How Charlie Nicholas ended Arsenal’s eight year hunt for a trophy in the dying moments of the 1987 League Cup Final
In 1987 Arsenal secured the League Cup in the final minutes of the final against Liverpool in a 2-1 victory at Wembley, all thanks to Nicholas’s two goals.
The Gunners commenced their 1986/87 League Cup campaign at home in the Second round to Huddersfield Town. Niall John Quinn and Paul Vincent Davies grabbed both of Arsenals goals as The Terriers were beaten 2-0 fair and square. In the Second leg The Terriers held The Gunners to a 1-1 draw with Martin Hayes saving face as Arsenal advanced into the Third round after winning 3-1 on aggregate.
In the Third round Arsenal faced Manchester City who would later face relegation that season from the First Division to the Second tier of English football. A Penalty from Hayes again and a goal each from David Rocastle and Davis watched Arsenal run over the Citizens 3-1 in North London comfortably.
Arsenal were drawn at home in the Fourth round to Charlton Athletic who would also end up relegated from the 1986/87 First Division. The Robins put up little fight losing 2-0 to The Gunners after a strike from Quinn and an own goal going against their favour.
The Quarter-finals saw Arsenal face Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest who had already won the competition nearly a decade earlier in a 3-2 battle versus Southampton. Nicholas and Hayes would jump in with the goods watching The Gunners secure yet again a second consecutive 2-0 victory in the League Cup.
Arsenal would fight out the semi-finals against arch rivals Tottenham Hotspur over three fierce battles. In the first leg The Gunners suffered the jaws of defeat 1-0 in their fourth consecutive home game of the cup after Clive Allen netted. Just under a month later Arsenal travelled to White Hart Lane for a tough 120 minutes. After only 16 minutes Allen put Spurs a goal up again but six minutes into the second half Viv Anderson replied for The Gunners making it 1-1 before Quinn jumped in with his third goal of the tournament to give Arsenal the 2-1 win. However due to the game being 2-2 on aggregate the semi-final went to a replay. After a goalless first half Allen scored the opener for the third successive match putting Tottenham 1-0 up inside the 62nd minute, Ian James Robert Allison was having none of that for Arsenal as he equalised for The Gunners. In the final seconds of the match Rocky Rocastle netted the 2-1 winner to put Arsenal in the final and within reach of their first major honour for almost a decade!
At Wembley in front of 96,000 spectators Liverpool stole the show after 23 minutes when Ian Rush grabbed the first goal of the game for The Reds. Arsenal would fire up sooner than later and within seven minutes Nicholas rose to the occasion to equalise for The Gunners. The game would go through a dry patch for the next 53 minutes before Nicholas scored the winner with seven minutes to go. After beating Liverpool 2-1 Arsenal had lifted their first trophy since clinching the 1979 FA Cup Final 3-2 over Manchester United.
In 1988 Arsenal would struggle to defend their League Cup after Luton Town came back from 1-2 down to beat The Gunners 3-2 astonishingly!
Liam Harding
Do you want to read our whole collection of history articles? Check out our Just Arsenal History section
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
Interesting to note that our club has gone through many “barren patches” aswell far as winning trophies is concerned, dating back to the clubs formation onwards.
I’m not sure how long a “barren patch” can be measured and if different tournaments deserve different time scales.
For instance, spuds haven’t won the league since the last century, but have won a cup in this century!!
If we don’t win anything this season, do we start to say that we are going through a “barren patch” under the management of MA?
That was probably as good as it got at Arsenal for Charlie, with his lifestyle getting more publicity than his football, before George eventually got rid of him.
Not one of our greater players, who could have achieved much more if he’d dedicated his time to football rather than “the good life”, which seemed to keep him popular with our fans however.