Head and Shoulders above the rest

A personal take on the season 2001/2002.

It took a record-breaking team to win the 'best Premiership ever' The competition was fierce with Leeds, Newcastle. Liverpool and Man U all looking to be in the driving seat at various times in the campaign. The fact is it took a team that broke records that may never be broken again to win the big one this year. Just check these out.

Scored in every league game
Unbeaten away from home all season
13 straight wins
Unbeaten in Domestic football from the 18th of December to ?

It took a breath taking team that rewrote the English record books to win the Premiership in 2002.

Not only that but they did on the ground of the current holders of the title. Who in English football makes a habit of taking away titles from the holders in their own manors? First Anfield 89 and now Old Trafford 2002. Only the Arsenal can provide these kinds of moments.

Lets take the game that defined the season; the win at Old Trafford. Here was the place where Arsenal had touched their lowest point, a humiliating mullahring at the hands of the Manc huns (the post Valentine's day massacre) the season before. That game appeared to show a chasm between Us and Them. At that moment not even the most optimistic Gooner would have forecast that our next Old Trafford date would see us wandering home with their Premiership.

Before the game I was nervous. It seemed to me that Man U had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Not only would a win make the last day interesting but Man U had a chance to salvage pride and show in some ways that they were still the boss. We all knew that to win the Premiership morally we had to prove a point to our previous vanquishers. It was not enough to win it from them but we had to beat them to prove to them and the world what worthy Premiership champions we are.

The game itself was a delight, a rare piece of beauty. Superficial reviews of the game called it a typical gritty away performance but it was so much more. Man U started at a high tempo but seemed more concerned with carving out souvenirs from the legs of the champions than creating chances. I really cannot remember if Man U had a clear chance in the first half. It was as though the Arsenal had walked on the pitch and asked them to take their best shot.

Come on and take your best shot, tell me is that all you have got?

One paper said it was the classic rope a dope. In the second half the Arsenal came out and dictated the tempo from the first minute. Here we have a team that did not even have to win walking about Old Trafford almost contemptuously brushing off attentions of the Man U players, controlling the very heart beat of the game. It was truly an awesome site. The goal was a formality, almost something Arsenal did just to rub it in. I felt we could score as many as we needed but we knew we only needed one and one was it. In the last twenty minutes Man U was a beaten team and Arsenal simply lapped up the moment. What a way to win the game that Fergie himself called the biggest in ten years.

So what about the rest of the season. Well I would divide it into three parts.

Mboro away to Newcastle at home. Same old Arsenal.

It is amazing now to think of the frustration we felt in the first part of the season. But it seemed that many of our worst habits were still here. I lost count of how many times we threw away chances and points. Think of the Newcastle, Leeds and Charlton defeats. The last minute goals conceded to Spurs, Blackburn, Bolton. The penalty Vieira missed at Sunderland. It seemed almost pathological that Arsenal would carry on spurning chances, points and penalties, which had been the story of the last three seasons. And then there was Wenger's unsigned contract to worry about. There was harsh criticism of Le Boss and the team during another fairly black November, bar the joyous beating of a Barthez inspired Man U. It all seemed to be destined to end in tears yet again.

Anfield to St James's in the cup. We always play with 10.

'Some people around here need to learn how to lose' Said Sir Bobby, not at all amused by Henry's outburst at that bar coded ref.

But Arsenal suddenly had losing amnesia on a grand scale. Did not matter that the odds on the Arse finishing with 11 went to 10-1 in a game, the Arsenal could not lose. Anfield was that turning point, and I was there. Without Vieira from the start and with GVB sent off for slipping, away at a ground where we had not won since 1993, there could only be one result. After that it was a series of gutsy wins without the usual quota of players on the pitch. Beating Blakburn away with 10 and Liverpool in the cup with 9 stand out. There is no doubt that this was when the team spirit began to emerge and the championship challenge was born.

Invincible Arsenal. Newcastle in the Cup at home to Old Trafford away

This is when the Arsenal turned into a footballing machine and won all the league games until the rest of the season and picked up the FA cup on the way. Funnily enough it was yet again a setback that steeled the Arsenal's reserve; the debacle of the meaningless game in Turin could have shaken the confidence of a lesser team; but not the Arsenal. Despite losing the player of the season to injury Arsenal took apart Newcastle that Saturday and the season of triumph began to take shape. In fact it is amazing to think how that run of wins was achieved largely without the services of the best player playing in England at the moment.

For me the highlight alongside the pasting of Man U was Lauren's penalty versus the Auld Enemy. With Liverpool and Man U hanging on to our coat-tails it seemed that everything was set up for the Arsenal to choke again. Arsenal took the lead early and generally looked comfortable until the dodgiest of dodgy pens was given for Poyet bumping into Seaman. With Sheringham scoring it seemed all the headlines were written all ready. Teddy the former Man U mans guns down the Arsenal championship challenge; it was all too much to take I was apoplectic. Then miracle of miracles another pen, at the right end, a chance for Arsenal to show everyone it was not going to choke. But of course Arsenal's record of pressure penalties has been diabolical since we won a penalty shoot out versus Wast Ham in 98! Cometh the hour cometh the hero, Lauren stepped up and cool as you like slotted it in and from that moment we were champions. There were tears in my eyes, to see it all crumbling away only to be saved in such a manner. It was emotional, powerful stuff.

That was just one moment in a season full of moments to treasure. It was not just that we won but it was the way we played. A cavalier attacking team that was also almost impossible to break down and score against. Resilient and hardworking when we needed to be we had an extra dimension of flair and style that could win games in the blink of an eye.

The season was littered with three second moments of magic that will live forever in the memory. Pires versus Villa, Bergkamp versus Newcastle, Pires versus Spurs, Henry versus Barthez, Parlour versus Chelsea, Freddie versus the world!

Treasure this and love it like it needs to be loved.

Forever Red and White.