07 January 2024 , 05:30
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When Arsenal and Liverpool meet in the FA Cup third round on Sunday it is safe to assume that neither side will want a replay, in what looks to be the last season such a scenario could be possible.
Already non-existent from the fifth round onwards, replays are set to be scrapped in the competition entirely from the beginning of next season, something which is sure to please managers such as Mikel Arteta and Jurgen Klopp who are dealing with busy schedules as they challenge on multiple fronts.
Should Sunday’s game at the Emirates end in a draw then the replay would likely have to take place in the week beginning January 15 due to Liverpool ’s participation in the Carabao Cup semi-finals. Such a scenario would eat into both clubs’ Premier League winter breaks, with neither side playing a league game on the weekend of January 13.
Neither Arteta or Klopp would be too happy with that, but a lesson from Arsenal and Liverpool’s FA Cup history tells them that it could be much, much worse. Because back in April 1980 the two clubs met in a cup semi-final that remarkably needed THREE replays to decide, while a league game was thrown in for good measure too.
The sides had already met the previous August in the Charity Shield to kick off the 1979-80 campaign, with a brace from Terry McDermott securing a 3-1 win for the Reds at Wembley, before a goalless draw at Highbury in the November, a match that reportedly lacked any real incident, set the tone for what was to follow.
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Alan Sunderland was a star of Arsenal's 1980 side (Mirrorpix)It was April 12, 1980 when Liverpool and Arsenal met at Hillsborough in the FA Cup semi-final, with the Gunners having needed replays to get past Cardiff and Bolton en route to the last four. Liverpool were “the more accomplished of the two teams” according to The Guardian’s report on the match, but Arsenal’s “persevering if slightly grotesque style of play” as per the same was able to shut them out, and after a goalless draw they were made to do it all again four days later, this time at Villa Park.
There, both sides made just one change from the initial game, and it was Reds boss Bob Paisley’s alteration - starting the frequent substitute David Fairclough in place of Jimmy Case - which looked as though it would pay dividends when Fairclough opened the scoring in the second half, only for Arsenal’s Alan Sunderland to equalise. The match went to extra-time, and after “two absorbing hours of fast, fluctuating football” as per The Guardian again it ended 1-1.
With no penalty shootouts in the FA Cup back then they’d have to do it all again for the right to face West Ham at Wembley, after the Hammers had beaten Everton in their own replay after extra-time on the same night. But first, there was a league game to get through.
Kenny Dalglish and Alan Hansen starred for Liverpool throughout the 1980s (Hulton Archive)So on April 19 it was to Anfield for the First Division clash, with both sides making just one change between them from the midweek meeting as Arsenal brought in Steve Gatting for Liam Brady. Kenny Dalglish opened the scoring for the title chasing hosts, but a late equaliser from Brian Talbot meant yet another draw. Liverpool coach Ronnie Moran invited Arsenal boss Terry Neill for a drink in the Anfield boot room after the match and reportedly joked “the way it’s going Terry, they’ll have to cancel the Home Internationals”, the following month’s British international tournament which by then was a fixture in the post-season calendar.
Mercifully the Reds and the Gunners were then granted brief respite from each other before the second semi-final replay, with Liverpool winning a league game at Stoke and drawing at Crystal Palace as they edged towards a fourth league title in five seasons, while Arsenal drew at home to West Brom en route to their fourth-place finish.
Two days after those Palace and West Brom games it was time to reassemble at Villa Park again though, and it was the Gunners who took the lead through Sunderland after just 15 seconds. They managed to hold onto that lead for the entire game until, in a match described as a thriller - “the dullest thing that happened all evening was a man baring his bottom on the centre spot shortly before the start” said The Guardian - Dalglish struck for Liverpool in the 90th minute. Level again, and after extra-time a third replay would be needed for just the second time in FA Cup history.
It was at Coventry’s Highfield Road this time, three days later on May 1 and 19 days after the initial tie, and this time Talbot’s early goal would settle it in favour of the Gunners, who emerged from a seven-hour epic with a place in the final, which they’d ultimately lose to an undoubtedly much fresher West Ham.
Liverpool clinched the league title with a win over Aston Villa two days after their defeat in the replay of the replay of the replay, and while Klopp would love to do similar this season, there’s no doubt both he and Arteta will want to avoid just one FA Cup rematch, never mind three.