Thanks to Liverpool losing to Nottingham Forest the same day, Arsenal’s match against Manchester United on 6th May had become a championship party. Alan Smith helped himself to a hat-trick, putting himself in pole position for the Golden Boot, and the celebrations of the players and fans went well into the night.
When Coventry came to Highbury five days later, the players could have been forgiven for taking it easy. However George Graham - who was presented with the Barclays Manager of the Year trophy before kick off - wasn’t the type of manager to let the players ease off too much, especially when protecting a remarkable league record of just one defeat – away to Chelsea in February.
Tony Adams confirms in Addicted that: “George Graham would not let us ease up. ‘Can’t we just relax a bit?’ we asked. ‘Go out and look like champions,’ he said. ‘Go out and be Arsenal’.
While this title was secured in less dramatic fashion than in 1989, the team was arguably significantly stronger - thanks to the signings of Anders Limpar and David Seaman, and the emergence of Kevin Campbell. All three had played a crucial role in Arsenal having a higher points total than 1989 (despite the points deduction), and a better defensive and attacking record.
That Arsenal had won the league despite “almost comical antagonism and adversity” as Nick Hornby put it in Fever Pitch, was remarkable. After the points deduction following the Old Trafford brawl, George Graham expertly fostered a siege mentality. Despite significant defeats to Manchester United and Tottenham in the cups, Arsenal were close to unbeatable: almost invincible in fact.
Coventry were firmly ensconced in the bottom half of the table, but safe from relegation, so had little to play for themselves. The fact they had won only once away all season perhaps meant a mis-match was inevitable.
They could probably have done without gifting Arsenal an early lead. Lee Dixon sent Paul Merson free into oceans of space down the right, and his low cross was headed home spectacularly by the Coventry, captain Trevor Peake - who was presumably trying to intercept the cross, and put it out for a corner. You can tell an own goal is a special one when the match commentator can’t hold back his amusement; Martin Tyler was unable to suppress a laugh as the ball hit the back of the net.
Anders Limpar - who, despite having a strong season, hadn’t scored in the league since November - got his first goal of the afternoon, latching onto a flick on from the unfortunate Peake, under pressure from Campbell. Coventry pulled one back with a close-range Kevin Gallagher strike to make it 2-1 at half-time.
In the second half the party got into full swing. Alan Smith ran on to a cute David Hillier chip to get the goal which confirmed him as Golden Boot winner for the second time in three seasons, finishing ahead of Leeds striker and ex-Gunner Lee Chapman.
In ‘Heads Up’, his autobiography, Smith admitted: “I badly wanted to score, knowing one goal would probably be enough to clinch the prize.” Then Campbell ran on to a booming headed clearance from Tony Adams and cut the ball back to Anders Limpar to make it 4-1.
Arsenal’s fifth saw Anders Limpar complete his hat-trick. Lee Dixon’s uncharacteristic - but wonderful - left-footed though ball still left Limpar with a bit to do. The Swede held off a poor defensive challenge before a swivel of the hips confused Steve Ogrizovic in the Coventry goal and Limpar rolled the ball into the empty net.
The substitute Perry Groves completed the scoring, volleying home Nigel Winterburn’s cross in front of an ecstatic North Bank. After the game, Tony Adams was presented with the championship trophy and the team revelled in a victorious lap of honour at Highbury - something they obviously hadn’t been able to enjoy after winning the title in the last game of the season, two years earlier.
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