EPL 1997/98 - Liverpool vs Arsenal
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00:00Penultimate match of the 97-98 season saw Arsenal arrive at Anfield as newly crowned champions
00:06The Gunners £20m worth of new signings had paid dividends
00:09It was their first ever Premiership trophy in Arsene Wenger's first full season in charge
00:15The Liverpool team sportingly formed a line of honour to pay tribute to their success
00:19Which had ironically been secured following a 4-0 victory against Liverpool's rivals Everton three days previously
00:27This was still an important fixture as Liverpool needed a win to guarantee third position
00:32Which would equal their highest placing in the Premiership
00:35Mateo, Redknapp, Fowler and Wright were all injured
00:38Steve McManaman was back in the line-up after missing Liverpool's biggest win
00:42A 5-0 thrashing of West Ham
00:44The prolific Michael Owen grabbed the goal then, his 22nd in all competitions
00:50Arsenal fielded a weakened team due to a mixture of injuries and exhaustion
00:54Amongst those coming in, Alex Manninger, David Platt, Luis Boamorte and Ian Wright
01:01Plenty for the organised visiting fans to celebrate
01:04Your match commentator is John Champion
01:08What a luxury for Arsenal
01:10A visit to Anfield with the title secure and no pressure
01:16The theory goes that they can enjoy themselves here
01:18Although Liverpool will have other ideas sitting in third place with two games to play
01:24And a win for them would guarantee third as their finishing position
01:29It would equal their best ever Premier League place
01:34So there is plenty at stake for them
01:39Here's Steve Bould
01:40So many changes in this Arsenal team
01:44They finish at Aston Villa on Sunday in the Premier League
01:47Then of course there's the FA Cup Final to consider in ten days' time against Newcastle
01:51So it's important that key players who've taken them to the Premier League title
01:56Do get some rest and recuperation
01:59With that showpiece in mind
02:03Roy Evans, four and a half years in charge
02:06Steady improvement
02:09Here's McManaman
02:12Now Ince
02:14Carriger playing in midfield
02:17And the lofted ball was looking for Riedler
02:21And it's fallen for Riedler again
02:27Well Lee Dixon is asking questions of the Arsenal backline
02:31There are a couple of unfamiliar members of the Arsenal back four tonight
02:40Upson and Grimaundi
02:41Upson and Grimaundi
02:50Luis Balmorte the 20-year-old selected on the left side of midfield by Arsene Wenger
02:58Carriger
03:02Owen
03:04Sidestepped Bould ever so easily
03:06Here's McManaman
03:09It's a bright start this by Liverpool
03:11Tails up
03:13They feel they have a point to prove
03:15Against a side doing what they would love to be able to do
03:19And celebrating the championship
03:23Eight years now since Liverpool's last title
03:26A strong bench
03:28If youthful with the likes of Vieira and Anelka
03:31Just behind Arsene Wenger and Pat Rice
03:42Liverpool! Liverpool!
03:46Liverpool! Liverpool!
03:47And the nature of this game should appeal to Liverpool
03:49Who've shown themselves to be so good on one-off occasions
03:54That have lacked the consistency that Arsenal have shown for these past nine months
04:00Here's McManaman
04:02Riedler pointing as to where the ball should be played
04:06McAteer
04:08Michael Owen
04:11And Paul Ince drives Liverpool in front
04:21Slight element of fortune
04:26In that Owen's pass to Ince wasn't necessarily his first choice
04:32Wide of Manningham
04:34And two minutes short of the half hour
04:36Liverpool have the lead
04:42Second
04:44McManaman
04:49Leonardson
04:52Impeded by Lee Dixon
04:57Surprised to see Dixon out there tonight
04:59Adams, Seaman, Winterburn, Bergkamp, Overmars, Keown and Petit
05:04All rested but Dixon's been asked to play
05:08Bjerneby
05:10Leonardson
05:11Took a slight deflection, there's McManaman
05:13And Owen and Ince
05:15Has scored again
05:19It's two in two minutes for Paul Ince
05:26And Arsenal
05:28Following all their celebrations and partying
05:31Proving fairly compliant opposition
05:36Eight for the season now for the Liverpool skipper
05:40Hardly an object of beauty was it?
05:47But you won't find any Liverpudlians complaining with a 2-0 lead against the champions
05:58Ince
06:00And a hat-trick with an out of play
06:02Liverpool beaten just once in their last eight Premier League matches
06:074-1 defeat at Chelsea
06:13Carragher
06:15Kicked off by Platt
06:17Regained by Carragher
06:20Bjerneby
06:23Leonardson's done well
06:26Here's Owen
06:29And a hat-trick
06:30Here's Owen
06:33Needs someone to lay it off to
06:38And Manninger races across to try and prevent a corner
06:41Unsuccessfully
06:45Michael Owen
06:46Centrally involved
06:56Bjerneby's kick
06:58And the header over the top of the crossbar
07:00Not by much from Phil Babb
07:08What's that? Without a marker near him?
07:13Parler
07:17Stephen Hughes, that's a good ball in
07:19It's Boa Morte
07:22And it is only just wide
07:27There was an attempt by Harkness to hook the ball away from near his own goal line
07:33He missed
07:35And it just scraped past the post
07:39Arsenal won't like this
07:41Being two goals down, they've become serial winners
07:46Riedler
07:48McManaman
07:50Back a tear
07:52There's Leonardson
07:53More nice football from Liverpool and it's earned a corner
08:02Raine continuing to pull
08:07The punch from Manninger wasn't that successful
08:11Riedler rising to win another corner
08:23Liverpool carrying on where they left off against West Ham four days ago
08:28And that 5-0 thumping
08:31McManaman's kick
08:33There's Owen!
08:35That's a poacher's goal
08:40Manninger beaten for a third time in this first half
08:44And Michael Owen takes his tally for the season to 23
08:53He's going to head for the World Cup in storming form
08:59Despite the fact that the England coach Glenn Hoddle
09:02Says that he's not a natural goalscorer
09:06If he isn't, who is?
09:07Who is?
09:19Testimony to Michael Owen's contribution that Liverpool haven't really missed the injured Robbie Fowler too much
09:24He's been out for three months now
09:31Fowler
09:34Absent
09:36This is Hughes
09:48Riedler
09:49And now Ince
09:50Owen's poised to his right
09:52Leonardson to his left
09:55And it's just too strong for Riedler
09:57And maybe just a touch too far in front of Owen
10:00Allowing Manninger to make the block
10:06Another flowing Liverpool move though
10:12They wish they could play the newly crowned champions every week
10:22The enemy
10:25Good catch by Manninger
10:29A young Austrian in whom Arsenal have invested a lot of hope
10:36Goal
10:48Michael Owen's goal
10:49Liverpool's third
10:51Puts in great danger now
10:52Arsenal's unbeaten run in the Premier League of 18 games
10:56No Robbie Fowler
10:57But plenty of Liverpool goals
11:05Arsenal have won their last ten
11:07English Premier League matches
11:11It's highly unlikely they'll make that eleven
11:14Here's McManaman
11:18And down he goes
11:19And the referee Alan Wilkie points to the spot
11:23Matthew Upson
11:24On Steve McManaman
11:28Leaning in, there wasn't a whole lot of contact
11:31Arms became intertwined, there was a hand in McManaman's back
11:38And with half-time rapidly approaching
11:39Michael Owen has the chance
11:42To make it four
11:47Saved by Manninger
11:50Who had to go a long way to his right to get there
11:55Makes that a decent stop
12:01And the lead remains at 3-0
12:08And a play off Carragher
12:11It's an Arsenal throw
12:12We've hardly seen Ian Wright in this first half
12:15He's had no service
12:28And then Arsenal
12:30Goal
12:35Very happy first half for Liverpool
12:39Pretty ordinary one for Arsenal
12:41Who are not used to things like this
12:43Two goals for Paul Ince
12:44One for Michael Owen
12:45Liverpool 3
12:47Arsenal 0
12:54So much for Arsenal to do if they're to rescue this game
12:56And to preserve their long unbeaten run
13:01It's understandable that they're perhaps
13:03Lacking the fighting spirits that has carried them so far this season
13:06Under Arsene Wenger
13:10The manner in which they clinched the title
13:13Was pretty grand
13:14That 4-0 victory over Everton at Highbury just three days ago
13:19And the emblem of that occasion
13:21The skipper Tony Adams gallop upfield
13:25To score the crowning goal
13:28No Adams tonight
13:31Arsenal
13:33Conceding two goals in two minutes at one stage in the first half
13:36Having let in two goals
13:39In their previous 14 Premier League matches
13:47This is not in truth the real Arsenal
13:50Either in personnel
13:51Or approach
13:57Gilles Grimondi
14:01We are champions
14:02We are champions
14:04We are champions
14:07Carragher
14:09Now the Norwegian Lennardsen
14:11Dispossessed by David Watt
14:17McManaman
14:20Releasing Owen
14:21Who hesitated as if expecting an offside flag
14:26And McManaman on the return
14:28Half-hearted appeals for handball in the midst of it
14:33Knowing smile from a veteran defender
14:36Who is being tested
14:38By the striker who is still a teenager
14:52It will take a lot more than
14:53A three goal deficit to dampen
14:55The spirits of those who've travelled from North London
14:59Here's Ince
15:00Through the middle is Lennardsen
15:03It's clever defending by Dixon
15:06Who is saying that an arm was used by Lennardsen
15:08To control the ball
15:12Colin Wilkie didn't see it if there was one
15:19BFB
15:25McManaman
15:27There's Ince
15:33Two goals in the first half
15:36He's been on a hat-trick for a while already
15:43The greatest header of them all
15:47McManaman
15:50Wave after wave
15:52Of red-shirted attacks
15:56Lennardsen
15:59Lennardsen
16:03Ince
16:06Fouled
16:08A matter of a foot and a half outside the Arsenal area
16:12And the competitive spirits of Ince and Grimaundi
16:16Leading to a little showdown
16:18Christopher Wray involved as well
16:22Oh and that was unnecessary
16:26And one would have thought
16:27Booker ball really on Alan Wilkie's part
16:31It's pointless, they're three up
16:32Ince have scored two of them
16:34Everything's going swimmingly for Liverpool
16:36Why get involved?
16:52Three kick is driven straight into the wall
16:56The most imaginative set-piece that we've seen from Michael Owen
17:01Here's Ian Wright
17:05Wray
17:13And Wright has stayed down
17:20And that's why it was demolition
17:23And that's why it was demolition of a tackle
17:25From Paul Ince
17:31Arsene Wenger
17:32Third place
17:33In his first season
17:35Championship in his second
17:37The goals of Ian Wright have been
17:39Crucial to Arsenal's success
17:42Which makes this
17:44A very sad sight
17:47And Nelke will replace Wright
17:49Patrick Vieira
17:50Comes on for Ray Parler
18:01Vieira
18:06Dixon
18:10Now it's Ince for Liverpool
18:12Being booed by the Arsenal supporters
18:14Because of what happened to Ian Wright
18:21Arsenal beaten just four times
18:24Before tonight in the Premier League
18:27Those four defeats came in the space of six games
18:29In the autumn
18:33And Liverpool defeated eight times
18:35In the English Premier League
18:51Bolt
18:55Bolt
18:58Vieira
19:00Lay off by Nelke
19:01A little short
19:16Stephen Hughes
19:18Weighing one out
19:21Well Friedel has been a spectator
19:24For much of the evening
19:26Just a wake-up call
19:27It was probably going wide anyway
19:33Alberto Mendes
19:38Vieira
19:46Grimondi
19:47Grimondi
19:49On the bounce back to Manningham
19:56Arsenal's last English Premier League defeat
19:59Was at home to Blackburn back on December the 13th
20:03Five months
20:05Eighteen games ago
20:18And Nelke
20:22Brought down for a free-kick
20:25By Steve Harkness
20:32And Arsenal have rarely threatened
20:34To get a goal themselves this evening
20:37It's that long-range shot by Hughes
20:39That brought a decent save from Friedel
20:41And Hughes is in the running to take this
20:47Hughes to strike it
20:49And a big deflection
20:50Sends it spinning only just wide
20:58Mendes
21:01Into the header-out
21:03Mendes
21:06Into the header-out
21:11Grimondi
21:16Lee Dixon
21:19Bab
21:22Vieira
21:25On the bounce kindly for Mendes
21:32Liverpool finish their season at Derby on Sunday
21:36Looks like third place will be guaranteed by then
21:43Here's Vieira
21:45Good challenge by Ince
21:47Good that we haven't seen 90 minutes of Ince against Vieira
21:53Bold
21:55Hughes
21:57Dixon
22:03Lee Dixon
22:06And there is an inherent danger
22:08Of changing a team
22:10With a big match still to play
22:11In Arsenal's case the FA Cup final
22:15But on Arsene Wenger's track record in English football so far
22:18It's hard to question any of his decisions
22:26But Arsenal do have ten days
22:27And one Premier League game in between times
22:29At Aston Villa on Sunday
22:31To steady themselves
22:33Here we go again
22:39Vieira
22:44And then Arsene
22:48Rounds it off very neatly for Liverpool
22:52Riedler got the knockdown
22:56Good combination play
22:57Or Riedler's challenge at least
22:58Forced Bowl to knock the ball
23:00In the end into the path
23:02Of the subsequent goalscorer
23:03Oyvind Leonardsson
23:06His sixth Premier League goal of the campaign
23:12Liverpool 4
23:14Arsenal 0
23:18Vieira
23:20Here's Anelka
23:21She's got the legs on hardness
23:24But not the finish
23:31Anelka
23:33Anelka
23:34Anelka has made valuable contributions
23:36Throughout the season
23:38But not tonight
23:47Ince
23:51We need to know how much Liverpool can take
23:53From this performance and this win
23:56These are the maker for the Arsenal team
24:01It's a Philip nonetheless
24:07Bjerneby
24:12Ince
24:17Michael Thomas
24:19Knows what it's like to win a league title
24:21With Arsenal
24:22On this ground
24:24Owen
24:25Grimaldi's header
24:28Stephen Hughes
24:31Arsenal
24:33Thomas
24:37Perhaps appropriate that he should be the last
24:39To touch the ball
24:41Arsene Wenger
24:43Pretty unconcerned
24:45As one would expect
24:46By this
24:47Thumping defeat
24:48Because the title is what matters
24:50And that's already been secured
24:51But for Liverpool encouragement
24:53Perhaps for next season
24:544-0 winners
24:55Tonight
24:57A heavy if not altogether surprising defeat
24:59For Arsenal in the circumstances
25:01Amazingly
25:02The last time they let in four goals
25:03In any Premiership game
25:05Was their very first
25:06Against Norwich
25:07At Highbury
25:08In August 1992
25:10But nearly six years on
25:11And they
25:12Were Premiership champions
25:14With Liverpool yet to win
25:15That elusive title
25:17Although Roy Evans' men
25:18Ended the season finishing third
25:20Equalling their best ever finish