Coventry striking the wrong note still

Arsene Wenger has had his striking problems this season. So much so that he hailed the 31year-old Dennis Bergkamp almost as a new signing after the Dutchman delivered a rare goal. Multiply Arsenal's concerns fivefold, and the sum of Gordon Strachan's worries come into sight.

Strachan insisted afterwards that his team had "recovered their pride", but their weakness in front of goal illustrated precisely why Coventry gambled in reviving the pursuit of John Hartson, only to miss this target again.

Wenger has suffered different frustrations, but at least Arsenal are still shooting for the FA Cup and Europe, even if the title might as well be the moon.

Wenger looked a relieved man. Coventry, though, may soon be counting the cost of relegation. But Strachan is determined he will not be the manager vilified for losing top-flight status after 34 years.

"This is Coventry - we've been in tighter spots than this before," he said. "Once in my time we were 9-1 on to go down." But the odds are shortening with his side now five points away from the safety zone.

Before the match, Coventry's chairman Bryan Richardson was crunching different numbers. He offered a vote of confidence in his manager: "If the board were not 1,000 per cent behind Gordon, you would have to see the matter differently.

"We support Gordon, and we will support Gordon, in every way." Would Strachan still be manager if relegated? "I don't expect that to happen," said Richardson. If Coventry do fall, then Richardson will partly blame English football's transfer-fee and player wage inflation. "We invested a few years ago heavily in players and in the stadium.

"We believed we would climb into the eighth-12th [position] bracket. But the price of many players, the whole package, is now astronomical."

He could have noted that there is no guarantee even when Coventry lay out a club-record £6.5 million sterling for Craig Bellamy, which is only half the fee paid by Arsenal for Sylvain Wiltord. Both strikers have been called expensive flops, even if Wenger made reassuring noises about Wiltord.

"He's getting more and more used to the English game . . . he's looking more the player I invested so much money in." Yet he has not scored a Premiership goal for over three months.

But Bergkamp and Wiltord, said Wenger, currently lack confidence although that notion was briefly dispelled 12 minutes from the end of a poor game.

Wiltord crossed for Bergkamp, aided by Magnus Hedman's headlong rush and two defenders' inattention, to glance home a rare headed goal - for the Dutchman and for Arsenal.

Strachan set his side a 17-point target for safety before this latest setback, although, upbeat as ever, he suggested 15 points "might do it". That is also still the gap between Arsenal and Manchester United.

COVENTRY: Hedman, Quinn, Hall, Williams, Shaw, Thompson (Bothroyd 84), Bellamy, Eustace, Carsley, Roussel, Hadji. Subs Not Used: Chippo, Telfer, Kirkland, Guerrero. Booked: Eustace, Thompson, Carsley.

ARSENAL: Seaman, Dixon, Cole, Adams, Stepanovs, Lauren (Grimandi 65), Pires (Vivas 90), Vieira, Parlour, Bergkamp, Wiltord. Subs Not Used: Manninger, Luzhny, Kanu. Booked: Adams, Vieira, Parlour, Cole. Goal: Bergkamp 78.

Referee: M Dean (The Wirral).