May 8, 2002: The 3rd Arsenal Double

Sylvain Wiltord

May 8, 2002: In 1971, North London soccer team Arsenal won England's FA Cup, completing "The Double," just 5 days after winning the championship of the Football League First Division. In 1998, under manager Arsène Wenger, they clinched the Premier League early, and finished The Double 13 days later.

This time, the FA Cup Final had been scheduled for May 4, and they won it, defeating West London team Chelsea. But they had 2 PL games left, with the next-to-last being against defending PL Champions Manchester United, at United's 75,000-strong Old Trafford, just 4 days after the Final.

Arsenal led United by 5 points with 2 to play, so a draw in either game, or United failing to win both games, would have given Arsenal the title. Still, winning the Cup and then clinching the title 4 days later would have been the most grueling feat of all. (They would, however, have one more chance to take the title the following Saturday, at home to Everton.)

This game featured 5 members of the France team that won the 1998 World Cup: For Man U, goalkeeper Fabien Barthez and Laurent Blanc; for Arsenal, Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry and Sylvain Wiltord. It would not feature David Beckham, Gary Neville, Denis Irwin or Nicky Butt for United. Nor, for Arsenal, would it feature the soon-to-retire Captain Tony Adams, or their 2 best attacking players, Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp. All 7 of those were injured.

United wore their traditional home red shirts, while Arsenal wore gold instead of their home red shirts with white sleeves. Just 1:21 into the game, Wiltord nearly scored a magnificent goal, but it was deflected by Blanc. Paul Scholes shot over the crossbar in the 6th minute. After this glittering start, things calmed down a bit.

But in the 56th minute, Wiltord got control of the ball, and crossed it to Freddie Ljungberg, who, with Ray Parlour, had scored in the Cup Final. He fired a shot that Barthez could only deflect. It went right to Wiltord, who, because of Barthez's dive, practically had an open net, and he put it in with his left foot, at 55:42. He ran to the seating section with the visiting Arsenal fans, did a kneeslide, and pumped his fist. Nigerian star Nwankwo Kanu jumped over him, and hugged him as he got up.

United had to score twice to keep Arsenal from winning the title in their house, but Arsenal controlled the game thereafter. One United player who didn't like that was Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who came on as a substitute, and tussled with Arsenal centreback Martin Keown. They would come into conflict with each other again. Kanu came close to adding a goal in the 75th minute. United kept fighting to the end, but an Arsenal counterattack in the 93rd and final minute resulted in Barthez having to save a shot by Parlour.

Sky Sports announcer Martin Tyler saw the referee, and saw him blow the whistle. Tyler said, "Paul Durkin looks at his watch. History in the making for the club from Highbury. They are the Champions! They have taken the title away from Manchester United! And they have done it here, at Old Trafford! It does not get more conclusive than that! Arsène Wenger's team, every bit as good as the manager's word!"

They finished the season winning 26 games, drawing 9 and losing 3: 2-1 at home to Yorkshire team Leeds United on August 21 (only the 2nd game of the season), 4-2 away to Southeast London team Charlton Athletic on November 4, and 3-1 away to North-East team Newcastle United on December 18. They were unbeaten in their last 21, won each of their last 13, and were not shut out all season long. They finished with 87 points, 7 ahead of Liverpool, and 10 ahead of Man United.

They did not, however, match United's 1999 feat of a "European Treble": Though they reached the Second Group Stage of the UEFA Champions League, an inability to win any games on the road -- losing to Deportivo de La Coruña of Spain and Juventus of Turin, Italy, and drawing with Bayer Leverkusen of Germany -- stopped them from qualifying for the Quarterfinals.

As far as I know, Arsenal are the only team ever to win the League (either the old Football League Division One or the Premier League) at Old Trafford, other than United themselves.

Arsenal (1971, 1998, 2002) also joined United (1994, 1996, 1999) as the only English teams to win 2, let alone 3, domestic Doubles. Lancashire team Preston North End won it in 1889, Birmingham team Aston Villa in 1897, the other North London team Tottenham Hotspur in 1961, Liverpool in 1986, Chelsea in 2010, and Manchester City in 2019. (UPDATE: Man City won a 2nd Double, and a European Treble, in 2023, to go with their unique domestic Treble in 2019.)

*

May 8, 2002 was a Wednesday. American-style football was out of season. There was 1 game in the NBA Playoffs: The Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons, 85-77 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

There were 2 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Toronto Maple Leafs beat their Provincial rivals, the Ottawa Senators, 2-1 at the Corel Centre (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa. And the Colorado Avalanche beat the San Jose Sharks, 4-1 at the Compaq Center (now the SAP Center) in San Jose.

And these games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7-2 Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Roger Clemens was the winning pitcher. The Yankees got 2 home runs from Alfonso Soriano, and 1 from John Vander Wal. Derek Jeter went 0-for-4 with a walk.

* The New York Mets lost to the San Francisco Giants, 8-2 at Shea Stadium. Kirk Reuter outpitched former Giant Shawn Estes. J.T. Snow and ex-Met Jeff Kent hit home runs. Barry Bonds went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Montreal Expos, 5-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. How many Rockies pitchers does it take to pitch a 6-hit shutout? Apparently, 5: Shawn Chacón allowed 5 over 6 innings, Chris Nichting pitched a perfect 7th, Kent Mercker got 1 out and allowed 1 hit, Rick White finished the 8th, and Dennys Reyes pitched a hitless 9th. The Rox got home runs from Todd Helton, Larry Walker and Todd Zeile.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Houston Astros, 5-3 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-2 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-1 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.

* The Florida Marlins beat the San Diego Padres, 7-4 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 14-5 at Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium) in Cincinnati.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 5-3 at The Ballpark in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Mark Buehrle was the winning pitcher. Alex Rodriguez went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3 at Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix.

* The Anaheim Angels beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at Edison International Field of Anaheim (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 12-6 at the Network Associates Coliseum, as the Oakland Coliseum was then known. Nomar Garciaparra went 2-for-6 with 4 RBIs. Jason Varitek went 3-for-5 with a walk and 5 RBIs. Rickey Henderson, in his only season with the Red Sox, went 2-for-5 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-4 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle. John Olerud grounded into a fielder's choice that scored Ichiro Suzuki with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Ichiro went 3-for-4 with a walk, a stolen base, and an RBI.