Five in a row at the Lane: NLD throwback
A look back at when Arsenal gave Spurs fans a complex with a quintet of victories at White Hart Lane in 1987 and 1988.
Arsenal’s disciplined 1-0 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday was the third time in a row Mikel Arteta’s side had come out on top in a North London Derby away from home.
As was cited by many reports, this was the first time we’d done this particular ‘hattrick’ since a similar run of victories in 1987 and 1988.1
This only focuses on league games, though. In reality, that late-80s run was five successive wins at White Hart Lane.
Game 1: 4 January 1987
This match marked the 100th time Arsenal and Spurs had met in the league, and it was the Gunners who came out on top.
A young Tony Adams scored his sixth goal of the season just six minutes in, and proceeded to keep England international Clive Allen quiet for the rest of the game, in a performance the Daily Mirror’s Harry Harris described as “majestic”.
A sweeping move involving Arsenal’s Steve Williams, David Rocastle, Martin Hayes and Charlie Nicholas ended in Paul Davis steering the ball home past Spurs keeper Ray Clemence to make it 2-0.
Mitchell Thomas pulled a goal back for the home side just before half time, but while Spurs manager David Pleat appealed in vain for a late penalty, Arsenal held on comfortably for three points that kept them top of the First Division.
Game 2: 1 March 1987
This was the second leg of the Littlewoods Cup semi-final. With Spurs having nicked a 1-0 win at Highbury on 8 February, Arsenal needed a strong performance.
A run of four league games without a win had seen the Gunners surrender top spot to Everton. Their fortunes were not going to improve, with Arsenal eventually falling to finish fourth at the end of the 1986-87 season.
Adams and his defensive partner David O’Leary couldn’t keep Allen quiet this time, and the Spurs striker netted his 38th goal of the season on 15 minutes to put Spurs 2-0 up on aggregate.
Allen and his teammates missed a hatful of chances to put the game to bed and were punished. Rocastle had a hand in both goals, launching a long throw into the Spurs box that was eventually netted by Anderson, before delivering a sumptuous cross for Quinn to level the tie.
Extra time brought no further success for either team, so they would have to do it all again three days later…
Game 3: 4 March 1987
With no away goals, extra time or penalties in use for the two-legged semi-final, the two sides faced each other again in a replay.
It took until just after the hour mark for the deadlock to be broken, with Allen striking again to put Spurs ahead. It was his 39th goal of the season and 12th in this tournament - a record for the League Cup that still stands.
Substitute Ian Allinson equalised for Arsenal with less than 10 minutes left, latching on to a long pass from Paul Davis and holding off a defender’s challenge before beating Clemence at his near post.
As the clock ticked past 90 and another period of extra time loomed, Allinson tried his luck again from the edge of the box. The blocked shot deflected into the path of David Rocastle, who squeezed the ball under Clemence to send Arsenal to Wembley.
Read the Arsenal website’s official account of the match from its Gunners’ Greatest Matches series.
Arsenal took on all-conquering Liverpool in the final on 5 April. Ian Rush opened the scoring for the Reds, and with Liverpool never having lost a game in which he’d scored, the omens looked bad for the Gunners.
Step forward Charlie Nicholas, who scored after 30 minutes and again with seven minutes left on the clock to turn the match on its head and earn Arsenal their first trophy since 1979.
Game 4: 18 October 1987
Back to the league again at the start of the 1987-88 season. Arsenal had started the campaign poorly, losing two of their first three games, but after a 6-0 thumping of Portsmouth the Gunners improved vastly and were third in the table going into the North London Derby.
Nico Claesen, a Belgian international striker, put Spurs ahead in the first minute as the home side sought to stamp their authority on the opening exchanges. Their control didn’t last, as Steve Williams won a midfield battle to set Rocastle loose, and Rocky made no mistake to level the scores after just eight minutes.
Barely 15 minutes into the game and Arsenal had turned it around, Alan Smith teeing up Michael Thomas to score what would turn out to be the winner.
Game 5: 10 September 1988
Early on in Arsenal’s 1988-89 title-winning campaign, the Gunners took on Spurs in a rip-roaring encounter at the home of their arch-rivals.
I’ve covered this game previously:
Suffice to say that, despite the best efforts of Chris Waddle and Paul Gascoigne, Spurs slipped to yet another home defeat in the North London Derby.
Long may this current streak continue.
One Spurs fan’s video I saw said it was “nearly 50 years”, which I object to as I was born in 1986 and I’m nowhere near 50 years old. I’m barely ready to accept I’m nearly 40.