue who's in space and can have a shot but straight at James. Eboue is not the best at striking the ball on goal and we've seen that twice already.
    • 9' Pompey getting more of the ball as Arsenal's earlier endeavour slows down a touch...
    • 5' Eboue with a mazy run on the right, he's done really well and cuts inside to find Adebayor who has run away from Campbell, the one-two and Eboue shoots but he fires well over! Chance for Arsenal, Pompey looking sluggish at the back.
    • 1' Match underway!
    • - Hello and welcome to the final Boxing Day fixture, Pompey v Arsenal at Fratton park, LIVE on eurosport.com from 19:45 GMT!

  • Team Stats

    Portsmouth Stats Arsenal
    38% Possession 61%
    11 Shots 15
    4 Shots on target 2
    0 Saves 3
    4 Corners 7
    8 Fouls 17
    6 Offsides 7
    2 Yellow cards 1
    0 Red cards 0
    40 Tackles 23
    207 Accurate passes 391
    24 Bad passes 62

  • Player Stats

    G =
    Goals
    S =
    Shots
    SoT =
    Shot on Target
    F =
    Fouls
    FW =
    Fouls Won
    O =
    Offsides
    A =
    Assists
    AP =
    Accurate Passes
    BP =
    Bad Passes
    T =
    Tackles
    • Portsmouth
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      1 David James 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 0 0
      23 Sol Campbell 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 8 2 1
      7 Hermann Hreidarsson 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 9 2 3
      4 Bisan Lauren 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 26 0 4
      15 Sylvain Distin 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 13 2 3
      8 Papa Bouba Diop 0 1 1 5 4 0 0 20 0 5
      11 Sulley Ali Muntari 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 29 5 11
      22 Richard Hughes 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 20 3 5
      19 Niko Kranjcar 0 2 1 3 0 0 0 18 4 4
      25 Benjamin Mwaruwari 0 3 2 1 1 2 0 12 0 2
      27 Nwankwo Kanu 0 3 0 2 1 3 0 33 4 0
      14 Matthew Taylor 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 1
      10 David Nugent 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      6 Djimi Traore 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      31 Asmir Begovic 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      17 John Utaka 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1
    • Arsenal
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      24 Manuel Almunia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 3 0
      5 Kolo Toure 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 43 1 2
      22 Gaël Clichy 0 2 0 3 1 0 0 39 12 4
      3 Bacary Sagna 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 44 0 1
      10 William Gallas 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 33 4 2
      13 Alexander Hleb 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 39 5 2
      4 Francesc Fabregas 0 2 0 2 1 0 0 36 4 2
      16 Mathieu Flamini 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 38 9 5
      27 Emmanuel Eboue 0 2 1 2 1 0 0 24 2 1
      7 Tomas Rosicky 0 6 1 0 3 0 0 46 13 3
      25 Emmanuel Adebayor 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 23 6 1
      8 Lassana Diarra 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      2 Vasiriki Abou Diaby 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 13 2 0
      1 Jens Lehmann 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      26 Nicklas Bendtner 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 1 0
      17 Alexandre Song 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

  • Summary

    • 90+2 Bendtner on the right, weaves into the box and drills the ball TO ROSICKY UNMARKED ON THE EDGE OF THE BOX WHO MUST SCORE BUT HE PUTS IT INCHES WIDE! It looked destined for the bottom left but it curled just away at the death!
    • 88' Fabregas gets the ball on the edge of the box and touches it into GALLAS ON THE EDGE OF THE SIX YARD BOX BUT HE BLASTS OVER! He's hurt too as Campbell caught him sliding in to block but he'll be alright.
    • 74' Benjani is played clean through, he's beaten the offside trap to get onto Muntari's ball and he's one-on-one and knocks it right past Almunia but takes it too far wide and the chance goes! He should have tried to loft it over him or gone the other way, should have been the opener.
    • 36' The ball drops to Rosicky on the left, he cuts inside and sends a dipping, curling effort towards the top right but James is agile like a cat and gets across to pluck it out of the air and hold on to boot.
    • 28' Muntari running with the ball though the middle into Krancjar on the edge of the box, he turns Sagna and sends in a low drive but just wide! Good effort from the Croat.
    • 15' Fabregas gets the ball on the left and cuts inside towards goal, he's in the box and can centre it to Adebayor but the low cross is to no-one in particular, well to Hreidarsson in fact, and the Icelandic defender slides in to knock it away for a throw.
    • 5' Eboue with a mazy run on the right, he's done really well and cuts inside to find Adebayor who has run away from Campbell, the one-two and Eboue shoots but he fires well over! Chance for Arsenal, Pompey looking sluggish at the back.

Live Team Line-Up

  • Referee: Stephen Graham Bennett

  • Portsmouth

    Manager: Harry Redknapp

    Captain: Sol Campbell

    On the Field

    • James
    • Lauren
    • Campbell
    • Distin
    • Hreidarsson
    • Bouba Diop
    • Hughes
    • Muntari
    • Kranjcar
    • Kanu
    • Benjani

    Subs

    • Traoré
    • Utaka
    • Taylor
    • Nugent
    • Begovic

    Injured

    None

    Suspended

    None

  • Arsenal

    Manager: Arsene Wenger

    Captain: William Gallas

    On the Field

    • Almunia
    • Sagna
    • Toure
    • Gallas
    • Clichy
    • Flamini
    • Eboue
    • Fabregas
    • Hleb
    • Rosicky
    • Adebayor

    Subs

    • Lehmann
    • Song
    • Diarra
    • Diaby
    • Bendtner

    Injured

    None

    Suspended

    None