FA Cup memory lane...

The oldest cup competition is back tonight and there are some big games this weekend, but none bigger than Arsenal vs Liverpool on Sunday.

The Magic of the FA Cup has waned somewhat, but when I was growing up it was a major event. The European ban added to the importance too.

My first FA Cup memory was the 1987 final. Massive underdogs Coventry City faced FA Cup specialists Tottenham Hotspur. As was custom, both teams were on Top of the Pops with a single, Spurs collaborating with Chas and Dave for "Hot Shot Tottenham" - the only thing even remotely likeable about Spurs. The game was a cracker. Clive Allen scored early, his 49th of the season. But Dave Bennett and a diving header from Keith Houchen sent the game into extra time, with a Mabbutt/Kilcline og goal for Spurs. In extra time a Lloyd McGrath cross deflected off Mabbutts knee and looped over Ray Clemence to give Coventry their first major trophy.
A year later and it was the Crazy Gang upsetting the odds, with a Lawrie Sanchez goal and a Dave Beasant penalty save giving Wimbledon a 1-0 win over mighty Liverpool.
Arguably the best two games seen at the later stages were provided by Crystal Palace in 1990. After losing 9-0 to Liverpool earlier in the season, the Eagles were massive underdogs for the semi with the reds but a topsy-turvy turvy game ended 4-3 to Palace. The final was no less dramatic as Ian Wright, just back from a broken leg, scored two off the bench to put Palace 3-2 up in extra time. However, Mark Hughes ensured a replay was needed with a late equaliser. That replay was rather drab tbh.
1991 saw the Gazza self destruction within 5 minutes but Spurs pick up the trophy.

It largely got boring after that tbh. Liverpool beating 2nd tier Sunderland, the drab 93 replayed final, United beating Chelsea 4-0 etc.

For Arsenal there have been many highs and a few lows. The 91 semi loss to Spurs, 92 3rd round humbling to Wrexham. The 99 semi. The 2001 final loss to Sundays opponents Liverpool was particularly painful. We were far the better team, were denied by 3 handballs, managed to get 1 up only for Michael Owen to spring into life in the last 10 minutes to take advantage of the aging defence.

That seems to be the catalyst for domination in the FA Cup. We have won 7 since then, making us the most successful team in the competition. 3 final victories over Chelsea, the robbery in 2005 as a Scholes penalty miss allowed Vieira to end his Arsenal career by scoring the winning penalty after United failed to score against a Senderos led defence despite almost total dominance for 120 minutes.
The biggest on, though, was against little Hull City. We were heavy favourites but were on a long trophy drought and had scars of Birmingham on our minds. A disastrous opening saw us lucky to be only 2-0 down. Santiago Caxorla came up with a bit of magic before Yaya Sanogo was introduced and the game swung to Arsenal. Koscielny levelled before Aaron Ramsey scored the first of his cup final winners.
A relatively simple 4-0 final over Villa followed, then 2 over Chelsea gives us 14 FA Cups.

Recent years have been a bit barren. The Nottingham Forest performance, coming up against City last season.

There is no reason not to go full strength this weekend, we have the week off after. However, the question mark is over what full strength is after our bad run of form. I am hoping for a bit of freshening it up although the options are few for change. Maybe it is time for Havertz up top and Jesus wide? And for ESR to start!


Hopefully we can add some more good FA Cup memories this year, a 15th title sounds good to me! There are loads of games on TV, starting tonight, but ours is on BBC on Sunday at 430.