ARSENAL are looking for gold in the Premiership rather than mere bronze, and yesterday the alchemy of Dennis Bergkamp inspired the emphatic victory over Everton at Highbury which has kept Arsene Wenger's team in close touch with Liverpool and Manchester United at the top.
They are just a point behind United and three adrift of Liverpool, and like United have a game in hand. Yesterday's win ended a grey period of one victory in six league matches, and while Everton ended the first half slightly unlucky not to be in front, they finished grateful not to have been beaten by a wider margin.
Imminent suspensions, for Bergkamp notably, and the loss of David Platt and Ian Wright yesterday with strained hamstrings, may yet blunt the edge of Arsenal's challenge. Wright was taken off at half time as a precaution, but Platt is expected to be out for three weeks and should miss England's World Cup qualifier against Italy.
Yet the quality of attacking football Arsenal have produced under Wenger endures, as does the form of Bergkamp, whose coming three match ban, a consequence of his dismissal in the league game at Sunderland just over a week ago, could not have arrived at a more inopportune time for either the player or his team.
"He has collected so many champagne bottles as man of the match (three in succession now), I think he should open a shop," said Wenger. Bergkamp's goal yesterday might not have been in quite the audacious class of the one he scored at Roker Park in the FA Cup last Wednesday, but it still carried the master's touch.
Half the match was like a host of previous encounters between Arsenal and Everton, with space cramped between the penalty areas and neither attack finding the wit or the quality of pass needed to break through. Once Arsenal had scored twice in as many minutes early in the second hall, however, their football flowed in the Wenger manner.
Bergkamp and Paul Merson are complementing one another particularly well just now, and the return of Lee Dixon, who had been out for seven matches, restored an important balance to the side which mitigated the loss of Wright.
This was Everton's fifth [successive league defeat, and while they are still in the top half of the table the situation below them is so tight that a continuation of the slump would soon raise the spectre of a relegation struggle at Goodison Park. Yesterday, after a reasonably enterprising first hall, they fell away disappointingly, despite Duncan Ferguson's late header.
For a time Claus Thomsen, the Danish international Joe Royle has just signed from Ipswich, worked hard with Graham Stuart and Gary Speed to break up Arsenal's passing rhythms. Patrik Vieira, Wenger's principle supplier of the telling through ball, was reduced to a fairly anonymous role, and once Neville Southall had pawed away Merson's attempt to chip him in the 21st minute there was little threat to the Everton goal for the remainder of the half.
In the 32nd minute Ferguson met Speed's centre from the left with a long legged attempt at an overhead shot. The big Scot miscued but Nicky Barmby pounced on the loose ball and hooked it into the net, only to find himself ruled off side, wrongly, as the television replay showed.
With Ferguson shooting just wide and then drawing a sharp save from David Seaman, Everton could feel reasonably pleased with themselves at half time. But between the 55th and 57th minutes their hopes collapsed around their ears.
After Platt's shot had been charged down Dixon lobbed the rebound over the defence for Bergkamp to meet it with a crisp, clinical half volley past Southall's left hand. Then Watson cleared Winterburn's corner straight to Vieira and the Frenchman firmly drove in Arsenal's second goal.
Later Royle described Everton's defending on Arsenal's first as "dozy". Certainly Arsenal's third goal, after 68 minutes, was down to a sleepy error by Unsworth who tried to pass square to Dave Watson, only for Bergkamp to intercept the ball and hare through for a shot which Southall blocked, leaving Merson to score from the rebound.
Two minutes from the end Ferguson timed his run well to meet Barmby's corner with an imperious leap followed by a downward header past Seaman. Everton need rather more moments like this if their season is to revive.
Meanwhile, Arsenal, still unbeaten at Highbury in the Premiership and with home games against Manchester United and Liverpool to come, remain the side most likely to prevent the championship again becoming a two horse race. One Dutch thoroughbred should see to that.
