Classic Arsenal Matches - Part 5 - Arsenal 2 Liverpool 1 - Littlewoods Cup Final 05/04/1987
ONE NIL DOWN, TWO ON UP, PART TWO
ARSENAL ENJOYED TWO memorable matches against Liverpool in the late 1980s. While the second one, in May 1989 became one of the most famous matches ever played, this first meeting at Wembley two years earlier certainly paved the way for what was to follow.
Liverpool were undoubtedly the team of the 1980s. That decade alone saw them win six league tiles, one FA Cup, four League Cups and two European Cups, a run of success no one else could even come close to matching.
But by 1987 Arsenal were emerging as genuine challengers. Former Gunners midfielder George Graham had taken over at Highbury the previous May and had shaped a new look team built around some exciting young players.
It is hard to imagine now but between January 1984 and March 1987 Arsenal only bought one player, Perry Groves from Colchester United for the paltry sum of just £75,000.
While fans nowadays spend months speculating about how much their club will spend in the upcoming transfer windows and who they might buy, Arsenal bought just one player in a little over three years.
Yet Graham had already began to lay the foundations of a team who would by the end of the decade end Liverpool's monopoly of English football.
What a start Graham was enjoying to life at back Highbury. A club record run of 22 matches unbeaten in the autumn and into the winter of 1986/87 saw his young side lead the Division One table and make progress in both cup competitions.
Graham's team was built around the prodigious talents of 19 year olds Tony Adams and David Rocastle, and 20 year old Martin Hayes. All three had been a revelation as Graham had transformed Arsenal from mid-table mediocrity into a side capable of competing with the best.
In the end Arsenal would fade in the league due to a worrying lack of goals, finishing 4th. However their young guns were able to turn it on in the one-off nature of cup football, and following an epic three game battle in the Littlewoods Cup semi final against neighbours Tottenham Hotspurs, featured in a previous piece, Arsenal had reached their first Wembley final in seven years.
Standing in their way however was the formidable sight of Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool, double winners from 1986.
While Arsenal had not been to Wembley since 1980, it had become Liverpool's second home over recent years and this was to be their eighth appearance at the Twin Towers since the turn of the decade.
There was little doubt who would start this final as favourites.
The Arsenal line up on a gloriously sunny April afternoon included six players who had come through their youth academy, three of whom were still teenagers.
Liverpool, by contrast, were packed with experience. Players like Alan Hanson, Craig Johnston, Steve McMahon, Ronnie Whelan and Ian Rush had won everything with the club.
Just two weeks before the final Liverpool had left Highbury with a vital 1-0 victory thanks to a goal from Rush, so when Rush then gave Liverpool a 23rd minute lead at Wembley the signs looked ominous for Arsenal.
The fact was Liverpool just never lost when Rush scored, a run stretching back 144 matches over seven years. But records are there to be broken and this young Arsenal side did not seem fazed.
In fact within seven minutes they were level when one of their more experienced players, 25 year old Charlie Nicholas, prodded home from close range following a goalmouth scramble. The tide had begun to turn.
The second half saw Liverpool become nervous as the young guns ripped into them. But as the match entered its final ten minutes there was still nothing to separate the sides.
Graham then brought on fresh legs in the form of Groves, Arsenal's only signing over the previous three years, to run at Liverpool's tiring defence, and within three minutes he had created the crucial breakthrough.
Groves easily beat Gillespie down the left and bore down on the Liverpool goal. But instead of going for glory himself he instead laid the ball inside to Nicholas, who's weak shot took a wicked deflection off Whelan and rolled agonisingly towards the net.
The Arsenal masses behind the goal appeared to suck the ball in as goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar was left wrong-footed and Nicholas ran, arms open, to celebrate with Groves and the fans; an iconic 1980s Wembley moment.
Liverpool had no response and even the emergence from the bench of the great Dalglish himself could not inspire a comeback and Arsenal had won the League Cup for the first time in their history.
Captain Kenny Sansom went up to collect the trophy and the celebrations could really begin. While for Arsenal this was start of a new era of success, it was to be the beginning of the end for Liverpool.
Rush would leave for Italy as Liverpool finished the season empty-handed, and although they would bounce back to win the the title the following 1987/88 season, they were beaten in the 1988 FA Cup final by Wimbledon.
Arsenal's new look side then pipped them to the 1989 league title and within 18 months Dalglish had gone, leaving fellow Scot Graham to take over his mantle at the top of English football, at least until the emergence of another Scot, Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, as we moved into the 1990s.
From a personal point of view this game will live with me forever. They say you never forget your first time so seeing Arsenal win a trophy for the first time was something very special indeed. The fact it was Charlie who got both goals just added to the joy. It was just a shame he would soon be gone.
When I first started coming to Highbury in 1981 I never thought I would see us play in a cup final let alone beat Liverpool in one, who at the time won just about everything.
It was the last time I would go to Wembley with that feeling of innocence, the feeling of being happy just to be there with no expectation of actually winning, and no cup final since has quite matched the feelings I experienced that day.
Without this victory it is difficult to imagine the 1989 title win at Anfield would ever have happened. This gave the team belief that they were at least as good as Liverpool and I think that title win was born on this sweltering hot day at Wembley.
Coming up next time I start a new series looking at the other side of the 1980s, the cup disasters. Part one will feature the mother of all cup upsets, York City away in 1985. Be warned, it will not be pretty.
ARSENAL ENJOYED TWO memorable matches against Liverpool in the late 1980s. While the second one, in May 1989 became one of the most famous matches ever played, this first meeting at Wembley two years earlier certainly paved the way for what was to follow.
But by 1987 Arsenal were emerging as genuine challengers. Former Gunners midfielder George Graham had taken over at Highbury the previous May and had shaped a new look team built around some exciting young players.
It is hard to imagine now but between January 1984 and March 1987 Arsenal only bought one player, Perry Groves from Colchester United for the paltry sum of just £75,000.
While fans nowadays spend months speculating about how much their club will spend in the upcoming transfer windows and who they might buy, Arsenal bought just one player in a little over three years.
Yet Graham had already began to lay the foundations of a team who would by the end of the decade end Liverpool's monopoly of English football.
What a start Graham was enjoying to life at back Highbury. A club record run of 22 matches unbeaten in the autumn and into the winter of 1986/87 saw his young side lead the Division One table and make progress in both cup competitions.
Graham's team was built around the prodigious talents of 19 year olds Tony Adams and David Rocastle, and 20 year old Martin Hayes. All three had been a revelation as Graham had transformed Arsenal from mid-table mediocrity into a side capable of competing with the best.
In the end Arsenal would fade in the league due to a worrying lack of goals, finishing 4th. However their young guns were able to turn it on in the one-off nature of cup football, and following an epic three game battle in the Littlewoods Cup semi final against neighbours Tottenham Hotspurs, featured in a previous piece, Arsenal had reached their first Wembley final in seven years.
Standing in their way however was the formidable sight of Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool, double winners from 1986.
While Arsenal had not been to Wembley since 1980, it had become Liverpool's second home over recent years and this was to be their eighth appearance at the Twin Towers since the turn of the decade.
The Arsenal line up on a gloriously sunny April afternoon included six players who had come through their youth academy, three of whom were still teenagers.
Liverpool, by contrast, were packed with experience. Players like Alan Hanson, Craig Johnston, Steve McMahon, Ronnie Whelan and Ian Rush had won everything with the club.
Just two weeks before the final Liverpool had left Highbury with a vital 1-0 victory thanks to a goal from Rush, so when Rush then gave Liverpool a 23rd minute lead at Wembley the signs looked ominous for Arsenal.
The fact was Liverpool just never lost when Rush scored, a run stretching back 144 matches over seven years. But records are there to be broken and this young Arsenal side did not seem fazed.
In fact within seven minutes they were level when one of their more experienced players, 25 year old Charlie Nicholas, prodded home from close range following a goalmouth scramble. The tide had begun to turn.
Graham then brought on fresh legs in the form of Groves, Arsenal's only signing over the previous three years, to run at Liverpool's tiring defence, and within three minutes he had created the crucial breakthrough.
Groves easily beat Gillespie down the left and bore down on the Liverpool goal. But instead of going for glory himself he instead laid the ball inside to Nicholas, who's weak shot took a wicked deflection off Whelan and rolled agonisingly towards the net.
The Arsenal masses behind the goal appeared to suck the ball in as goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar was left wrong-footed and Nicholas ran, arms open, to celebrate with Groves and the fans; an iconic 1980s Wembley moment.
Liverpool had no response and even the emergence from the bench of the great Dalglish himself could not inspire a comeback and Arsenal had won the League Cup for the first time in their history.
Captain Kenny Sansom went up to collect the trophy and the celebrations could really begin. While for Arsenal this was start of a new era of success, it was to be the beginning of the end for Liverpool.
Arsenal's new look side then pipped them to the 1989 league title and within 18 months Dalglish had gone, leaving fellow Scot Graham to take over his mantle at the top of English football, at least until the emergence of another Scot, Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, as we moved into the 1990s.
From a personal point of view this game will live with me forever. They say you never forget your first time so seeing Arsenal win a trophy for the first time was something very special indeed. The fact it was Charlie who got both goals just added to the joy. It was just a shame he would soon be gone.
When I first started coming to Highbury in 1981 I never thought I would see us play in a cup final let alone beat Liverpool in one, who at the time won just about everything.
It was the last time I would go to Wembley with that feeling of innocence, the feeling of being happy just to be there with no expectation of actually winning, and no cup final since has quite matched the feelings I experienced that day.
Without this victory it is difficult to imagine the 1989 title win at Anfield would ever have happened. This gave the team belief that they were at least as good as Liverpool and I think that title win was born on this sweltering hot day at Wembley.
Coming up next time I start a new series looking at the other side of the 1980s, the cup disasters. Part one will feature the mother of all cup upsets, York City away in 1985. Be warned, it will not be pretty.
Comments
Post a Comment