1970-1971

1970-71 was perhaps Arsenal's most impressive League Championship. Younger fans of the Gunners might disagree, but there can be little doubt amongst those of an older vintage. Beginning with a 5-0 thrashing at Stoke City in September (that is Arsenal lost), their season was seemingly going from bad to worse. At the end of February, Leeds were 7 points clear and Arsenal were virtually out of it.  Then there was the little matter of their style too - there wasn't any.

No matter, between 2 March and 3 May, Arsenal won 11 of the thirteen League games that they played, drew one and lost the other (away at Leeds). In the middle of this run, they had time to draw with Stoke in the FA Cup semi final before winning the replay on 31 March. But the sweetest victory came on 3 May at White Hart Lane.  Spurs were the only team so far to have won the double in the twentieth century so naturally they were dead set on denying their friendly rivals the first part of the double.

As the system of goal average was still in use to decide things when points were level, Arsenal needed a win or a goalless draw - any other draw would have been to Leeds' advantage. With two minutes to go it was scoreless when Ray Kennedy put the Gunners ahead. Spurs then threw the kitchen sink at Arsenal, knowing that an equaliser would deny them. Bob Wilson in the Gunners' goal though was equal to everything and the League Championship was headed to Highbury for the eighth time - a new record.

Team Pld W D L F A W D L F A F A GA Pts
Arsenal 42 18 3 0 41 6 11 4 6 30 23 71 29 2.448 65
Leeds United 42 16 2 3 40 12 11 8 2 32 18 72 30 2.400 64
Tottenham Hotspur 42 11 5 5 33 19 8 9 4 21 14 54 33 1.636 52
Wolverhampton Wanderers 42 13 3 5 33 22 9 5 7 31 32 64 54 1.185 52
Liverpool 42 11 10 0 30 10 6 7 8 12 14 42 24 1.750 51
Chelsea 42 12 6 3 34 21 6 9 6 18 21 52 42 1.238 51
Southampton 42 12 5 4 35 15 5 7 9 21 29 56 44 1.273 46
Manchester United 42 9 6 6 29 24 7 5 9 36 42 65 66 0.985 43
Derby County 42 9 5 7 32 26 7 5 9 24 28 56 54 1.037 42
Coventry City 42 12 4 5 24 12 4 6 11 13 26 37 38 0.974 42
Manchester City 42 7 9 5 30 22 5 8 8 17 20 47 42 1.119 41
Newcastle United 42 9 9 3 27 16 5 4 12 17 30 44 46 0.957 41
Stoke City 42 10 7 4 28 11 2 6 13 16 37 44 48 0.917 37
Everton 42 10 7 4 32 16 2 6 13 22 44 54 60 0.900 37
Huddersfield Town 42 7 8 6 19 16 4 6 11 21 33 40 49 0.816 36
Nottingham Forest 42 9 4 8 29 26 5 4 12 13 35 42 61 0.689 36
West Bromwich Albion 42 9 8 4 34 25 1 7 13 24 50 58 75 0.773 35
Crystal Palace 42 9 5 7 24 24 3 6 12 15 33 39 57 0.684 35
Ipswich Town 42 9 4 8 28 22 3 6 12 14 26 42 48 0.875 34
West Ham United 42 6 8 7 28 30 4 6 11 19 30 47 60 0.783 34
Burnley 42 4 8 9 20 31 3 5 13 9 32 29 63 0.460 27
Blackpool 42 3 9 9 22 31 1 6 14 12 35 34 66 0.515 23

Post to Twitter Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Facebook Post to Reddit Post to StumbleUpon

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.