Battle of Old Trafford

Not a proud day if you are either a Manchester United or Arsenal fan or are some kind of general pacifist. It was on this day in 1990 that the infamous ‘Battle of Old Trafford’ took place. Though, as it only lasted a measly twenty seconds and most of that involved players shouting ‘calm down, calm down’ at each other, it was more of a skirmish really.Arsenal had gone ahead at the stroke of half time thanks to Anders Limpar. In the second half, Limpar went for the ball alongside United’s Dennis Irwin. Arsenal’s Nigel Winterburn then made a tackle on Irwin that could be described as ‘crunching’. Suddenly every player on the pitch, apart from the ever sensible David Seaman, perhaps fearing damage to his moustache, got involved in the melee. It was all over in a flash and only Limpar and Winterburn were booked. But the FA decided to take action and both clubs were docked points, the only time in league history that points have been taken from a team due to player misconduct. Despite the deduction, Arsenal still went on to win the league.