Tony Adams' Portsmouth side were denied a point on their boss' return to Arsenal by a solitary William Gallas header.
Pompey denied point after James error
Tony Adams' battling Portsmouth side were denied a point on their boss' return to Arsenal as a solitary William Gallas header earned the hosts a 1-0 win.
Adams' troops appeared to be on course for a share of the spoils after holding out for 81 minutes at the Emirates before Gunners defender Gallas nodded in, capitalising on David James' missed punch.
James had a shaky afternoon and was punished for his uncertainty as he attempted to fist Denilson's free-kick away but was beaten to the ball by Gallas' brave header.
Adams was applauded off at the end by the Arsenal fans but the ovation was scant consolation after seeing his Pompey side come so close to holding out for a draw.
Even though the Gunners came away with three points, their performance did little to convince they are capable of forcing their way back into the title race.
And on this display they will have all on to hang on to a Champions League place with the likes of Aston Villa threatening their top four slot.
Take nothing away from Portsmouth, though, who did their manager proud following his brave decision to drop Jermain Defoe to the bench.
Dominated
Sol Campbell and Sylvain Distin defended superbly and with a bit more luck Pompey would have taken back a point at least to the south coast.
The Gunners dominated possession and Adams continually was out on the touchline urging his side not to defend so deep.
But, without the injured Cesc Fabregas, in midfield Arsenal were light on invention, resorting to speculative long shots.
It was a dreadful first half, full of cagey football and two teams desperate for a confidence-boosting result.
Even so, Portsmouth could easily have gone in at half-time with the lead. The ball was swung over from the right by David Nugent and Peter Crouch jumped higher than Gallas to send the ball against Manuel Almunia's post.
Emmanuel Adebayor had an equally good opening which he too squandered, riding the tackle of Distin and bearing down on James in the Portsmouth goal only for Campbell to arrive just in time with a precision tackle to sweep the ball away for a corner.
Distin also cleared off the line from Mikael Silvestre just after half-time and James pulled off the save of the match when he raced out to save with his feet from Samir Nasri.
But for all Arsenal's huff and puff there was precious little guile.
They miss terribly the invention of the injured Fabregas yet when Gallas planted his header past James, who flapped in the breeze for a swirling free-kick, the Gunners fans were singing a familiar refrain - 'One-nil to the Arsenal.'
It was, but it was anything but convincing.
| Arsenal |
Team Statistics |
Portsmouth |
| 1 |
Goals |
0 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 3 |
Shots on Target |
2 |
| 5 |
Shots off Target |
1 |
| 9 |
Blocked Shots |
2 |
| 11 |
Corners |
2 |
| 12 |
Fouls |
9 |
| 6 |
Offsides |
4 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 87.5 |
Passing Success |
81.4 |
| 26 |
Tackles |
39 |
| 92.3 |
Tackles Success |
79.5 |
| 59.7 |
Possession |
40.3 |
| 60 |
Territorial Advantage |
40 |
|
