1998 FA Cup Final

Event

1997–98 FA Cup

Arsenal	Newcastle United

2	0

Date

16 May 1998

Venue

Wembley Stadium, London

Man of the Match

Ray Parlour^[1]

Referee

Paul Durkin (Dorset)

Attendance

79,183

The 1998 FA Cup Final was the final match of the 1997–98 staging of English football's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, better known as the FA Cup. The match was contested between Arsenal and Newcastle United at the original Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday 16 May 1998. Six-time winners Arsenal were appearing in their thirteenth final, whereas Newcastle United, having also won the competition six times, appeared in their eleventh final. It was the third time both teams faced each other in a FA Cup final; Newcastle won the previous two encounters in 1932 and 1952.

Each team had progressed through five rounds to reach the final. Arsenal's victories were close affairs and the team required three replays, two of which ending in penalty shootouts. Newcastle's progress was more comfortable by comparison and needed only one replay in the fourth round, against Stevenage Borough. Arsenal entered the match as favourites; a fortnight prior the club won the Premier League and aimed to complete the club's second league and cup double.

Watched by a crowd of 79,183 and a television audience of more than seven million, Arsenal took a first half lead through Marc Overmars. A goal after the interval, scored by striker Nicolas Anelka gave Arsenal a 2–0 victory.

Route to the final

Arsenal

Round	Opposition	Score
3rd	Port Vale (h)	0–0
3rd	Port Vale (a)	1–1
4th	Middlesbrough (a)	2–1
5th	Crystal Palace (h)	0–0
5th	Crystal Palace (a)	2–1
6th	West Ham United (h)	1–1
6th	West Ham United (a)	1–1
Semi-final	Wolves (n)	1–0

Arsenal entered the competition in the third round, receiving a bye as a Premier League club. Their opening match was a goalless draw against First Division club Port Vale at home, which meant the game was replayed at Vale Park, eleven days later. In the replay, Arsenal won 4–3 on a penalty shoot-out, with the match ending 1–1 after normal and extra time.^[2] In the fourth round, Arsenal played Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium. Marc Overmars scored the opening goal inside 68 seconds for the visitors and Ray Parlour added a second to give Arsenal a commanding lead, going into the interval. Although Paul Merson scored in the second half for Middlesbrough, Arsenal did enough to progress into the fifth round.^[3]

A 0–0 draw at home against Crystal Palace meant Arsenal needed to play a fifth round replay at Selhurst Park on 25 February 1998. Goals from Nicolas Anelka and Dennis Bergkamp ensured victory for an understrength Arsenal team.^[4] Against West Ham United in the quarter-finals, Arsenal conceded the first goal when Frank Lampard's corner kick was converted into the goal net by Ian Pearce. Although Bergkamp scored a penalty to equalise, Arsenal had to settle for a replay, staged at Upton Park, where it ended 4–3 on penalties in their favour after another draw.^[5] A goal by Christopher Wreh against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the semi-final was enough for Arsenal to win the match and reach the final.^[6]

Newcastle United

Round	Opposition	Score
3rd	Everton (a)	1–0
4th	Stevenage Borough (a)	1–1
4th	Stevenage Borough (h)	2–1
5th	Tranmere Rovers (h)	1–0
6th	Barnsley (h)	3–1
Semi-final	Sheffield United (n)	1–0

Newcastle's FA Cup campaign began in the third round against fellow league side Everton. The only goal of the match came in the second half; John Beresford's right-wing cross beat the Everton defence and allowed John Barnes to hook the ball back from beyond the far post.^[7] Ian Rush forced the ball over the goal line, it was his 43rd goal in the competition – a new record.^[7] Newcastle were drawn away against non-league Stevenage Borough in the fourth round. Alan Shearer on his return scored inside the first three minutes; he headed the ball into the net after good play from Keith Gillespie.^[8] However, Giuliano Grazioli equalised for the home side, who held on for a replay at St James' Park.^[8]

Shearer scored both goals against Stevenage Borough and manager Kenny Dalglish spoke afterwards of the disrespect Stevenage had shown his team: "Off the pitch they have a lot to learn about manners. If they were a Premier League club they would probably have been done for bringing the game into disrepute."^[9] A 1–0 win in the fifth round at home to Tranmere Rovers was followed by a quarter-final draw against Barnsley, who had knocked out Manchester United.^[10] Newcastle advanced to the semi-finals after a 3–1 win and at Old Trafford, Shearer scored the winner against Sheffield United.^[11]^[12]

Match summary

The 1998 FA Cup Final was Arsenal's chance to win the League and FA Cup double for the second time in their history, since their first such achievement in 1971. It was manager, Arsène Wenger's first Cup Final at Arsenal. It was a hot sunny day at Wembley and their opponents Newcastle United, were underdogs, having finished in 13th place that season under Kenny Dalglish. It was the club's first FA Cup Final since 1974.

The game came to life in the 23rd minute, when a perfect through-ball by Emmanuel Petit found Marc Overmars, who resisted the challenge of defender Alessandro Pistone to prod the ball through the legs of the onrushing goalkeeper Shay Given and give Arsenal a 1–0 lead.^[13]

Early in the second half, Newcastle were given a great chance to equalise when Martin Keown slipped on the ball. Alan Shearer pounced on the opportunity but his left-foot shot hit the foot of the post, and rebounded back out. The contest was all over in the 69th minute when another great pass by man of the match Parlour found the teenage striker Nicolas Anelka.^[14] Anelka raced through and slid the ball past Given to give the Gunners a 2–0 lead. Newcastle were left to rue another missed chance when Nikos Dabizas hit the bar with a header, but it was to be Arsenal's day. Sportingly, the Newcastle fans applauded the Arsenal team as they made their way up the Wembley steps to collect the trophy.

Match details

Arsenal v Newcastle United

16 May 1998
15:00 BST

Arsenal	2–0	Newcastle United
Overmars 23' Anelka 69'	Report

Wembley Stadium, London
Attendance: 79,183
Referee: Paul Durkin (Dorset)

Arsenal

Newcastle United


GK	1	David Seaman
RB	2	Lee Dixon
CB	14	Martin Keown
CB	6	Tony Adams (c)
LB	3	Nigel Winterburn	51'
RM	15	Ray Parlour
CM	4	Patrick Vieira
CM	17	Emmanuel Petit
LM	11	Marc Overmars
CF	9	Nicolas Anelka
CF	12	Christopher Wreh		62'
Substitutes:
GK	13	Alex Manninger
DF	5	Steve Bould
MF	7	David Platt		62'
MF	18	Gilles Grimandi
FW	8	Ian Wright
Manager:
Arsène Wenger


GK	1	Shay Given
RB	23	Alessandro Pistone
CB	34	Nikos Dabizas	53'
CB	6	Steve Howey	70'
LB	12	Stuart Pearce		73'
RM	2	Warren Barton	48'	76'
CM	7	Rob Lee (c)
CM	4	David Batty
LM	11	Gary Speed
SS	14	Temuri Ketsbaia		86'
CF	9	Alan Shearer	45'
Substitutes:
GK	15	Shaka Hislop
DF	19	Steve Watson		76'
DF	27	Philippe Albert
MF	10	John Barnes		86'
FW	40	Andreas Andersson		73'
Manager:
Kenny Dalglish

Match rules

90 minutes
30 minutes of extra-time if necessary
Replay required if scores still level
Five named substitutes, of which three may be used

Statistics

Statistic	Arsenal	Newcastle United
Goals scored	2	0
Possession	48%	52%
Attempts at goal	13	10
Shots on target	3	1
Corner kicks	4	2
Fouls	18	14
Offsides	5	3
Yellow cards	1	4
Red cards	0	0
Source: ^[15]

Post-match

Arsenal's victory set up a Charity Shield match against Manchester United in August 1998, who finished second in the league. The FA Cup winners ordinarily are awarded a place in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, but as Arsenal qualified for the UEFA Champions League via their league position, their UEFA Cup Winners' Cup place was passed to finalists Newcastle United.^[16]

The match was broadcast live in the United Kingdom by both ITV and Sky Sports; the former provided the free-to-air coverage and Sky Sports 2 was the pay-TV alternative.^[17]

References

↑ Wiechula, Frank (17 May 1998). "Hooray Parlour double chuffed". The People (London). p. 98.
↑ Shaw, Phil (15 January 1998). "Football: Arsenal let off the hook by Tankard". The Independent (London). Retrieved 3 June 2012.
↑ Barnes, Scott (26 January 1998). "Football: Arsenal spoil their old boy's reunion". The Independent (London). Retrieved 6 June 2012.
↑ Szreter, Adam (26 February 1998). "Football: Bergkamp makes decisive impact for Arsenal". The Independent (London). Retrieved 6 June 2012.
↑ Lacey, David (9 March 1998). "Pearce's double act has drawing power". The Guardian (London). p. 22.
↑ Thorpe, Martin (6 April 1998). "Wreh lights the way to Wembley". The Guardian (London). p. 21.
1 2 Hodgson, Guy (5 January 1998). "Football: Rush goal rubs salt into Everton's wounds". The Independent (London). Retrieved 3 June 2012.
1 2 Shaw, Phil (26 January 1998). "Football: Grazioli keeps Stevenage under the spotlight". The Independent (London). Retrieved 3 June 2012.
↑ Walker, Michael (5 February 1998). "Shearer double sees off Stevenage". The Guardian (London). p. 22.
↑ "Schmeichel slip-up wrecks treble dream". BBC News (BBC). 26 February 1998. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
↑ Holt, Oliver (9 March 1998). "Newcastle don Sunday best to go through". The Times (London). p. 30.
↑ Moore, Glenn (6 April 1998). "Football: Shearer's strike breaks the Blades". The Independent (London). Retrieved 3 June 2012.
↑ "Arsenal at the double". BBC Sport. 16 May 1998. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
↑ "Arsenal correspondent: tribute to the Romford Pele". Give Me Football. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
↑ "Football: Guide to the key Wembley battles". The Mirror (London). 18 May 1998. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
↑ Buckingham, Lisa; May, Tony (28 May 1998). "Newcastle United gloom deepens as chairman quits". The Guardian (London). p. 25.
↑ Hardwick, Viv (16 May 1998). "One-nil to the ITV". The Northern Echo (Darlington). p. 10.

External links

BBC Match Report
1998 FA Cup Final at fa-cupfinals.co.uk (Archived)
Line-ups

FA Cup

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