Arsenal History: How George Graham won the 1990/91 title with the 'Pre-Invincibles'

The pre-Invincibles

The 1990/91 season witnessed George Graham’s Gunners clinch the First Division league title after losing only one out of 38 matches.

Like the 1988/89 league campaign Arsenal’s first match was against Wimbledon which they beat comfortably 3-0 with three strikes being delivered in the second half from Paul Merson, Alan Smith and Perry Groves.

Four days later in August Luton Town were narrowly forced into submission 2-1 at Highbury thanks to goals from Merson and Michael Thomas.

September commenced with two consecutive draws, beginning with a 0-0 stalemate in the North London Derby with Spurs followed up by a 1-1 draw against Everton at Goodison Park, Groves goal saw at least a point gained. By the middle of the month Arsenal stepped up again securing four points out of four (with two counting for a win then). Chelsea were cracked open 4-1 with four solo hits from Andreas Limpar, Lee Dixon, Paul Merson and David Rocastle chipping in, all before Nottingham Forest were beaten with ease 2-0 with Limpar netting and David Rocastle.  A tricky 2-2 draw with Leeds United away closed off the month, Limpar grabbed two within 11 minutes of one another.

Arsenal would then seal four consecutive wins on the bounce in the First Division from the start of October to early November. Paul Davies filled up the score sheet against Norwich City after firing twice in the first half to grab a 2-0 Gunners victory. A crucial 1-0 win was then met at Manchester United with Limpars fifth goal of the campaign so far.  In the last match of October Lee Dixon scored a penalty late on versus Sunderland at home with nearly 40,000 crammed fans watching keenly from the ageing stands of Highbury. November watched Arsenal start off with a 2-0 beating of Coventry City thanks to Limpar again. However, a week later Crystal Palace held Arsenal at Selhurst Park to a dreadful 0-0 draw.  The Gunners finished off the month with four points out of a maximum four, Southampton were whipped 4-0 with lethal strikes from Merson, Limpar and Alan Smith with a brace.  The second was a 3-1 walk in the park over QPR seeing thunderbolts fire in from Merson, Dixon and Campbell.

Out of six matches in December, Arsenal won three drawing the remaining tussles.  The three draws came one after the other beginning with a 1-1 draw to Luton with Smith grabbing a point for The Gunners who were well and truly in charge of the title race already. In the middle game Wimbledon visited Highbury sealing a point in a 2-2 tedium where Merson and Tony Adams scored in the first half inside four minutes of each other, before a 0-0 stalemate finished off the run.

The New Year witnessed Arsenal suffer their one and only loss of the season in February to Chelsea 1-2 despite Smith pulling one back in the 89^th minute to try and rescue a point and his sides unbeaten run.

The month before in January Arsenal struggled for goals direly scoring only twice in three matches which saw them pick up two 1-0 wins versus Everton and Manchester City.

However, after losing to the Blues Arsenal rediscovered their attacking form straight away sailing past Crystal Palace 4-0. Record appearance maker at Arsenal David O’ Leary got the scoring underway after only three minutes before Merson, Smith and Campbell netted the rest in the last game of February.

Liverpool whose hopes of a 19^th league title were dashed after in-form Arsenal won at Anfield 1-0 due to a crucial goal from Merson midway through the second half. For the rest of March Arsenal won two drawing the other two. Leeds United was overturned 2-0 through the finishes of Campbell late on in the match. Three days later Campbell scored again when The Gunners drew 1-1 with Nottingham Forest, when another three days after that another draw was witnessed at Carrow Road in a 0-0 stalemate. But a win at the end of the month against Derby County made up for the draws after Smith single handily put The Rams to bed.

Arsenal gained eight points out of ten in April with the standout match coming against Aston Villa who were thrashed 5-0 with Campbell and Smith both filling their boots with two strikes and Davies joining in with the fun. The two draws of the month were achieved home and away, Saints stopped The Gunners in a 1-1 draw at The Dell with Smith scoring the solo strike, before Manchester City ran away from Highbury with a point following a 2-2 draw with Dixon scoring from the spot and Merson later dispatching for Arsenal.

In Arsenals final three games of the season a 0-0 draw was secured at Sunderland’s Roker Park, two days forward Manchester United were comfortably beaten 3-1 with hero of the day Smith grabbing a hat-trick. On the 11^{th of} May Arsenal were crowned Champions of England and Highbury with a total 6-1 annihilation of Coventry City at home. Trevor Peake reached his peak scoring, alongside Limpar who rose to the occasion with a hat-trick, with Smith and Perry Groves putting one in the back of the net each and not forgetting one unfortunate Coventry player too who slid one in at his back post.

Arsenal topped the table on 83 points by the final point of the season beating Liverpool to the title by seven points.

This would prove to be Arsenal’s final league title won under George Graham before he departed North London in 1995.