Robert Exley
Arsenal’s first visit to Anfield came in late October 1893 against Liverpool (though Everton originally played their home games at Anfield, Arsenal never played the Toffees away until 1905 which was after they’d moved to Goodison Park). During Liverpool’s ‘invincible’ season in the old second division in 1893/94, the Reds inflicted a 0-2 defeat on Arsenal. The Gunners weren’t able to pick up their first point at Anfield until October 1908, when Woolwich Arsenal played out a 2-2 draw at Anfield. Arsenal’s first ever win at Anfield actually came as late as September 1919 when the Gunners pulled off a 3-2 win over Liverpool, with goals from Billy Blyth and two for Henry White.
Even as late as Herbert Chapman’s introduction to Highbury, this remained Arsenal’s only victory at Anfield. After a 2-0 win at Anfield on December 27th 1927, Arsenal’s record improved somewhat, where between that date and the outbreak of the second world war Liverpool won four games to Arsenal’s seven. During the inter-war period, the red half of Merseyside played second fiddle to the blue half, however the Merseyside Derby was still such an attraction that the Pathe News footage of a game in 1927 describes that: ‘Thousands packed to suffocation see Liverpool and Everton tie 1 goal each’.
One of the stars of Anfield during the inter-war years had been Matt Busby who joined Liverpool in 1936. After the Second World War, he was offered a coaching role at Anfield, however turned it down to head to Old Trafford to take up the vacant managerial role with Man United in 1946. After Busby left Anfield, Liverpool won the first post-war League Championship in 1946/47 and were in the running for a first League and FA Cup double of the twentieth century before losing a Semi-Final replay to Burnley. The following season however, the title headed to North London. On route to the title, Arsenal defeated Liverpool at Anfield 3-1 on Christmas Day with goals from Don Roper and two from Ronnie Rooke.
Arsenal’s good form at Anfield continued, during the late forties and early fifties Arsenal won on five occasions to Liverpool’s two with notable wins such as a 5-1 victory for the Gunners in Mid-November 1952 with two goals from Ben Marden and a hat-trick from Cliff Holton. Liverpool reached the FA Cup final in 1950 against Arsenal, both squads introduced in a British Movietone piece ahead of the Final, which Arsenal won 2-0. Within a year, Liverpool were top dog on Merseyside as Everton had dropped into the second tier, however by the time of their return in 1954 it was the red half of Merseyside that had dropped out of the top flight of English football and would remain there for the rest of the decade.
Arsenal’s last visit to Anfield before their drop came in November 1953, with a 2-1 win for Arsenal secure by goals from Doug Lishman and Jimmy Logie. The only Merseyside derby played between the two sides between 1951 and 1962 came in the FA Cup fourth round in January 1955, where second tier Liverpool hammered their top flight neighbours away from home in a 4-0 win for the red half of Merseyside. The fifties were not a particularly victorious time on Merseyside in terms of Football, which kind of makes it unsurprising that such lack of glory during the Beatles’ formative led all four them to generally spurn Football (although Lennon, as seen here, seemed to have more enthusiasm for American football after relocating there in the 1970s. His death also first announced to the world during a Monday Night Football game).
The rise in prominence of the Beatles and the Mersey sound however also coincided with the rise to prominence of both Mersey clubs. Arsenal’s first game back at Anfield after a nine year absence came in November 1962, in which Liverpool inflicted a 1-2 defeat on the Gunners courtesy of goals from Ronnie Moran and Roger Hunt, with Arsenal’s goal coming from Geoff Strong. It took Liverpool just two seasons to capture the League title on returning to the top flight and were crowned champions after inflicting a 0-5 defeat on Arsenal at Anfield, with goals from Ian St. John, Alf Arrowsmith, Roger Hunt and two goals for Peter Thompson.
Ironically, their first game as reigning champions at ‘Beatleville’ was also against Arsenal on what would be the first of a new weekly highlights show called ‘Match of the Day’. Ever since the failed experiment of live football early on in 1960/61, Football had resisted the overtures of television, however since the introduction of the Telstar trans-Atlantic satellite the upcoming 1966 World Cup in England would be the very first to be televised live throughout the world, meaning that the television companies were required to train up their production staff for televised football. This meant therefore that the Football League and Football Association agreed for a regular highlights programme on the BBC’s new second channel. The audience for which however would be restricted to the London area (the London centric approach shown from the results which Kenneth Wolstenholme reads out at the end) and only on televisions with a 625 line UHF system (most of the television sets in the country at the time were on 405 lines).
As it turned out, the television audience for that first Match of the Day would be around 20,000 less than those who turned out for the match. In the event, Liverpool took a two goal lead with goals from Roger Hunt and Gordon Wallace. Arsenal however pulled it back to two each with well-taken goals from Geoff Strong and Joe Baker and from what was shown in the MOTD highlights could have even won the game. Other notable events in this game also include the game being held up by black cat invading the pitch, however it brought no luck for Arsenal as Liverpool made it a 2-3 defeat with a goal three minutes from time from Gordon Wallace with a twenty yard shot past Jim Furnell in the Arsenal goal.
Arsenal goal scorer Geoff Strong would go on to join Liverpool three months later. The 1964/65 season would also mark Liverpool’s first venture in the European Champions Cup. On losing a two goal lead and drawing their Quarter Final tie with German side 1FC Koln 2-2, Liverpool avoided penalty shoot-out heartache on account of winning the toss of a coin (and to think some people think penalty shoot-outs are a lottery!). After winning the FA Cup that season, three days later Liverpool met reigning the European Cup holders Inter Milan in the Semi-Final and lining up for Inter in both legs was a player signed from Barcelona called Luis Suarez (obviously not that one!).
The Reds beat Inter Milan 3-1 at Anfield (and in the un-PC days of the 1960s, the Anfield crowd sing ‘Go Back to Italy’ @07.42, which led the press in Milan to dub the Liverpool crowd as ‘animals’). However, in the second leg Liverpool would go on to lose 0-3 in a highly contentious second leg, particularly Inter’s second where the ball was kicked out of goalkeeper Tommy Lawrence’s hands and a disallowed goal from Ian St. John. Liverpool went on to win the title again in 1965/66 with a 2-1 defeat of Chelsea at Anfield. Liverpool would also progress in Europe that season, defeating Celtic 2-0 in the second leg of the Semi-Final of the European Cup Winners Cup and going on to face Borussia Dortmund in the Final, just five days on from winning the title.
The 1966 European Cup Winners Cup final however – as a comparatively rare televised event - was a game which had indirectly aided Arsenal’s worst ever attendance at Highbury for a senior fixture as only 4,554 turned out for a League fixture against Leeds Utd. that same evening. The weather conditions were cold and wet and the game itself had no significant bearing on either team's fortunes – Leeds having already conceded the title to Liverpool the previous Saturday, while Arsenal endured their lowest league position for thirty six years, having not won at home since December. Unsurprisingly, many stayed at home to watch the Cup Winners Cup final rather than traipse up to Highbury. In the event, Liverpool went on to lose 1-2. The 1965/66 season would also be the last time Liverpool would win a trophy for the next seven seasons.
Liverpool’s challenge for the European Cup in 1966/67 ended with a 1-5 thrashing to Ajax. Liverpool also exited the FA Cup after a 0-1 defeat to Everton in a tie which was captured by CCTV and relayed back to Anfield for those who were unable to obtain a ticket at Goodison Park by ABC TV (who were then ITV’s Northern Weekend franchise holder and sister company of the ABC cinema chain). The aggregate audience on either side of Liverpool’s Stanley Park had been 105,000, then a record viewing audience for a Cup tie outside of the FA Cup Final. Famously, last year a reporter for BBC North West Tonight Vox Popped people in Liverpool City Centre about whether they were present at either Goodison or Anfield, including – unknowingly - former Liverpool goalkeeper Tommy Lawrence, who informed the reporter that he was actually playing in the tie.
In 1967/68 Liverpool would finish the season third in the League and three points off of eventually Champions Man City, though would pull off a 2-1 win away against that year’s European Champions Man United. George Best gave Man United the lead, however goals from Chris Lawler and Roger Hunt would give Liverpool the points, as well as a 2-1 win at Elland Road against Leeds Utd in May, with Ron Yeats knocked out cold by a Peter Lorimer shot and Bob Paisley booked for arguing with the ref. Liverpool would go one place better and finish as runners up the following season, albeit six points behind Champions Leeds Utd. That season Liverpool, appearing on Match of the Day would beat Wolves 1-0 with World Cup winner Roger Hunt scoring his 300th goal of his career.
Liverpool finished fifth in the League in 1969/70, but would appear in the first ever colour edition of Match of the Day beating West Ham 2-0. Two weeks later, Arsenal won at Anfield for the first time in sixteen years with a 1-0 victory secured with a goal from Jimmy Robertson. On route to the Double in 1970/71, Arsenal visited Anfield at the end of January 1971. Liverpool inflicted a 0-2 defeat on the Gunners with a goal from John Toshack and a penalty from Tommy Smith. For Arsenal this was a second defeat on the bounce which put Leeds Utd. five points clear after a 2-0 away win at Manchester City. Arsenal however pulled back the deficit and sealed the Double the following May with a 2-1 win over Liverpool. This ITN single angle camera footage of the final shows how the final would have looked if you were lucky enough to obtain a ticket.
The following season it was Liverpool who were involved in the title race. Early on in the season Liverpool secured a 3-2 victory over Leicester. Arsenal’s visit to Anfield came in November, with Liverpool inflicting a 2-3 defeat on Arsenal with goals from Ian Ross, Ian Callaghan and Emlyn Hughes, while Ray Kennedy was on target for Arsenal as well as a Liverpool own goal. By December Liverpool inflicted a 3-2 defeat on title challenging Derby County, which put Liverpool level with Derby on points, however both were six points behind leaders Man United. By the season’s end however, Liverpool finished third and one point behind Champions Derby, while Man United finished ten points behind in eighth place.
After seven trophy-less seasons Liverpool finally attained two trophies in the same season. On route to the league title in early September Liverpool defeated Wolves 4-2 at Anfield. Liverpool for a large part of the season topped the table, however were overhauled by Arsenal after a 2-0 victory for the Gunners at Anfield in February with an Alan Ball penalty and a goal from John Radford. By the end of that month with a 0-1 defeat away at West Brom, Arsenal conceded the lead in the title race. For Arsenal the title was effectively lost by failing to win four of their last five games. Liverpool on the other hand defeated Leeds Utd. 2-0 at Anfield on Easter Monday, followed by a 0-0 draw at home to Leicester to bring the title back to Anfield after a seven year wait.
In between those two fixtures, Liverpool defeated Spurs in the Semi Final of the UEFA Cup to meet Borussia Monchengladbach in a two-legged final. Heavy rain had caused the first leg at Anfield to be abandoned after twenty seven minutes, however was replayed the following day resulting in a 3-0 win for Liverpool with two goals from Keegan and one from Larry Lloyd. In the second leg in Monchengladbach, two goals from Jupp Heynckes put the Reds in trouble however they held on to win 3-2 on aggregate and take their first European trophy. The following season, Liverpool finished second in the table behind Leeds Utd, who dominated the old First Division that season. Liverpool however inflicted only the second defeat of the season on Leeds by March 1974, winning 1-0 with a goal from Steve Heighway.
Arsenal visited Anfield a month later and left with both points with a goal from Ray Kennedy, which turned out to be his penultimate goal in an Arsenal shirt after he would join Liverpool as Bill Shankly’s last signing during the summer of 1974. Shanks’ last trophy with Liverpool would be the 1974 FA Cup, which was won with a 3-0 defeat of Newcastle. This footage shows the post-match interviews with a disappointed Malcolm MacDonald and the proclamation of Bill Shankly that his team were good enough to win a trophy ever season (of which for the next fifteen years they very nearly did!).
1974/75 however would be a rare trophy-less season under Bob Paisley. It would also be the last time Arsenal would win away at Anfield for the next fourteen and a half years (and sadly, not caught on film). In November, Arsenal would secure a 3-1 win with goals from Liam Brady and two for Alan Ball, while Ray Kennedy would be on the scoresheet for Liverpool. That same month Liverpool would defeat Bobby Robson’s Ipswich Town 5-2, who that season came third - level on points with Liverpool. In 1975/76, Liverpool regained the League title though at the start of the season lost 0-2 to title challengers QPR.
Arsenal met Liverpool at Anfield in early December, with Liverpool three points off of the top of the table while Arsenal were three points off of the relegation zone. In a game of three penalties, Phil Neal gave Liverpool the lead after twenty three minutes with Alan Ball equalising from the spot two minutes later. Another Phil Neal penalty would give Liverpool the lead on the hour mark, while Arsenal equalised two minutes from time with a goal from Brian Kidd. QPR however won thirteen of their last fifteen games, though Liverpool won their final game away at Wolves, coming from one goal down to win 3-1 and take the title by a single point.
