When Arsenal beat Liverpool in the 1971 FA cup final thanks to a dramatic late winner from Charlie George it was our fourth victory in the world’s oldest football competition but it was also the first time the Gunners had managed a league and cup double.
Up until then the only club that had managed it that century had been our north London rivals Tottenham. But while the spuds never managed it again, the mighty Gunners have gone on to repeat that remarkable feat on two more occasions. Both of them came under the managerial control of Arsene Wenger, in 1998 and 2002, and although it is really the Premier League we want this season, the Frenchman’s team selection for the FA cup clash with Sunderland showed that he very much wants another FA cup as well.
And the Arsenal players are even more keen to do the double, as apart from the former Chelsea keeper Petr Cech none of them have done it before. As Hector Bellerin declared in an interview reported by the Evening Standard, every Arsenal player is delighted to have gotten over the first hurdle of the 3rd round and are now fully focused on giving the fans another double to celebrate.
The Spaniard said, “That is the goal of the whole team.
“We love this competition and the fans love this competition so we need to try and do our best. We are trying to get the third in a row.”
I will certainly be raising a toast to the Gunners if they can do it, probably a double…