Story ProgressBack to home
Blackburn hold Arsenal to draw
Blackburn goalkeeper Brad Friedel made three top saves in the last six minutes on Saturday to hold Arsenal to a 0-0 draw in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: March 22, 2007 06:37 AM IST
Read Time: 3 min
London:
Blackburn goalkeeper Brad Friedel made three top saves in the last six minutes on Saturday to hold Arsenal to a 0-0 draw in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Friedel kept out shots from Tomas Rosicky, Thierry Henry and Justin Hoyte to set up a replay at Blackburn on February 28.
Rovers came off a 3-2 loss at Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday and lost 6-2 at Arsenal in the Premier League in December, so were happier with the result at the Emirates Stadium.
"The last time we came here we took six. We wanted to impose ourselves defensively. We were not at our best against Leverkusen and I was really pleased to see the lads play like that today."
"It wasn't true Blackburn Rovers - we have been far more attacking - but we had to tighten up at the back and we did that today," Friedel said.
 Huges-Fabregas confrontation
The side made few chances and Rovers manager Mark Hughes was involved in an angry confrontation with Arsenal's Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas over his team's unimaginative tactics.
"He (Fabregas) came off the pitch and asked me if I had played for Barcelona and when I said that, yes I did, he said something to the effect of 'that wasn't Barcelona football, was it?'" Hughes said.
"I thought the boy showed disrespect to somebody who has won a lot more FA Cups than him," he added.
Hughes has four FA Cups with Manchester United and Chelsea and Fabregas one with Arsenal.
Substitute Matt Derbyshire almost surprised Arsenal with a speculative looping shot in the 74th, which goalkeeper Manuel Almunia acrobatically flipped over the bar. Two minutes later, Arsenal wanted a penalty when Steve Warnock upended Jeremie Aliadiere but the referee waved away the appeals.
Rosicky then got through a crowded area to roll the ball goalwards, only for Friedel to stretch his left leg and block the Czech midfielder's shot.
Then the American made a fingertip save to keep out a close-range flick by Henry and then recovered to block a follow-up shot from Hoyte with his legs.
Man U held to draw
Meanwhile, Reading, which has risen to sixth in the Premier League in its first season in the top flight, also has home advantage in a replay against Manchester United, as it held the Red Devils to a draw.
Man United went ahead with the final kick of the first half through Michael Carrick's 25-meter (yard) shot.
After United winger Cristiano Ronaldo twice shot wide, Reading, which started many of its backup players, levelled in the 67th through Brynjar Gunnarsson's header.
Also Chelsea cruised into the quarterfinals with a 4-0 victory over League Championship club Norwich.
Shaun Wright-Phillips, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and Andriy Shevchenko scored for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, with two goals coming in the final minute.
The only bad moment for manager Jose Mourinho was that defender Khalid Boulahrouz, who had just returned from a long spell out with knee ligament damage, dislocated his shoulder.
Topics mentioned in this article
Football
Arsenal
Get the Latest IPL 2024 Updates, check out IPL 2024 schedules and IPL points table at NDTV Sports.Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for more sports updates. You can also download the NDTV Cricket app for Android or iOS.