March 1978, Arsenal pushing for league and cup

By Tony Attwood

  • 21 March 1978
  • Birmingham City 1 Arsenal 1
  • Football League Division 1
  • Attendance: 22,087

The period February 11 to March 27 was unbeaten for Arsenal in the League – involving 9 games, of which this was the sixth.  It was also a period that included wins in the 5th and 6th rounds of the FA Cup and a 0-0 draw with Liverpool in the semi-final of the league cup (although here, having lost the first leg, Arsenal went out).

Unfortunately only four of those nine games were wins, but still it was an encouraging run

Here’s my review of the Birmingham draw…

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Birmingham collect and discard managers like young boys swap stamps – and as a result they were there for the taking.  But in Arsenal they found a team distracted by thoughts of the Cup and it was no real surprise when on 15 minutes Trevor Francis gave Birmingham the lead.

Macdonald kept up a barrage as the Arsenal defence worked the off-side trap but eventually a mistake by Hibbitt gave Arsenal the chance.  Brady scored from the spot.

The result left Forest five points clear of Everton in second with Manchester City and Arsenal in third and fourth, one point further behind.    Birmingham fans organised a protest against the board, but away from the city most people were focussed on higher matters.

    Pd W D L F A Pts
1 Nottingham Forest 30 20 7 3 55 18 47
2 Everton 32 16 10 6 58 36 42
3 Manchester City 32 17 7 8 59 36 41
4 Arsenal 33 16 9 8 46 28 41
5 Liverpool 31 16 6 9 42 28 38
6 Leeds United 32 15 8 9 50 37 38
7 Coventry City 32 15 8 9 61 50 38
8 Norwich City 33 10 15 8 43 49 35
9 West Bromwich Albion 31 11 12 8 45 40 34
10 Aston Villa 31 13 7 11 38 31 33

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