Robert Exley
Howard Kendall returned to Everton in May 1981, initially as Player-Manager on the back of a successful spell at Blackburn Rovers, which nearly resulted in two successive promotions. His first game back at Goodison would be 3-1 win over Birmingham at the start of the 1981/82 season. Kendall’s first visit to Highbury in late November 1981 resulted in a 1-0 win for Arsenal with a goal from Brian McDermott. Kendall’s start however was far from plain sailing and by November 1982 would suffer a humiliating 0-5 defeat to Liverpool at Goodison Park with four goals scored by Ian Rush (and from the highlights Liverpool it seems were unlucky not to bag even more!), which left Everton languishing in the bottom half of the table.
Everton’s torrid time was compounded a couple of weeks later when a Alan Sunderland hat-trick dumped them out of the League Cup as Arsenal triumphed 3-0 at Highbury. Kendall however managed to turn Everton around by signing up players like Neville Southall, Trevor Steven and Derek Mountfield from the lower leagues, as well as bringing through younger players already at the club, such as Captain Kevin Ratcliffe, Graeme Sharp, future Arsenal star Kevin Richardson and Gary Stevens. Kendall’s first success at Everton was reaching the 1984 Milk Cup Final against Liverpool in the first all Merseyside final at Wembley.
This documentary by Granada covered the fans’ journey to Wembley. The final finished 0-0, with Liverpool winning the replay three days later at Maine Road 1-0 with an excellent Graeme Souness strike securing their fourth League Cup in a row. A month later however, Everton's return to Wembley was secured by a 1-0 Semi Final win over Southampton at Highbury with a mammoth pitch invasion at the end which would lead to Highbury being struck off of the FA’s list to host future Semi Finals for refusing to erect a perimeter fence (though Hillsborough would prove our board right five years later).
The Toffees went on to defeat Elton John and Graham Taylor's Watford 2-0 in the 1984 FA Cup Final, with goals from Graeme Sharp and Andy Gray. The following October, Arsenal would defeat Everton 1-0 with a Charlie Nicholas penalty to go top of the table with Everton languishing in eighth position, however the season would pan out drastically differently as Arsenal finished seventh and Everton’s Class of ‘85 would run away with the title, accruing ninety points on top of winning the European Cup Winners Cup though losing out on a treble with a 0-1 defeat to Man Utd (though at the very least enjoying a Kissogram en route to Wembley).
Sadly, Heysel would deprive Everton of their chance of challenging for the European Cup which the dour 1986 final of Steaua Bucharest and Barcelona suggests they may well have had an extremely strong chance of winning. The 1985/86 season saw Everton replacing Andy Gray with Gary Lineker, but failed to win a trophy losing the title to Liverpool, as well as the 1986 FA Cup Final. Everton did however win their first game at Highbury for eleven years, 0-1 defeat of Arsenal with a goal from Adrian Heath. The Toffees managed back to back wins with the same score line as a John Lukic error handed Wayne Clarke – younger brother of Leeds United’s Alan – a goal scoring opportunity which he duly took as Everton took their title back from Liverpool to become 1986/87 League Champions.
The Post-Heysel ban however would hit Everton hard as Gary Lineker would head to Barcelona after finishing top scorer at the 1986 World Cup Finals. After the 1987 League title triumph, Howard Kendall would also head to Athletic Bilboa to try his luck on the continent, which led to a gradual decline for the Toffees. Kendall would be replaced by his assistant Colin Harvey, whose first game at Highbury in December 1987 ended in a 1-1 draw with a David Rocastle equaliser cancelling out an earlier Dave Watson strike. A major turning point for both clubs however would be the second leg of League Cup Semi Final at Highbury, with Arsenal leading 1-0 from the first leg at Goodison.
Goals from Michael Thomas, David Rocastle and Alan Smith put Arsenal through to the final for the second year in succession, with a thumping aggregate score line of 4-1. The following season when the two sides met at Highbury, Arsenal would triumph 2-0 with Lee Dixon scoring his first for Arsenal and Niall Quinn scoring after a year out of the first team side. A week later, Everton would defeat Norwich in the FA Cup Semi Final at Villa Park to reach Wembley. Sadly, a hundred miles north the other Semi at Hillsborough between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest which would decide their opponents would fail to conclude that afternoon with the tragic loss of ninety six lives due to overcrowding at the Leppings Lane end of the stadium.
Everton would go on to meet Liverpool in the 1989 FA Cup Final but on an emotional afternoon would lose 2-3 to their neighbours, with Ian Rush again bagging two goals. Another twelve months on and Everton would visit Highbury on the same afternoon as another calamity of the Thatcherite era in the shape of the infamous Poll Tax riots a few miles away in Trafalgar Square. Arsenal would triumph 1-0 with a goal from Alan Smith. By the time of Everton's next visit to Highbury in January 1991 Howard Kendall would return to Everton, however would fail to replicate the success of his first spell as manager. Arsenal would triumph 1-0 on the day with a goal from Paul Merson, on their way to their second title win in three seasons (note the odd squad numbering for this game – number 6 is Perry Groves!).
By the end of that calendar year Arsenal would defeat Everton again 4-2 with all four scored by Ian Wright and laid on by Anders Limpar. In 1992/93, Wright and Limpar would combine again, with the former opening the scoring and the latter securing three points with an excellent last minute strike in a 2-0 win for Arsenal. Wright's scoring streak against the Toffees would continue in 1993/94 as he would score both in a 2-0 win in August, his second strike one of the goals of the season.
In December 1993 after three years of mediocrity, Howard Kendall resigned having failed to return Everton to their eighties prominence. His replacement Mike Walker, who joined from Norwich to take over from Kendall, feared little better but one of his signings during his brief period at Everton was poaching one of Everton's main tormentors during his time at Arsenal, Anders Limpar (as seen from this video here, even now Limpar still has all the tricks). In 1993/94 Everton were close to the drop to the second tier and went into the last Saturday of the season knowing that even a win wouldn’t secure their status. The Toffees pulled back a two goal deficit to pull off a 3-2 win to secure their spot in the Premiership.
Another tormentor of Everton during this period, Ian Wright however would be on target again the following season when the Toffees visited Highbury again in 1994/95, though veteran Dave Watson would equalise with a twenty five yard strike, the game finishing 1-1. By now Joe Royle had taken over at the helm and led the Toffees to their last trophy win, a 1-0 victory over Man Utd in the 1995 FA Cup Final. Everton would also secure their last away victory over Arsenal the following January with a 1-2 defeat for the Gunners after taking the lead with another Ian Wright goal against the Toffees cancelled out with a Graham Stuart equaliser and an excellent winner from an Andrei Kanchelskis shot from the edge of the eighteen yard box six minutes from time.
The first Everton visit to Highbury during the Wenger era came in January 1997, with a 3-1 win for Arsenal with goals from Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira and Paul Merson and a bullet header from Duncan Ferguson to pull one back for the Toffees at the death. The early optimism of the Joe Royle era had fizzled out by March 1997, with the aforementioned resigning from the post. Howard Kendall took over the Everton job for the third time for the 1997/98 season, which turned out to be a calamity of a season for the Toffees who would go into their penultimate Premiership game teetering on the edge of the relegation zone to face a double chasing Arsenal side who were looking to secure the title that afternoon with a win.
Arsenal would take the lead through a Slaven Billic own goal, followed by two for Marc Overmars and rounded off by an excellent last minute strike by Tony Adams to take the title back to North London for the first time in seven years with a 4-0 win. For Everton however, they would enter the final Saturday of the season third from bottom. A 1-1 draw with Coventry however secured Everton’s place in the Premiership on goal difference at the expense of Bolton Wanderers. Everton would return to Highbury the following November with former Rangers Walter Smith at the helm, however Arsenal would secure three points with a 1-0 win with a goal from Nicolas Anelka.
Everton’s last visit to Highbury before the millennium came in October 1999, with the Toffees taking the lead through an excellent John Collins free kick, however Arsenal would run out 4-1 winners with goals from Lee Dixon, two from Davor Suker and a last minute strike from Nwankwo Kanu. The same score line would prevail for Everton’s first visit to Highbury this side of the millennium in April 2001, with goals from Freddie Ljungberg, Gilles Grimandi, Sylvain Wiltord and Thierry Henry and Everton’s strike coming from former Arsenal striker Kevin Campbell. Arsenal would achieve the feat of scoring four past Everton for the fourth game in a row and with the 2001/02 title already secured concentrated on achieving the record of being the first side to score in every game of an English season with a 4-3 win secured with goals from Dennis Bergkamp, two for Thierry Henry and one for Everton old boy Francis Jeffers. It would also be Lee Dixon’s final game before retirement and in honour would captain Arsenal for the day.
The following March would see David Moyes’s first visit to Highbury as Everton manager. Arsenal would take the lead through a goal from Pascal Cygan. Wayne Rooney, having made his mark on the earlier fixture that season at Goodison did so again putting away an equaliser for the Toffees. Patrick Vieira however would secure the points for the Arsenal with a 2-1 win. The start of Arsenal’s campaign during the ‘invincibles’ season of 2003/04 would be against Everton at Highbury, with the Gunners running out 2-1 winners with goals from a Thierry Henry penalty and a second half strike from Robert Pires.
Arsenal would remain unbeaten until late October 2004 at Old Trafford, sealed with a last minute strike from Wayne Rooney now turning out for Man Utd. Everton however were not doing too badly in his absence and were six points clear of Wayne Rooney’s new club in the third place in the Premiership by the time the Toffees next visited Highbury in the League Cup in early November. A young second string Arsenal side however would hand out a 3-1 beating to Everton with a goal from Quincy Owusu-Abeyie and two for Arturo Lupoli. As exciting as they were to watch that night, now both in their late twenties Quincy is currently without a club and Lupoli languishing in the Italian Serie B with Frosinone.
Despite Everton securing a Champions League spot in fourth place that season, the first team would still exceed the performance of the second stringers with a 7-0 defeat for the Toffees in May 2005 with goals from six separate goal scorers – Robin Van Persie, two for Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira, Edu on his last performance at Highbury, Dennis Bergkamp and Mathieu Flamini. Everton’s final visit to Highbury the following September would result in a 2-0 victory for Arsenal with two goals for Sol Campbell. Everton’s first visit to Arsenal’s new stadium in late October 2006 would end in a 1-1 draw with Tim Cahill giving Everton a first half lead, Robin Van Persie equalising with an excellent free kick nineteen minutes from time.
Everton’s visit to Arsenal for the penultimate game of the 2007/08 season came after a promising campaign had fully come off the rails. A Nicolas Bendtner goal thirteen minutes from time gave Arsenal three ultimately meaningless points. The 2008/09 season would lack a title challenge of any kind from Arsenal, however the Gunners would secure a 3-1 win over Everton after going a goal behind in the first half. A Samir Nasri strike early in the second half would pull Arsenal level and goals from Robin Van Persie and Theo Walcott would secure the points. The next Everton visit to Arsenal in arctic conditions in January 2010 would see Arsenal twice fall behind with a Leon Osman own goal cancelling out his earlier strike to put the Toffees in the lead. Steven Pienaar put Everton ahead with nine minutes to go, but a late Tomas Rosicky equaliser, making it 2-2, meant that an away win for Everton at Arsenal remained elusive.
Twelve months on, in February 2011, Everton would strike first at Arsenal for the third year in a row with Louis Saha scoring from what looked like an offside position. However goals from Arshavin and Koscielny giving Arsenal a 2-1 win. Everton’s next visit at the end of that calendar year would coincide with Arsenal’s 125th anniversary, an exquisite Robin Van Persie volley securing a 1-0 win for the Gunners. Arsenal’s next home game against Everton would be the final fixture for David Moyes against North London’s finest. With the two sides challenging for the Champions League fourth placed spot the match ended in a 0-0 stalemate. Everton’s first visit under the reign of Roberto Martinez would also end in honours even. Arsenal would take the lead through a Mesut Ozil strike ten minutes from time, but would be cancelled out by a goal from Gerard Deulofeu – then on loan from Barcelona – with six minutes left to play ending in a 1-1 draw. Mesut Ozil would strike again as Arsenal met Everton in the Quarter Finals of the 2014 FA Cup, just seven minutes into the game, though Romelu Lukaku would pull one back for the Toffees. However a Mikel Arteta penalty and two for Olivier Giroud in the last seven minutes would put Arsenal through to the Semi Finals with a 4-1 win and on course for their first trophy win in nine years.
Arsenal would triumph again in last year’s home fixture with Everton, goals from Olivier Giroud and a last minute strike from Tomas Rosicky giving the Gunners a 2-0 win. The very last Arsenal v Everton meeting occurred around thirteen weeks ago, back in July in the final of the Barclays Asia Trophy Final. Goals from Theo Walcott, Santi Carzorla and Mesut Ozil secured a 3-1 win for Arsenal out in Singapore to secure the first leg of a ‘Mickey Mouse Treble’ which would also include the Emirates Cup and the Community Shield in successive weeks.
