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A clash of the titans was on show at Old Trafford. Manchester
United's amazing revival under Joe Kinnear saw them challenging us for
the title this season. Arsenal went ahead in the 10th minute when Saviola
connected with a pass from Greening and proceeded to lob the ball over
Paul Rachubka. GOAL! It was Saviola's 50th goal in an Arsenal shirt. Yorke
pulled one back in the second half but the outcome was cemented when Joe
Cole scored with a long-ranged effort, 9 minutes before time. With this
victory, we had stretched our lead to 17 points. Both United and City
are at second and third with 52 and 50 points respectively. There are
only 10 more league games to go and we looked on course for our third
consecutive league title. News elsewhere, Seaman decided to retire at the end of the season after
playing 396 games for Arsenal. Keown who was transferred to Leeds this
season, decided to retire too. So, Arsenal's famous 'Back Four' has finally
retired into the record books. It was a nice partnership and I thanked
them personally for the memories. Liverpool's Gerard Houllier resigned
as manager after seeing his team lying just 8 points above the relegation
zone. They were hampered by a lack of team cooperation, which saw Henchoz
voicing out his complaints to the media. Arsenal qualified for the League Cup Final after crushing Charlton Athletic
4-1 in the second leg. Super sub Greening scored twice after Pires and
Henry had given us a 2-0 lead. In the FA Cup Quarterfinal match against
West Ham, a Ze Pedro goal in the 5th minute was equalized by Bergkamp's
9th minute strike. But, ex-Gunner Suker had other ideas when he scored
in the 20th minute. We were up against a stubborn West Ham side and they
were getting most of the possession. Deep in to first half injury time,
Woodhouse tackled Notman to the floor and a penalty was awarded. Bergkamp
stepped up confidently. GOAL! The equalizer! The second half saw West
Ham having 10 men behind the ball. Obviously, they were trying to hold
out for a draw and a rematch at Highbury. In the 56th minute, Arsenal
was awarded a free kick outside the area. Bergkamp took the free kick.
GOAL! Bergkamp's second hat-trick in his career at Arsenal. At the end,
it turned out to be the winning goal.
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In the Champions League, Arsenal defeated Dinamo 2-0 and managed to force
a draw with Barcelona when Bergkamp scored the equalizer with seconds
left on the clock. For the first time, Arsenal finished second in the
group and we were drawn against Juventus in the Quarterfinals. Juventus
was one of the 3 Italian sides in the Quarterfinals together with Ac Milan
and Inter Milan. Holland has 2 representatives in Ajax Amsterdam and Feyenoord.
Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen and us made up the rest. We were odds-on favorites
to win the Cup with both AC Milan and Barcelona being capable of meeting
us in the Finals. Just before our League Cup Final meeting with Manchester City, Middlesbrough
stunned us with a 2-0 win. We were riding high at the top of the table
but the defeat had lowered our team confidence. Fortunately, I still had
2 weeks to go before the Final, so there was still some time to rebuild
our confidence. [ScreenShot] 68,000 supporters braved the wet weather to gather at Old Trafford for
the League Cup Final. Wanchope scored after 2 minutes of play as my defense
dozed off. They made a tactical disaster after that when they opted to
defend. Bergkamp immediately equalize from 20 yards out. The first half
ended with a 1-1 score line. Arsenal started the second half more aggressively
and was rewarded when Bergkamp connected Greening's cross with a powerful
header. GOAL! Defender Woodgate turned goal-scorer in the 64th minute
when he out-jumped the City defense. But, Sherwood handed City a lifeline
when he pulled one back to make it 3-2. We got a corner with 2 minutes
remaining, Silvinho swung in a cross and Greening leapt higher than the
rest. GOAL! 4-2 to Arsenal, we have equalized Liverpool's record of 5
League Cup wins!
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In the other Cup competitions, Arsenal defeated local rivals Tottenham
who were relegation-bound in the FA Cup Semi Final, 3-1. Goals coming
from Ljungberg, Bergkamp and Greening. [ScreenShot]
In Europe, defensive-minded Juventus who had previously conceded one goal in 6 matches conceded 3 in a match
against us as we booked our ticket to the Semi Finals. We were 2-0 up
with just 5 minutes of play after Joe Cole and Saviola took advantage
of a lapse in the Juventus defense to score. Wiltord added a third 10
minutes before time. In the second leg, we battled out to a 1-1 draw despite
playing against a 10-man Juventus side, after their goal scorer Leonardo
was sent off.
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In the Premier League, Arsenal had a 20-point lead with 7 matches remaining.
Surprisingly, Chelsea had managed to reach second spot after both United
and City faltered in their previous matches. Nevertheless, we had a chance
of winning the title at Highbury and avenging a 4-2 defeat by Aston Villa
early in the season. A full house attendance of 38,952 supporters turned
out to watch the match. Thousands gathered at the surrounding pubs in
the area. You could see red and white all over North London. Everyone
was in a jovial mood as it was up to the other teams to win and catch
up with us. Whatever the result here, we are certain of another league
title. We started well and were 2-0 up within 10 minutes with goals from
Vernazza and Ljungberg. The fans were cheering and champagne was being
popped open everywhere. I'm guessing that the other teams have already
given up all hope of ever catching us. But, history could repeat itself,
we were also leading 2-0 against Villa back in November and they ran out
4-2 winners. I knew that the result was quite unlikely to happen at Highbury,
our stronghold in which we haven't lost a match ever since I took over.
At the end of the first half, we were already 3-1 up, Silvestre scored
to close the gap but Wiltord made no mistake and we still held on to a
two goal lead. Elsewhere, Chelsea were 1-0 down to Middlesbrough; Manchester
City had a slender 1-0 lead against Newcastle and Manchester United has
completely given up when they went 2-0 down at the Stadium of Light. Our
situation at Highbury didn't changed much in the second half except for
the fact that Alpay scored and own goal for us in the 62nd minute. We
were cruising now and congratulatory messages poured in through the mails,
phones and even through the chants around Highbury. With the final whistle
blown, Arsenal had won an unprecedented third consecutive Premiership
title and became the first team to win 3 consecutive titles twice. We
last achieve this amazing feat back in 1933 until 1935.
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