Arsenal’s biggest wins have generally come from teams at the very peak of their attacking powers. However, this thrashing of Sheffield Wednesday, came as something of a surprise. A free scoring Autumn - with Arsenal looking to retain their title - had given way to a fallow period during which they had managed to find the net just four times in their last nine matches.
Despite the season's initial promise, and the excitement of Ian Wright’s arrival from Crystal Palace in September, humbling defeats to Benfica in the European Cup, Coventry in the League Cup, and - worst of all - Wrexham in the FA Cup had brought the champions back down to earth with a bang.
George Graham had somewhat surprisingly added Wright to an already impressive attack - and now had a wealth of striking talent and creative flair at his disposal, including Alan Smith, Ian Wright, Paul Merson and Anders Limpar. All four started this match - and Kevin Cambell would make a stunning impact from the bench. That season, Graham’s team often struggled to find the attacking balance that his 1989 and 1991 championship winning teams had boasted - and certainly lacked consistency. But there were days when it all just clicked. Unfortunately for the Owls, this was one of those occasions - though it did take more than two thirds of the match for Arsenal to find their rhythm.
Two scrappy goals - the opener for Arsenal’s from Alan Smith and an equaliser from Wednesday’s Nigel Worthington, meant the match was level at half-time, and a final scoreline of 7-1 would have seemed totally unbelievable at that point. Sheffield Wednesday, who had only recently been promoted to the First Division, were having an impressive season, and would eventually finish third - a place above Arsenal.
However, Campbell’s introduction transformed this match.
First, Campbell controlled Nigel Winterburn’s throw-in on his chest in the penalty area, took one more touch to set himself up, turned, and hit an unstoppable shot high into the net. At the time, the 22 year old Campbell was developing into a top class forward, having played a pivotal role in the previous season’s championship run-in. George Graham had let another promising young striker - one Andrew Cole - leave the club, believing Campbell’s potential to be greater.
Campbell would go on to have a fine top-flight career but, maybe due in part to being in the shadow of Ian Wright, never quite became the world class striker the Arsenal fans hoped for.
Campbell’s fine finish triggered a quite remarkable glut of goals. The Highbury crowd witnessed the team appearing to compete with each other for the goal of the season.
Anders Limpar latched on to Wright’s half-cleared cross from the left to put Arsenal 3-1 up with a great strike into the top corner from the edge of the area. Wright was suddenly causing mayhem down the left, and cut back to deliver an almost identical cross moments later - this one was headed home by Campbell.
Wright set up Merson for an absolutely sublime chip over Chris Woods, before finally getting the goal his performance deserved, putting in the rebound after Campbell’s shot was saved. And there was still time for the dynamic Campbell to put Limpar through for a seventh.
Despite being too far behind Leeds and Manchester United to mount a serious championship challenge, Arsenal went the rest of the season unbeaten and ended up as the First Division’s top scorers, with 81 goals.
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