Robert Exley
(Previous flashbacks for Leicester away can be found here and here, while yesterday’s edition can be found here)
After achieving promotion in 1970/71, in their first season back in the top flight the Foxes finished in twelfth position, however that season played out noteworthy high scoring away defeats such as two 2-3 losses at Liverpool in August and Man United in November. Leicester’s first game back at Highbury on returning to the top flight in 1971/72 came at the end of September, with the Gunners taking the points with a 3-0 win with goals from Pat Rice and two for John Radford. Leicester’s next visit to Highbury came in January 1973 in the third round of the FA Cup. Frank Worthington gave the Foxes the lead, though Arsenal pulled one back with a great strike by Ray Kennedy. John Farrington put Leicester back in the lead, George Armstrong however equalised, with the game ending in a 2-2 draw. Arsenal went on to win the replay at Filbert Street four days later, with goals from Eddie Kelly and John Radford securing a 2-1 win. Nine months later, into the 1973/74 season, Leicester achieved their first win over Arsenal at Highbury for eight years, inflicting a 0-2 defeat on the Gunners in September 1973.
The following month, unbeaten Leeds United came to Filbert Street taking a 2-0 lead with two great strikes from Frank Worthington and Alan Birchenall. Leeds however saved their unbeaten record with goals from Mick Jones and Billy Bremner, the game finishing as a 2-2 draw. At the start of December 1973, Leicester achieved a 3-0 win over Spurs at Filbert Street, with goals from Steve Earle and two for Len Glover. Leicester also managed to put together an FA Cup run of sorts in 1973/74, beating Spurs again 1-0 in the third round.
Leicester would go on to a 4-0 away win at Luton, a 2-0 win away at QPR in the Quarter Final, before a 1-3 defeat to Shankly’s Liverpool eliminated Leicester in a Semi Final replay at Villa Park. Three days later, Leicester played out a 3-3 draw with Midlands rivals Birmingham City. In 1974/75, Arsenal played Leicester an incredible seven times. The season opened with Arsenal visiting Filbert Street in August and coming home with a 1-0 win courtesy of Brian Kidd scoring on his debut, followed by being drawn at home to the Foxes in the second round of the League Cup three and a half weeks later where Kidd hit the net again, though an Alan Birchenall goal for Leicester meant a 1-1 draw and in those days a replay eight days later at Filbert Street, which Arsenal lost 1-2.
Leicester’s visit to Highbury in the League came in mid-December, which ended in a 0-0 draw. After Leicester only just eliminated non-league Leatherhead at Filbert Street, their prize was a trip to Highbury in the fifth round in mid-February which again ended in a 0-0 draw. The replay at Filbert Street was scoreless in normal time, making it 270 consecutive minutes of play without a goal to show for it, until Radford scored for Arsenal eight minutes into extra time, for an Alan Birchenall equaliser forced a second replay. Arsenal lost the toss, meaning that it was back to Filbert Street. This time Arsenal settled the matter with a goal from John Radford after extra time. The Gunners however would be eliminated at home to that year’s FA Cup winners, West Ham in the Quarter Finals.
In 1974/75, Arsenal would finish in sixteenth place - one point ahead of Leicester in eighteenth. The following season however, the Foxes would finish ten places higher than the Gunners in seventh place, to Arsenal’s seventeenth. Leicester visited Highbury in September 1975, with the two sides playing out a 1-1 draw. Frank Stapleton would be on target for the Arsenal, while Leicester’s goal would be scored by former Gunner Jon Sammells. A notable fixture for Leicester during the 1976/77 season would be a 1-1 draw at Filbert Street with Man United in November. Leicester’s visit to Highbury that season would come in April, where the Gunners ran out 3-0 winners with a nineteen year old David O’Leary actually scoring twice and another nineteen year old Graham Rix scoring on his debut.
Arsenal would finish the 1976/77 season in eighth place, three places above Leicester in eleventh though separated by just one point. Frank McLintock would take over the manager’s job at Filbert Street in the summer of 1977 and would be interviewed here by ATV’s Gary Newbon (as well as West Brom’s Ronnie Allen) on the pressures of Football management. Leicester’s visit to Highbury in 1977/78 came in September, where the Gunners sealed a 2-1 win with goals from Malcolm MacDonald and Frank Stapleton, which aided Leicester in finishing rock bottom of the table that year and returning to the second tier after seven years in the first.
As a result Frank McLintock lasted just one season at the helm before being replaced by Jock Wallace, seen here in a piece for ATV with Gary Newbon putting the Leicester squad through their paces in training. While down the Second tier, Leicester scored a 3-0 victory over top flight side Norwich at home in the FA Cup third round. That same year, Arsenal had a marathon FA Cup run against Sheffield Wednesday (then in the third tier) which stretched to five games over sixteen days. The first game was played away at Hillsborough, which ended in a 1-1 draw (with the start of the second half held up by Pat Jennings being pelted with snowballs by the Hillsborough crowd @13.30), followed by the same score line back at Highbury three days later.
After the first replay in which the sides drew 1-1, the remaining three games were played at Leicester’s Filbert Street as a neutral venue. On Monday 15th January, the two sides played out a 2-2 draw, with Liam Brady and Alan Sunderland on target for Arsenal. The fourth replay was played forty eight hours on. Two goals from Frank Stapleton and one from Willie Young gave Arsenal a 3-3 draw. Finally, on Monday 22nd January the tie was finally put to bed with goals from Frank Stapleton and Steve Gatting (brother of Cricketer Mike and current Arsenal youth coach). Allegedly, this tie is the roots of why Arsenal fans sing ‘….and Leicester’ in response to the chant of ‘we all follow the Arsenal over land and sea’, though this may be disputed by the fact that most other London clubs also sing this too.
Leicester returned to the top tier in 1980, their first visit back at Highbury saw a 1-0 win for Arsenal with a goal from Frank Stapleton in October. While fighting the drop the following season, Jock Wallace attempted to sign Dutch legend Johan Cruyff. Cruyff became a free agent after the collapse of NASL side Washington Diplomats, the Dutch master however joined Spanish side Levante instead. One piece of notoriety for the Foxes that season came at the end of January, when they became the first side to win at Anfield in eighty five games in all competitions, since Birmingham City won there in the League in January 1978 (this was a record number of home games unbeaten until that figure was surpassed by Chelsea in the noughties).
Despite this, Leicester would finish second bottom and be relegated back to the old second division at the end of the season, remaining there for two years. On their return, in October 1983 Leicester played out a farcical match which featured on Match of the Day against Southampton in torrential rain that eventually had to be abandoned. Leicester’s first visit back to Highbury on returning to the top tier came in late April 1984. Arsenal ran out 2-1 winners with goals from Paul Davis and Tony Woodcock, while a young Gary Lineker was on target for Leicester. Twelve months on, Lineker’s last appearance at Highbury in a Leicester shirt came in March 1985. Arsenal would take three points again in a 2-0 win secured by goals from Raphael Meade and Steve Williams.
Early on in the 1985/86, Arsenal would make it a hat-trick of home wins over Leicester, as a Tony Woodcock goal gave Arsenal a 1-0 win in front of just 18,207 fans. Lineker had been sold off to reigning champions Everton just a few weeks earlier, though Leicester still had his old strike partner Alan Smith in the side. Since returning to the top flight in 1983 however Leicester remained in the bottom half of the top flight and in 1985/86 would finish just one point off of the relegation zone. The Foxes would be in another relegation battle again throughout 1986/87. On transfer deadline day, Arsenal signed Leicester top scorer Alan Smith.
However, with Alan Smith Cup-tied and unable to participate in Arsenal’s League Cup run and with the Gunners by this point out of contention for the League title, it was agreed that Smith would be loaned back to the Foxes until the end of the season to help their relegation fight. On Easter Monday 1987, Leicester visited Highbury in the League. This game features an early appearance for Paul Merson in an Arsenal shirt. The Gunners took the lead through Paul Davis, though an error from Arsenal reserve keeper Rhys Wilmot brought a Leicester equaliser from Russell Osman. Martin Hayes however restored Arsenal’s lead from the penalty spot. Arsenal rounded off their victory with superb goals from Charlie Nicholas shooting from outside the box and another from Martin Hayes from a run that started in his own half, to give the Gunners a 4-1 victory.
Leicester failed to win another game for the remainder of the 1986/87 season, which resulted in the Foxes dropping out of the top tier, where they would remain for the next seven seasons. Leicester’s only visit to Highbury during this period would come in the second leg of the League Cup second round in October 1991. As with the first leg, Ian wright was on the scoresheet again, scoring his sixth goal in just four games since his move from Crystal Palace. The tie would be secured by a Paul Merson goal which made it 2-0 on the night, but 3-1 on aggregate over the two legs. Leicester returned to the top flight in 1994/95 and came to Highbury in February, with the Foxes anchored to the bottom of the Premiership, while Arsenal with one win in their last six lay in eleventh place.
For those critical of Wenger today, there is often a tendency to view the Graham years more favourably. Leicester’s visit that season however would be the last match during the George Graham era and as this footage shows, had Graham not faced the sack from the bung scandal there would have been every chance of a growing bandwagon calling for his head on the basis of poor performances on the pitch. Ian Selley broke his leg in this game, which at the age of nineteen was effectively the beginning of the end of his time at Highbury (though falling down the Leagues, Selley would carrying on playing until 2012, finishing his career at Kingstonian). One bright spot which appeared in this match however had been a goal from Paul Merson – his first since his drink, drug and gambling revelations of just three months prior.
Leicester however would grab an equaliser twelve minutes from time from Mark Draper meaning that Arsenal under George Graham had failed to win their last seven games at Highbury. Leicester would finish second bottom in 1994/95, though return back to the Premiership after just one season. Martin O’Neill took over in December 1995 and guided the Foxes back via the play offs. His first visit to Highbury as manager came in April 1997, towards the end of Arsene Wenger’s first season at Highbury. Arsenal would be just three points off of the top of the Premiership and still in the hunt for the title. The Gunners took all three points courtesy of a 2-0 win with goals from Tony Adams and David Platt.
Arsenal though would have to wait another twelve months for a Premiership title, although when Leicester visited Highbury on Boxing Day 1997, the Gunners lay in sixth place and thirteen points off of the top of the table. Another goal for David Platt and an own goal from Steve Walsh gave Arsenal the points, while a David Seaman goalkeeping blunder fell to Neil Lennon who converted for the Foxes, though Arsenal won 2-1. In 1998/99, Leicester came to Highbury in February a few days after a 1-1 draw against Man United at Old Trafford. The Gunners ran out 5-0 winners, with a hat-trick for Nicolas Anelka and two for Ray Parlour.
Leicester City visited Highbury on the opening day of the 1999/2000 season, taking the lead just before the hour with a goal from Tony Cottee. Dennis Bergkamp equalised eight minutes later and with a minute to go Frank Sinclair headed into his own net to give Arsenal a 2-1 win. Sinclair scored another own goal the following week against Chelsea and in fact jointly holds the record for most Premiership own goals in a career with Richard Dunne who both have scored six (including this classic against Middlesbrough from 2002). Leicester’s first visit to Highbury this millennium occurred just nine days into the twenty first century. The two sides met in the fourth round of the FA Cup (for some reason the third round that year occurred before Christmas). The two sides played out a 0-0 draw, with Leicester winning the replay on penalties.
1999/2000 however would be the final season at Filbert Street with Martin O’Neill at the helm. Over the summer of 2000 O’Neill left to take charge of Celtic, while Peter Taylor took over the Leicester City manager role. Taylor’s reign initially started well with the Foxes going eight games unbeaten and even topping the table at the start of October (for the first time since 1963), among this run of results had been a 2-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge with goals from Muzzy Izzett and Stan Collymore. By Christmas time, both Arsenal and Leicester would be level on points, with Arsenal ahead in second place on goal difference and Leicester third. On Boxing Day however, the Gunners romped home with a 6-1 win over Leicester with goals from Patrick Vieira, Freddie Ljungberg, Tony Adams and a Thierry Henry hat-trick, while Ade Akinbiyi was on target for the Foxes.
This defeat marked the beginning of a collapse for Leicester in the second half of the season, who went on to lose eleven of the next fifteen games, sinking to a final league position of thirteenth. The Foxes would also be eliminated from the FA Cup with a 1-2 defeat to Wycombe in the FA Cup Quarter Final. At the start of the 2001/02 season, Leicester visited Highbury for the third league fixture of the season. Leicester lost their opening match 0-5 at home to newly promoted Bolton Wanderers. Arsenal would make it nine goals conceded in two games, hammering Leicester 4-0 with goals from Freddie Ljungberg, Sylvain Wiltord, Thierry Henry and Nwankwo Kanu.
