Well Sunday proved to be a great day to be a Gooner. The question on all Arsenal fans lips following the 4-2 win over Liverpool on Friday April 9th was simple: when were we going to win the Championship? In truth the moment Edu put Arsenal in front against Chelsea at the end of February and they held out for the win and a nine point lead in the title race, you could tell that the Championship was coming back to Highbury. Ten days later we were in the latter stages of both the FA Cup and the Champions league and had drawn our two nearest domestic rivals. It was all falling into place.
The Treble was on.
Except for of course it was not. Two defeats, two painful defeats later the club was on the ropes. The sharks in the media were circling, ready to feast on a three course meal of capitulation in each competition. Chelsea were on fire, they were on a psychological high after beating us, they were unstoppable! Arsenal seemed to be clinging to the ledge of triumph, about to snatch defeat from the jaw of victory. Events seemed to be spiraling out of control and their seemed to be little we could do about it. It seemed so familiar, so recent, so painful.
Just like a year earlier.
Let’s flashback to then for a moment. Coming into April 2003 Arsenal were top of the Premiership but all was not rosey. Manchester United were embarking on a sensational run of form both in terms of wins and performances. Arsenal were just about managing to match their results but whereas United were blowing sides away, just like Arsenal had done just a couple of months previously, Arsenal’s performances were starting to wane.
A defeat to Blackburn and unconvincing wins against Everton and Charlton meant going in April Arsenal sat two points ahead at the top of the Premiership, with Manchester United breathing down their necks. On Saturday April 5th Manchester United beat Liverpool in a morning kick-off to go top of the table. Arsenal had a match away to struggling Aston Villa and were expected to win and regain the championship ascendancy but could only manage a draw.
Despite only having a 5 minute spell of pressure, Villa managed to get a point via an Arsenal own-goal. Contrast this to Manchester United who had just beaten Liverpool four-nil. Things were not looking good. By the time the Arsenal v Manchester United game came around on April 16th the Championship could not have been tighter. Manchester United led Arsenal by 3 points but the Gunners had a game in hand.
For all United’s sensational form, if Arsenal could just win this game you felt they would have the initiative back, and with four very winnable games remaining for them, the title would surely be theirs. The game did not fail to disappoint and was the very epitome of what makes Premiership football great. United edged the first half and led one nil through Ruud van Nistelrooy.
However, Arsenal had shown glimmers they could recover and within five minutes of the game restarting were level through Thierry Henry. Suddenly the momentum was with Arsenal. They came firing at United all guns blazing and it was like the form had never gone away. Last ditch tackles and desperate lunges were keeping the scores deadlocked.
Until it happened. Henry was played in one-on-one with Barthez … and scored! YESSSSSSSS! THE TITLE IS COMING HOME! The fans are going mental, the players are celebrating, Alex Ferguson is fuming, it had all fallen into place! It had looked like it was going wrong but the boys had come through! THAT’S WHY WE ARE THE BEST IN THE LAND!
Sixty-seconds later Giggs scored to make it 2-2.
Not many things in football have made me feel physically sick, but this did. All the joy, all the elation of the moment gone in one flick of a Welshman’s head. Now it’ the United fans who are jubilant, no more dancing for joy from the Arsenal players, instead it’s heads down, the monkey leaping onto our back wearing a Giggs 11 shirt.
It killed the fans, it killed the players and it killed the team. There was only going to be one result from then on in, a draw was a fantastic result for United and Arsenal had gone. Sure we put up a good last few minute siege on the United goal but it was not to be. When it had mattered most the players had thrown it away and they knew it.
A final score of 2-2 meant that to win the title Arsenal realistically win all their remaining games, as largely as possible and hope and pray that United slipped up somewhere. It was not boding well.
Back to 2004. Its Good Friday, 12pm and the entire footballing world is looking at Highbury. The invincibles, the unbeatables the previous Treble winners elect were wobbling and everyone could see it. Sure they still had a four-point lead with a game in hand but this was a MUST win game. Any sort of dropped points was bound to let Chelsea back in and more importantly it would send an impression of vulnerability to our remaining opponents.
The fact this was Arsenal’s third game in six days, with a fourth to come in two days time made matters worse. But this was the time for Arsenal to stand up and be counted, to show the world that they were not bottlers, that they could win the big one when it mattered. Come on boys, lets show them some Wengerball!
Five minutes gone Hyppia scores to make it one-nil to Liverpool.
Oh sweet lord.
But wait! The heads are still up! Arsenal are on top, they have not rolled over and died! And sure enough Henry scores to make it one-one! Highbury is going nuts! The pressure continues to build and build as Arsenal dominate everything, Henry hits the bar and goes close again. Half-time is approaching but there is a goal coming you can tell. Come on Arsenal lets do it! There’s been a goal but it’s scored by Michael Owen.
It’s two-one to Liverpool. Just like Giggs a year previously he had nipped in while Arsenal were on the offensive and taken us by surprise. Highbury goes silent, and the players heads drop as another title seems to slip by…
But this is not 2003, this is 2004! To be fair to the 2003 team, had they been able to have a half time break after Giggs goal the outcome may have been different, but the 2004 have definitely made the most of it.
Heads up, game faces on, lets roll!
Three goals and an Arsenal masterclass later the game finishes 4-2 to the Gunners. There’s your bottle Timmy Tabloid! Who’s capitulating now Mr Ferguson? Every Gooner round the world rejoices because they saw that when the chips were down, and it really mattered the most the team came through and showed it had spirit and character. It was clear from that moment: Arsenal were going to win the league.
So fast forward to the last weekend in April 2003 and 2004. The 2003 team faced their first match since the United game, away to struggling Bolton Wanderers. With nothing but victory acceptable Arsenal played a cautious but sensible first half, not giving too much away while trying to spring forward searching for a goal.
However this did not come and at half time it was nil-nil, but far from being nervy, there was nothing to suggest Arsenal could not win the game. The Gunners came out looking determined and focused and raced into a two goal lead with 56 minutes gone. By the time the game went into the last twenty-minutes Arsenal were cruising, stroking the ball about, toying with Bolton, almost mocking them at times. Things were looking good, the form had come back, and right in the nick of time!
We were right back in the hunt! Fate had determined my first driving test would be that day so while I went out nervously to take it, I left safe in the knowledge that whatever happened on the road the three points were in the bag.
Two hours and one failed driving test later (how was I supposed to know that red light means stop? That pensioner had no business being there anyway) I switch on Ceefax to see if we managed to pinch a third. But no, there was no third in fact something had gone terribly wrong. We had let Bolton back in and it was 2-2.
To this day I have not plucked up the courage to watch those last 15 minutes where it all went wrong, I have seen the goals, let’s face it who has not? But whatever happened one thing was for sure and that was the title had gone. Sure mathematically we could do it, but United looked unstoppable and knew that if they won all their remaining games they were Champions.
We, both the players and the fans looked shell-shocked, our world crumbling around us. The title had been ours, it was so close, the elusive double double! But it was not going to be and we knew it. The hurt and pain of that day lives on and it probably will forever. Sure you forgive your team in days like these, just like the 2001 Cup Final has been more than made up for, but you never forget, they always stay with you, just like the good times do too. Which is just what we needed, and a year later we were to get it. Cue April 25th 2004 …
The week building up to the Spurs match had been tense but exciting. We knew that we could win the title at our biggest rivals ground, just two years after we won it at Old Trafford. The problem was we needed United and Chelsea to slip up. Manchester United surely obliged, limping to a poor one-nil defeat at home to Liverpool. This set the tone for what is to come, as let’s face it, when a penalty is given to the away team at Old Trafford AND is converted, you know that miracles are in the offing!
We knew a Chelsea win dashes our chances and an injury ravaged Newcastle team, just 72-hours removed from a tiring UEFA Cup semi-final seemed unlikely to stop them. But not only did Chelsea fail to win, but a Newcastle wonder goal from Shearer meant they lost and we only needed a draw to win the title. It was on!
Now I am not going to go through the Spurs match in detail, we all saw it and know what happened and I have gone on a lot already and some of you may be wondering if there is a point to this article (heck a lack of one never stopped me before!) but what I have tried to do is set the tone for the lead up to the climax of the two title chases, both this year’s and last’s.
See something hit me last summer, a summer which was not a pleasant one for Arsenal fans. Between having to accept our team had blown it, to hearing stories every day about our best players leaving while Chelsea were handed an blank cheque, things were not looking good. Then I realised just how much I missed the 2002 title win, but more importantly I had taken it for granted.
First of many I thought. Plenty more coming along, it’s plain sailing all the way. Heck even up until March 2003 I KNEW we were retaining the title. But we did not and it struck me how complacent and ignorant I have been. See you cannot take anything for granted in football. Sure you can look at things how they stand and make plausible predictions but really we do not know. Nobody knew about Roman Abrimoavich this time last year but he has transformed the English Championship into a three-horse race from a two-horse one.
A year ago Marc Vivean Foe was looking to a permanent move to Man City, his future on the verge of being secure, but within two-months he tragically died. Sure things look great for Arsenal’s long-term future, we have a new stadium, we have a fantastic manager, fantastic players, fantastic youth players but nothing is set in stone. If you want any proof of this watch the closing moments of Sunday’s game.
Watch the jubilation on the Spurs fans’ face when Robbie Keane scores. Hear the joy, the passion, the pleasure in their voices. Bit of a strange reaction you may think, after all Arsenal were still going to win the title. But I have it on good authority that this was not the case.
See apparently a large number of Spurs fans thought Arsenal needed a win! So when they equalised they thought they had stopped us from achieving the ultimate in bragging rights and pride, winning the title on your closest rivals home ground. The cheers were ones of pure unadulterated joy, like the birth of your first child or the first time your partner says they love you, and all because they thought they had stopped us. When was the last time they have cheered like that for their own team’s achievement? Probably not since 1961 when they won the Double.
And that’s the point. See back then when Spurs were the top team in England no one would have thought their fans would have been reduced to hating Arsenal more than loving Spurs. But that has happened and to be honest I feel embarrassed for both them and us. That said its a great time to be an Arsenal fan, the gap between the two teams has never been wider in Arsenal’s favour. But who can really say it will always be like that? Can we really say we will retain the league next year? Personally, while we will definitely be the team to beat, its certainly not in the bag.
So what can we learn from all this? Well it’s simple. Enjoy this Championship win, you never know when the next one is coming.
Let the title win sink in. Absorb it, consume it, be at one with it! Make sure you appreciate every moment between now and August and it all starting again. Appreciate what we have achieved, and love every second of it. Do not fret if Chelsea buy Ronaldo and Beckham in the summer and Arsenal only buy Pascal Cygan’s brother (my source has indicated the deal my be resurrected next April). Remember that whatever happens we have done it, we have got the title back and done it in a manner which deserves rejoicing. So for goodness sake let’s all enjoy it!
Because after all, if in 2047 the realisation sinks in that Arsenal’s last minute equaliser at Highbury has not in fact stopped Spurs from winning the league there, we may just look back and long for days like these.