Back in 1988, the idea of a provincial minnow side with little in the way of pedigree, like Norwich, challenging for title would have been as outlandish as say in today’s Premiership someone like, err….Leicester City? The Canaries however got off to a flying start to the 1988/89 season by beating Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest 2-1 at Carrow Road, as well as drawing 2-2 against other early pacesetters – newly promoted Millwall – five games in at the end of September.

The following month saw a 3-1 win over Tottenham at Carrow Road and a 2-1 win over Alex Ferguson’s Man United. By the time of Arsenal’s visit to Carrow Road in December, Norwich were top of the old First Division with Arsenal two points behind in second place. The Gunners won a penalty after Canaries keeper Bryan Gunn brought down Arsenal’s Brian Marwood in the area, which Marwood slotted away. The referee however insisted on a retake after Arsenal encroachment, which Marwood blasted over the bar. The match ended in a 0-0 draw. One week later, Norwich added another major scalp to their list with a 1-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield secured by a goal from Andy Townsend, while beating relegation candidates West Ham 2-0 in their first live League game, just after Christmas 1988.

Norwich however lost pole position around the turn of the year and after two draws and a 1-2 home defeat to Coventry found themselves five points behind Arsenal having played one game extra. Norwich City however remained in the hunt after Arsenal dropped two points in a 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday at Highbury, while the following day live on ITV after taking an early two goal lead against Millwall, the Lions pulled it back to 2-2 before half time with goals from Tony Cascarino and future Arsenal winger Jimmy Carter. The Canaries however took all three points with a superb late winner from Robert Fleck that secured a 3-2 win for Norwich to put the Canaries just three points behind Arsenal.

Alongside their League campaign, Norwich also put together a decent run in the FA Cup, with an 8-0 win over non-league Sutton United, conquerors of top tier Coventry City in the previous round. In the fifth round the Canaries also got past Dave Bassett’s Sheffield United with a 3-2 win. Back in the League, a setback for Norwich in the shape of a 1-2 defeat away at Tottenham would be countered by a 2-0 win over Man United back at Carrow Road the following week. Back in the FA Cup meanwhile, a 3-1 win over West Ham in the FA Cup Quarter Final replay took the Canaries within one game at Wembley.

That game however would be the last hurrah for Norwich’s exceptional season, as the Canaries would only win two further games that season in all competitions. Relegation candidates Newcastle inflicted a 0-2 defeat on Norwich at Carrow Road on Easter Saturday, while an Arsenal win at Southampton would put the Gunners six points clear though having played two games more. At the start of April however, as Norwich faded in the title race Liverpool emerged as Arsenal’s biggest challenge for the title. The Scousers visited Carrow Road on April 1st and inflicted a 0-1 defeat which took them above Norwich in second place and just two points behind Arsenal.

After a 0-2 defeat to Nottingham Forest and a 1-2 loss to Coventry City, Norwich would be eliminated from the FA Cup after a 0-1 defeat to Everton at Villa Park in the Semi Finals, which occurred on the same day as the Hillsborough disaster which unfolded one hundred miles to the North. By the time of Norwich’s visit to Arsenal on Mayday, they’d fallen eight points behind Arsenal having played one game more. The game would be shown live on ITV’s ‘The Match’ and would be one of the earliest instances of a 5PM kick off. It would also be Arsenal’s first game since the Hillsborough disaster and in the event the Gunners took all three points with a thumping 5-0 win secured by goals from Nigel Winterburn, Michael Thomas, David Rocastle and two for Alan Smith.

Despite Norwich’s end of season collapse, their fourth placed finish was to be their best finish to date and painfully again would have been another European qualification, however the UEFA’s ban from European competition still persisted. Despite this, Football hooliganism involving English clubs certainly declined by the late 1980s. There was also around this time a breakout of world peace after the fall of the Berlin Wall, just five days prior to that however most of the world’s violence seemed to have been centred on the Highbury pitch, as Norwich visited Arsenal in the League for the 1989/90 season.

This game would also be David O’Leary’s record breaking appearance for the Gunners. Norwich took the lead in the first half with a header from Malcolm Allen from a corner. Later on in the first half, David O’Leary would take exception to an elbow in the face from Allen and subsequently fouled the Welsh international and dragged him by the scruff of the neck. From the resulting free kick, Welsh international David Phillips doubled Norwich’s lead. Into the second half, Arsenal pulled one back from Niall Quinn scoring on the rebound from a Bryan Gunn parry from a Kevin Richardson free kick. The Gunners were also awarded a penalty from a handball from future Arsenal Cup Final hero Andy Linighan, of which Lee Dixon slotted away the resulting penalty (his first ever in League football) in front of the North Bank.

Norwich would regain the lead again soon after however a young Tim Sherwood pounced on a rebound from an Andy Linighan header parried by John Lukic in the Arsenal goal. Just moments later however, David O’Leary on his record breaking afternoon would get on the end of a Nigel Winterburn free kick, scoring his first League goal for six years. Late on in the game, Michael Thomas was brought down by Norwich’s Ian Butterworth in the penalty area. Up popped Lee Dixon again from the penalty spot. This time Bryan Gunn blocked the shot, however Dixon got the slightest of touches to the rebound which just about trickled over the line.

Tempers frayed however after Arsenal’s Alan Smith had been picked on by a pair of Norwich defenders in the goal mouth scramble which followed Lee Dixon’s penalty and matters escalated into what was described by the press at the time as a twenty one man brawl. Arsenal won the game 4-3, though both they and Norwich would be charged with misconduct and fined by the FA – Arsenal’s punishment being £20,000 compared to Norwich who were hit with £50,000. In this ITN report, Norwich chairman Robert Chase expressed displeasure at the disparity between the two fines. Video footage however shows the brawl emanating from an unprovoked attack in the goal mouth by Norwich defenders on a mild mannered player – Alan Smith – who at that point in his career had never received a single booking. The 1989/90 season ended with an away trip to Carrow Road, which turned out to be a 2-2 draw, with Alan Smith grabbing both goals for Arsenal.

In 1989/90 however, neither Arsenal nor Norwich would be involved in the title race with Arsenal finishing fourth and Norwich in tenth. Arsenal however would be back in the title race in 1990/91 and Norwich visited an unbeaten Arsenal at Highbury in October. Two goals for Paul Davis pulled off a 2-0 win for the Gunners. By the time of Arsenal’s visit to Carrow Road, the Gunners were top of the table. However pole position would be briefly lost when Liverpool under caretaker boss Ronnie Moran thrashed Derby 7-1, while all Arsenal could muster at Norwich was a 0-0 draw. Arsenal however clawed back the deficit and the title returned to Highbury the following May.

Norwich’s last pre-Premiership visit to Highbury came in February 1992. At the time Arsenal had only managed three wins in the last seventeen games in all competitions – a run which included an exit from Europe just prior to the inaugural Champions League group stage and being knocked out of the FA Cup by fourth tier Wrexham. Arsenal failed again to gain a win with a 1-1 draw and Paul Merson on target for the Gunners. By the time of Arsenal’s visit to Carrow Road that season, the Gunners had put together a run of twelve games without defeat. Goals for Kevin Campbell and Ian Wright gave Arsenal a 3-1 win over the Canaries.

Arsenal’s unbeaten run stretched until the end of the season, totalling seventeen games unbeaten, which made the Gunners favourites to land the inaugural Premiership title at the start of the 1992/93 season. Arsenal’s first ever Premiership fixture would be a visit from Norwich City on 15th August 1992 – who in contrast finished the season prior in eighteenth position, sold star striker Robert Fleck to Chelsea for a club record and promoted youth coach Mike Walker to first team manager with his only previous experience being a spell in charge at Colchester five years earlier, which ended in the sack. By half time Arsenal looked to be cruising at two nil up with goals from Steve Bould and Kevin Campbell, until twenty one minutes from time when former Man United forward and original Fergie Fledgling Mark Robins (signed by Norwich over the summer) pulled one back.

Three minutes later David Phillips equalised for Norwich. Six minutes from time Ruel Fox gave the Canaries the lead, followed by a second from Mark Robins to inflict a 2-4 defeat on Arsenal - Norwich’s first defeat over Arsenal for nearly five and a half years. As with 1988/89, Norwich’s flying start to the 1992/93 made them surprise title challengers in the ‘whole new ball game’ era of the first Premiership season, following up victory at Highbury with a 2-1 win over Chelsea at Carrow Road with two great finishes from David Phillips and Mark Robins and ending August with a 3-1 win over a Nottingham Forest side in sharp decline.

After going two goals down at Stamford Bridge, Norwich were let back into the game by a calamitous Dave Beasent in the Chelsea goal and leaving the Bridge with a 3-2 victory. The Canaries would end September 1992 atop of the Premiership, though at the beginning of April would suffer a 1-7 hammering at the hands of newly promoted big spending Blackburn Rovers with a hat-trick from a young Alan Shearer taking the Premiership by storm after his record breaking move from Southampton over the summer. Despite this set back, Norwich still ended the calendar at the top of the Premiership three points clear of Manchester United and Aston Villa, beating the latter 3-2 away at the end of November.

By the time of Arsenal’s visit to Carrow Road at the start of March however, Norwich had fallen seven points behind leaders Aston Villa but with two games in hand. An Arsenal side languishing in eleventh position and mainly concentrating on their run in both Cup competitions managed to pull off a 1-1 draw at Carrow Road. The Canaries took the lead with a goal from Ruel Fox, Ian Wright had a penalty saved from Norwich’s Bryan Gunn after Paul Davis (playing his first game of the season after George Graham had dropped him from the side midway through the previous season) was brought down in the penalty area, though Wright would later bag the equaliser to give Arsenal a share of the points.

By the end of March however, Norwich were back at the top of the Premiership after beating Aston Villa 1-0 at Carrow Road, with the visit of third placed Manchester United at the start of April. The Canaries however would go three down to United before Mark Robins would pull one back against his old club, though Norwich would suffer a 1-3 defeat, which would lose them pole position again, dropping back down to third place. Their hopes of winning the inaugural Premiership were effectively ended after suffering a 1-5 hammering away at Tottenham, followed by a 1-3 defeat to ‘Old Farm’ rivals Ipswich Town, though a third placed finish would be their highest ever and finally meant qualification for the UEFA Cup after Arsenal achieved the domestic Cup double after beating Sheffield Wednesday in the replayed FA Cup Final at the end of May.

Norwich’s first encounter in Europe would be against Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem, with a 3-0 win in the home leg enough to see them through for a plumb tie with Bavarian giants Bayern Munich in the next round. The Canaries pulled off an incredible 2-1 win away in a half empty Olympic Stadium in Munich, with a superb volley from Jeremy Goss. The blonde midfielder was no relation to Matt and Luke of Bros fame, though Jeremy seemed to have shared their intellectual short comings when remarking after the game that: ‘I kept looking and thinking: 'this is where Bob Beaman made that fantastic jump’ (so great was Beaman’s effort, it started in Mexico City in 1968 and finished up in Munich four years later!).

A further Mark Bowen header gave the Canaries the advantage going back to Carrow Road, where Goss would be on target again to make it a 1-1 draw on the night, but see Norwich through with a 3-2 win on aggregate. In between those two legs, Arsenal would meet Norwich at Highbury in both the League and the League Cup. First came the Cup tie, where an Ian Wright goal cancelled out a Norwich lead from a goal by Ian Crook with the match ending in a 1-1 draw. The two sides met again in the League for days later and for those who often extol the reign of George Graham (particularly when putting down our incumbent boss) there’s a tendency to whitewash certain facts about GG’s reign. Norwich’s visit to Highbury in the League at the end of October came on the back of three straight 0-0 draws away at Liverpool, at home to Manchester City and away at Oldham Athletic.

GG’s boys made it four scoreless draws on the bounce and having been present at this encounter I can assure you it was probably the most boring Arsenal game I’ve ever attended. If some misguided people willing pay £100.00 today to watch Wenger’s underachievers, the club back then would have surely had to have paid people £100.00 to watch some of the fair that the latter day post-Premiership George Graham period threw up. Thankfully, there’s no evidence of it on any of the video sharing websites on the internet. Mercifully though, the League Cup replay at Carrow Road finally saw Arsenal burst into life with a 3-0 win for the Gunners secured by goals from Paul Merson and two for Ian Wright.