Layth Yousif
An extract from Gooner contributor Layth Yousif’s book, ‘Arsene Wenger: Fifty Defining Fixtures’, linked to a competition to win one of three copies.
Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal (A) 25th April 2004
With Newcastle United beating Chelsea's ahead of kick-off it meant Arsenal would start the match nine points ahead of The Blues. It also ensured that Arsene Wenger’s side required a single point to capture the League Title for the 13th time. The fact that they could do this at the home of their bitter North London rivals – for potentially the second time, after achieving the same feat during the club’s march to the double in 1971 - only heightened the sense of expectation, and tension, in N17. The momentous 90 minutes which followed was to prove a memorable and defining afternoon for the club on the day they became Champions of England. A day which would be remembered for as long as Arsenal Football Club existed as the best team in England proved beyond all doubt that North London was most definitely red.
Tottenham Hotspur: Keller, Kelly, Gardner, King, Taricco, Davies, Redknapp, Brown, Jackson, Keane. Kanoute. Substitutes: Defoe for Jackson, Poyet for Kelly, Bunjevevic for Taricco. Not used: Hirschfield, Ricketts
Arsenal: Lehmann, Lauren, Toure, Campbell, Cole, Parlour, Vieira, Gilberto, Pires, Bergkamp, Henry. Substitutes: Edu for Parlour, Reyes for Henry. Not used: Stack, Keown, Clichy
Referee: Mark Halsey
Att: 36,097
With Newcastle’s result filtering through just before kick off Arsenal were determined to do all they could to win the title at White Hart Lane. The opening exchanges confirmed they were deadly serious in their pursuit of their ambitions. With less than 180 seconds gone, Thierry Henry collected the ball just outside his own box, before commencing an all-encompassing passage of play which culminated in Vieira scoring past Keller via a Bergkamp cross. Just to prove the sweeping nature of the move, from Henry gathering the ball to Vieira scoring was timed at an incredible 11 seconds.
1-0 to the Arsenal became 2-0 with ten minutes still to play before half time. Bergkamp, again revelling in his role as tormentor in chief of Spurs fed a Vieira charge through the Spurs defensive lines as if they were invisible. He then played the ball back to Pires who had ghosted into the box to allow him to sidefoot home. At 2-0 up with the title in sight the 3,000 Gooners in the ground including the author started taunting the home fans by reminding them vociferously that it was 43 years and counting since they last won in the league – in black and white to boot.
It was understandable with the title seemingly won Arsenal’s intensity dropped slightly, allowing Jamie Redknapp to fire home on 62 minutes with a low drive from outside the area that Lehmann, who was having one of his more truculent and fractious games perhaps should have done better to stop. It was also understandable that Spurs would then target him in their attempt to level the scores. Which is what occurred in the 90th minute when, Keane, unobserved by any of the officials raked his studs down Lehmann’s leg whilst engaged in an unseemly jostling match awaiting an injury time corner. After booking both Keane and Lehman, referee Mark Halsey had no option but to point to the penalty spot. Keane then netted to ensure the final score would be 2-2.
But what was not understandable was the Lilywhites over-the-top celebrations which prompted one writer present to note with a frown: “From White Hart Lane’s celebrations you would have thought Tottenham had just secured the title themselves.” These were the words of Times Matt Dickinson, with a Sahara dry wit. What was also incredible was the Argentine defender Taricco - who prior to the equaliser had suffered a torrid chasing from the Arsenal forward line – but was now indelibly involved in his team’s celebrations, actually managed to pull his hamstring in his fervent merriment. A clearly incensed Henry, to his eternal credit – despite being warned by the authorities beforehand – at the final whistle gathered his troops together and took them to the now celebrating corner where the Arsenal fans were congregated. Henry showing leadership skills that proved you didn’t have to be captain to be a leader of men then told his men to celebrate long and hard on the White Hart Lane turf.
As he said afterwards in a thinly veiled nod at Taricco’s ridiculous behaviour:” When you see behaviour like that it is impossible for us not to celebrate in response.” Ray Parlour in an interview with the author for The Gooner concurred, adding:” We just thought how can you not celebrate winning the league at White Hart Lane? We certainly made sure we celebrated after. I knew how big the rivalry was between the two teams growing up as a young Arsenal player, and we knew how special a triumph like that was for the fans as well – so we certainly made sure we enjoyed winning the league at White Hart Lane!”
As the final whistle was blown indicating Arsenal had become Champions of England at White Hart Lane, Arsene Wenger, the arch perfectionist that he is actually slapped his thigh in frustration of Lehmann’s actions which denied a win. There are no records of how many times a manager of a title winning side has carried out such an action immediately after winning the league - but it gave a tremendous insight as to how much of an obsessive purist Wenger was and is. As he said afterwards: “That tarnished it a bit at first. It has become a game to wind him up” Yet it did not take long for such a minor quibble to give way to the hugely fulfilling realisation that his team were now Champions. He said with feeling:” I don’t want to diminish my other two championships but this is special.”
Tottenham fans, mirroring their team’s embarrassing over the top celebrations at achieving a draw against the Champions at the final whistle, claimed that they had restored a semblance of pride. It was utter and arrant nonsense: Arsenal had won the league at White Hart Lane for the second time in the history of the North London derby – that was all which ultimately mattered. And it was Arsenal celebrations at the end of game that proved that emphatic fact. For the thirteenth time in the club’s extensive and distinguished history Arsenal Football Club were Champions of England.
Wenger told the BBC afterwards: "The overall achievement of the club has been tremendous. The championship is where you see how good a team is. All the players have had a remarkable attitude and all my staff have been fantastic. We've been remarkably consistent, haven't lost a game and we have played stylish football. We have entertained people who just love football." Wenger himself joined in the vigorous revelries with the players afterwards, and in a shot which encapsulated that era at Arsenal is pictured with his hands in the air in triumph in front of the celebrating Gooners. In the background is a flag raised proudly by the fans. It read simply: “Arsene Knows.” He certainly did. Yet when asked whether his team would be celebrating the title that night, a deadly serious Wenger added: “No champagne just water.”
It was unsure whether one of his stalwarts heeded his advice. In an interview with author for The Gooner years later, Ray Parlour when questioned as to how he celebrated that night recalled with a smile: “What did I do that night? I don’t know! I think I went out and celebrated for about three days afterwards!” Yet despite well-deserved celebrations Parlour and his teammates knew that their manager’s goal was now to achieve what was previously thought impossible: to remain unbeaten throughout a 38 match league campaign – an accomplishment which would turn an extraordinary season into an immortal one. One which would see them labelled for all eternity as The Invincibles.
Twitter@laythy29
Competition
To win one of three copies of Layth’s book, answer the following question:
In this month’s Gooner podcast, which player for the Spurs side of that day is singled out for attention?
a) Robbie Keane
b) Jamie Redknapp
c) Mauricio Taricco
Email your answer to [email protected], remembering to include your postal address in the entry. Get your answer in by the end of Friday next week (26th September) and we will announce the winners in the editorial on the Spurs game that weekend.
