I’d say that this is my favourite ever Arsenal goal. Not because of the quality of it, nor the technical skill involved in it, but because of its meaning.
This was the last goal we scored in the 1997-1998 season, in which we won the Premier League and FA Cup, and I remember it vividly. I was watching it on TV, and we only needed a draw to win the title. We absolutely spanked Everton, 4-0, and this was the last goal.
For me, it signified a changing of the guard. The goalscorer, Tony Adams, was pretty much Mr Arsenal. He was the captain, and he signified everything about the club. His partner in crime in the middle of defence, Steve Bould, was the man who played him through on goal. They were both veterans by this stage, having given decades of service to the club, and this was the beginning of the end for them both.
A new manager had taken over a year or two earlier, and he was beginning to mould the team into his own vision. Adams and Bould wouldn’t last much longer, but Arsenal would carry on, and in fact improve.
I remember crying my eyes out after this goal went in, as it was the first time since I’d started supporting Arsenal that we’d won the league, that we’d proven that we were the best in the land. And for our captain, our hero to score the final goal, the icing on the cake? Well, that was just too much to ask for.
This goal was scored on 3rd May 1998, nearly 12 years ago, and I remember it like it was yesterday. Ask me something that happened last week, and I’d have no idea. This? I’ll remember it as long as I live.
