‘One-nil down, two-one up’: when Arsenal won their first League Cup

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For on that glorious, sunny Sunday afternoon at Wembley, Charlie Nicholas delivered on the biggest stage and ended Arsenal’s eight-year wait for a trophy.In truth, Nicholas’s time at Arsenal had not lived up to the excitement and hype that surrounded his move from Celtic in 1983. Gary Gillespie was the only member of the Liverpool starting XI who had not played there before and this was their eighth domestic cup final in 10 years.Arsenal’s league form had tailed off since the start of the year but there were reasons for optimism when the teams met on 5 April 1987.

But their comebacks in the semi-final had left a mark on Arsenal’s players. Rather than collapse after Rush had opened the scoring, Arsenal woke up and took the game to Liverpool.Arsenal players celebrate as the ball makes its way past Grobbelaar.

The substitute Perry Groves had pace to burn and, when he skipped past Gillespie on Arsenal’s left in the 83rd minute, Liverpool were stretched. Rush’s record was over – a week later he would score again at Norwich and end up on the losing team – and Arsenal had beaten Liverpool in a Wembley final for the third time, after their 1950 and 1971 FA Cup wins.“Arsenal’s younger players came of age,” wrote Lacey in his match report, although most newspaper coverage focused on Nicholas and his desire to sign a new contract.