CarlingNet - No 1 for Match Reports

Arsenal v Coventry 19/10/96 3.00

Arsenal                 (0) 0 Coventry                (0) 0 FT

Arsene Wenger was on top of the Premiership with Arsenal after a goalless battled with Coventry at Highbury but the match ended in controversy as the Sky Blues' heroic goalkeeper Steve Ogrizovic was carried off following a tangle with Ian Wright.

With just five minutes left Ogrizovic and Wright crashed to the ground and the Arsenal striker appeared to catch the keeper with a flurry of blows and a stretcher was eventually produced to take Ogrizovic away, his face covered in blood.

Arsenal's attempts to break the deadlock ended in bitter frustration and yet they moved to the top of the Premiership for the first time in four years on their new manager's home debut.

But it was Ogrizovic and the gritty Coventry defence who took the honours from a bad tempered match in which four players were booked, three of them from Arsenal Wright, Martin Keown and John Hartson, the Welshman for the seventh time this season.

Ogrizovic, who saved a Wright penalty on his previous appearance at Highbury last season, kept out a Nigel Winterburn blast in only the fourth minute.

Then seven minutes later he produced an astonishing double save, pushing Hartson's header onto a post and then blocking Wright's follow-up attempt from inside the six-yard box.

Coventry never showed much more ambition than gaining a point to ease their problems at the foot of the table, but their resolute defending showed up Arsenal's lack of quality in midfield and attack.

Dion Dublin, who snatched their equaliser against Southampton last Sunday in the last minute, was a hero again - this time in defence.

He switched to centre-back after Paul Williams limped off injured early in the second half and cleared off the line from Paul Merson after Ogrizovic's only error in the game when dropping a Dennis Bergkamp cross.

Bergkamp, out for a month with hamstring trouble, had appeared as a 63rd-minute substitute with Arsenal desperate to make the breakthrough.

But the nearest they came was when Eoin Jess cleared a Steve Bould header off the line following a corner 11 minutes from the end.

There was still time for the game to end on a typically sour note following Wright's clash with Ogrizovic.

Referee Peter Jones, who seemed to miss a whole series of off-the-ball incidents, took no action this time as well, although it was clear from manager Ron Atkinson's actions on the touchline that Coventry felt much aggrieved by an explosive incident.