Arsenal 1 Blackburn Rovers 3 - Peter White's big match verdict

"ONLY two more wins and we'll be safe from relegation," grinned one battle-hardened veteran of Uncle Jack's Blue and White Army as they spilled happily into the North London streets, silent save for the sound of Arsenal whingeing - from both inside and outside the stadium.

He was either practising the ultimate in "keeping your feet on the ground" or suffering from a terminal dose of that dreaded disease, TV punditry.

The symptons are unmistakeable. When talking about Blackburn Rovers in a Trevor Brooking monotone, shake the head knowingly but sadly a la Alan Hansen and mention phrases such as "not enough quality" or "no strength in depth".

If you throw in a "definitely not top three in my opinion", the diagnosis is confirmed.

But there is a simple cure: just look at the Premiership table. No-one would savour it more on Saturday night than Kevin Gallacher.

Highbury held few happy memories for the Scot, until his sensational strike crowned the result of the season so far for Blackburn Rovers.

Almost four years ago, Gallacher was accorded sympathetic applause from the North Bank as he was carried off on a stretcher with a broken leg, sustained in an accidental collision with Steve Bould.

On Saturday, those Arsenal supporters were stunned into silence and there was certainly nothing accidental about the way in which the striker exacted revenge at the same end of Highbury with a brilliant goal.

It put Rovers well on the way to a magnificent victory in what was a classic case of the tortoise and the hare.

Arsenal, and particularly speedy Dutch winger Marc Overmars, were the hare - quick out of the traps to give themselves the advantage. But Rovers simply and steadfastly stuck to their game plan and, eventually, got the rewards their superb second-half show deserved.

Trailing 1-0, there was a dramatic improvement after the break.

Individuals such as Jeff Kenna, Jason Wilcox and Tim Sherwood, to name but three, came to terms with their task, the passes were much crisper and, overall, Rovers looked a better bet than Arsenal.

With ice-cool Stephane Henchoz outstanding in his duel with hot-headed Ian Wright, Rovers had more individual winners than the home team and it told in the end.

Arsenal's central defenders were key men in the first half, Rovers' duo of Henchoz and Colin Hendry were crucial throughout a game in which there were very few actual saves for the keepers to make.

The fact that Henchoz and Hendry did a better job on Wright and Dennis Bergkamp than Martin Keown and Tony Adams on Gallacher and Chris Sutton was a key factor in a rare Rovers success at Highbury.

Arsenal's fans spent much of the match verbally abusing Sutton for last season's alleged unsporting behaviour.

By the end, they had turned their venom on their own team with reports filtering through of verbal retaliation from Wright via a dressing room window!

It was a storm in a tea cup but evidence that all is not sweetness and light in Highbury's halls of fame.

The first half didn't exactly set the pulses racing and Rovers looked as though they could be on the verge of another defeat to a rival top club.

Overmars struck the decisive blow when Emmanuel Petit caught out the Rovers back line with a ball over the top. Overmars timed his run better than Tim Flowers and lobbed the opener. But there was only one other real scare, when Nigel Winterburn ventured forward, to shoot just wide.

And Rovers knew they should have gone in level.

Sutton hassled Adams into the first of many mistakes on 39 minutes to leave Gallacher racing through and only David Seaman to beat.

But the striker, destined to miss the straightforward ones and score the hardest, delayed his shot a fraction too long, allowing Keown -arguably the best player on the pitch in the first half - to get a slight touch and deflect it over.

At this level, you are usually made to pay for missing chances like that.

But it was Rovers who looked the brighter at the start of the second half as they stepped up a gear.

There had been little time or space for anyone but Rovers began to find more cohesion and the equaliser stemmed from another Adams blunder.

A poor clearance went straight to Kenna. His cross was headed on by the battling Sutton, Sherwood distracted the defenders and the ball sat up nicely for Jason Wilcox to drive it home.

Just eight minutes later, Gallacher atoned for his earlier miss with an outstanding strike.

Flowers hit the ball long, Sutton superbly headed on and Gallacher from the inside left position outside the penalty area let fly with a brilliant left-foot volley that was a winner all the way.

Garry Flitcroft went on for Stuart Ripley and Arsenal looked as if they had shot their bolt. They had to throw caution to the wind and there was always a chance of another Rovers goal. They could have had three more.

When Wilcox's shot was saved, Gallacher somehow failed to put his header away.

In stoppage time, Sherwood, from Flitcroft's intelligent cross, had a header cleared and hit the follow-up against the bar!

Still, there was time for the skipper to get on the scoresheet as he was left in the clear by Flitcroft. Seaman managed to block him but Sherwood was cool enough to retrieve the ball and produce an inch-perfect striker's finish.

It is perfectly true that Rovers need to add a little more top-quality to a squad under-strength in certain positions.

But League tables do not lie and this one makes pleasant reading.

One man leaving Highbury with a smile was Sutton, who handled the pressures brilliantly and surely found himself higher in another table than Wright as far as watching England boss Glenn Hoddle was concerned.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.