24th July, 2017 in Sport, Trivia & Gift

Quiz: The title triumphs of Arsenal F.C.

By Graham Lister

If you’re an Arsenal fan with knowledge that spans the club’s 130-year history, then this quiz is for you!

The Gunners have won England’s top tier League title thirteen times, but how closely were you watching those title-winning campaigns?

Q1.

Apart from the 2003/04 ‘Invincible’ season, when they didn’t lose a single match, what is the fewest number of defeats Arsenal have suffered during a League title-winning campaign – and what is the most defeats they recorded while winning the League?

Q2.

Arsenal’s record points haul is 90, achieved when winning the title in 2003/04. However, if 3 points for a win had been the rule prior to 1981/82 as well as since then, what would have been Arsenal’s most productive title triumph in terms of points accrued?

Q3.

When Arsenal won the title for the first time, in 1930/31, two players scored more than 30 League goals apiece, and another was ever-present for all 42 matches. Who were the players concerned?

Q4.

Arsenal kicked off their 1947/48 title-winning season with a run of how many consecutive victories?

Q5.

Arsenal have concluded some of their title-winning campaigns with emphatic victories in the final game: 5–0 in 1930/31 and 1937/38; 8–0 in 1947/48; 6–1 in 1990/91. Can you name the hapless opponents in each case?

Q6.

When securing the title in 1970/71, Arsenal achieved a club record twenty-nine wins, and beat nine teams both home and away. Who were the clubs over whom the Gunners did the double that season?

Q7.

Which eleven players won League championship medals in both the 1988/89 and 1990/91 title-winning seasons?

Q8.

In terms of number of goals conceded, what title-winning season yielded the meanest defensive record – and which one was the least watertight?

Q9.

Who scored Arsenal’s first and last goals, respectively, in each of the following League title-winning campaigns: (1) 1970/71; (2) 1988/89; (3) 1990/91; (4) 1997/98; (5) 2001/02; (6) 2003/04?

Q10.

When Arsenal won the League in 1932/33, their two wingers – Cliff Bastin and Joe Hulme – missed just 2 matches between them, and were first and third top scorers, respectively. How many League goals did the pair score between them that season?

Q11.

After the epic title-clinching 2–0 win at Anfield on 26 May 1989, about which Arsenal player did one of Liverpool’s say that if a cannonball had been fired at him that day, he would still have controlled it and laid it off to one of the midfielders without a second thought?

Answers

1.

George Graham’s 1990/91 title winners lost just 1 match, while George Allison’s 1937/38 side suffered eleven defeats but still finished as champions.

2.

Arsenal would have earned 94 points in both 1930–31 (28 wins, 10 draws) and 1970/71 (29 wins, 7 draws) – although they were both 42-match campaigns compared with 38 in 2003/04.

3.

Jack Lambert scored 38 and David Jack scored 31, while Cliff Bastin (who scored 28) was ever-present.

4.

Six straight wins – and they were unbeaten over the first 17 matches of the campaign.

5.

Bolton Wanderers in both 1931 and 1938; Grimsby Town in 1948; and Coventry City in 1991. 

6.

Blackpool (1–0 home, 1–0 away), Burnley (1–0, 2–1), Coventry City (1–0, 3–1), Ipswich Town (3–2, 1–0), Manchester City (1–0, 2–0), Manchester United (4–0, 3–1), Nottingham Forest (4–0, 3–0), Tottenham Hotspur (2–0, 1–0), and Wolverhampton Wanderers (2–1, 3–0).

7.

Lee Dixon, Nigel Winterburn, Steve Bould, Tony Adams, David O’Leary, Michael Thomas, Paul Davis, David Rocastle, Alan Smith, Paul Merson and Perry Groves.

8.

In winning the League in 1990/91, Arsenal conceded only 18 goals. In contrast, when they won the title in 1952/53, their defence was breached sixty-four times – but they still secured the championship on goal average.

9.

(1) Charlie George scored the first and Ray Kennedy the last; (2) Brian Marwood and Michael Thomas; (3) Paul Merson and Perry Groves; (4) Ian Wright and Tony Adams; (5) Thierry Henry and Francis Jeffers; (6) Thierry Henry (penalty) and Patrick Vieira.

10.

53 – Hulme scored 20 and Bastin 33. (Ernie Coleman was second top scorer with 24 goals.)

11.

Alan Smith, who headed Arsenal’s first goal at Anfield to finish the season as the First Division’s top scorer with 23, having begun the campaign by netting in each of the Gunners’ first 8 matches.

Extracted from Never Mind the Gunners 2: Another Ultimate Arsenal Quiz Book by Graham Lister