By Tony Attwood
In recent articles, we have charted the return to the form of champions by Arsenal, starting with the title win in 1988/9.
- Arsenal: 100 Seasons in the Top Division: 1988/89 – part one
- 100 seasons in the top division: 1988/89 part two – winning the league
- 1989/90: After winning the league, and the move to all-seater stadia
- 100 seasons in the top division, part 2. 1990/91: the tale of Smith and Wright
Two titles in three seasons, not to mention another FA Cup final, meant that most fans and commentators took it that Arsenal had returned to their form of years gone by. And indeed in 1991/2 Arsenal were also back in Europe, with the ban caused by the behaviour of Liverpool supporters, now finally lifted.
This was, of course, the era when there was only one English team in the European Cup, so the nation was watching, but Arsenal were unable to oblige and went out in the second round to Benfica. And indeed there was a similar early loss in the FA Cup – this one to Wrexham, a1-2 away defeat in the third round.
And indeed the problems were there for all to see from the start, as Arsenal won just two of their first seven league games and slipped to 15th in the league. Indeed, it was clear Alan Smith was coming to the end of his period of dominance – he got 12 goals in 33 league starts – considerably below the 22 goals in the season before.
There were other goal scorers on the books of course, Kevin Campbell got 13, Paul Merson got 12, and Alan Smith got 12. But all these were outshone by Ian Wright in his first season in the Arsenal first team. He played in 30 games and scored 24 goals. As a result, although Arsenal only came fourth in the league in 1991/2, in terms of goals scored in Division One, Arsenal were top with 81 goals from 42 games. That was seven more than the season before, and 34 more than Liverpool, last season’s champions.
And all that despite the Charity Shield game at the start of the season being a goalless draw with Tottenham (who incidentally finished this campaign 15th in the league).
So Arsenal, the champions in 1990/91, now slipped back to fourth, just as they had after winning the league in 1989.
But 1991/92 should also always be remembered as the time when the Boud/Adams partnership began. Bould had joined in 1988 from Soke City and thus was part of the title-winning teams in two of his first three seasons. And indeed such was the power of the combination of Bould and Adams, that even when Arsene Wenger joined the club and introduced a totally different style of play, Bould and Adams were still at the very heart of the defence.
Bould played over 350 times for Arsenal across 11 campaigns, and ultimately became the deputy to Arsene Wenger and even stayed on when Emery took over.
But for those who lived through the campaign, although the memory of the evolution of the two centre-backs will remain forever, there was also the awful scenario of being knocked out of the FA Cup by Wrexham in the third round of the FA Cup
But the fact was Arsenal had lost their ability to score goals – for in the run of seven games, of which the Wrexham match was part, Arsenal scored just two goals in those seven games. Even thereafter, in the next three games, Arsenal only scored three goals – one in each. As a result, the records show Arsenal had won just one game in ten matches
Indeed, it was not until 15 February 1992 that the team woke up and managed to score seven goals in the defeat of Sheffield Wednesday in the league, but the home crowd of just 26,000 showed what supporters were feeling by this time.
Goal scoring did improve during the remainder of the season, and Arsenal rose to a final position of fourth, but that mid-season dip was one of the worst the fans had known in recent years, and for those who supported the team through it, fourth hardly seemed credible.
There were, in fact, six other London teams in the League Division One this season, and despite that run of poor form, Arsenal remained the top London club, and so again from this perspective, fourth did not look too bad a position. Also there was the fact that Tottenham finsiehd 15th in the league that season, but only West Ham, among the London clubs, were relegated. They finished bottom of the league with exactly half the number of points that Arsenal got while also scoring fewer than half the number of goals that Arsenal scored.
And yet even West Ham managed to come to Highbury and get a victory 0-1 on 2 December 1991. The club was, by general consensus, able to get fourth spot because of the mediocrity of many of the other teams, as ten clubs ended the season with between 51 and 59 points. Indeed, even the Charity Shield game played at the start of the season ended as a goalless draw. It was that sort of campaign. I don’t think I was the only supporter to feel glad when it was all over.
