I woke up in time for the second half of Arsenal's loss away to Everton last night and wish I hadn't bothered. It seemed to be one of those games we have always been capable of down the years. The apparent like of fight and desire to get among the opponents. From Terry Neill to Arsene Wenger via George Graham I have seen Arsenal teams put in listless shifts like this. I guess it's just a football thing though we do seem to be afflicted more than others and as an Arsenal fan I would of course say that!
It hasn't always been like this of course. There have been some wonderful triumphs at Goodison Park in recent years under Arsene Wenger, though the only time I have seen us there under his tutelege was a 2-2 draw back in 1997 when I felt paying 23 quid for a seat was absolutely scandalous! Again in my defence I had been away a long time!
One game that does stick in my mind was January 1989. We were top of the table at the time, two points clear of second place Norwich City and seven ahead of Millwall. Note the date. This was after all three years before Sky invited football and seven years before Wenger invented Arsenal.
Everton were 10 points behind us in sixth but Goodison was never a trip to be taken lightly. And anyway the Toffees had twice been champions in 1985 and 1987 so were packing a greater recent pedigree going into this game.
34,825 filed into Goodison Park that winter Saturday, their second biggest home crowd of the season at the time, to see the Arsenal make it six consecutive wins. Paul Merson gave us the lead running on to David Rocastle's diagonal ball. Rocky was provider again when Smith headed home his 17th in all competitions before Kevin Richardson drove the ball home from close range to complete the victory.
We were imperious that day and one of my abiding memories is of the Everton fans applauding our lads off the field at the end of the game. Unfortunately a week later we were held 1-1 by Sheffield Wednesday at Highbury and George Graham responded by taking to team to Bermuda for some sunshine and a couple of friendlies.
The season would end on a high of course as we went to Anfield and won the league, Michael Thomas and all that.
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