It's time to reveal the Gunners' Greatest 50 Goals - as voted for by Arsenal's fans.
If ever a goal encapsulated the all-round quality of David Rocastle, this was it.
'Rocky' was enjoying a renaissance in the Arsenal side in 1991/92 after falling out of favour the previous season. George Graham had dropped the England international following a dip of form but, after playing no more than a bit-part role in the 1991 title triumph, the dashing midfielder was resurgent in a central role.
He proved that on one of the biggest stages of all - Old Trafford.
This league game was goalless when Rocastle beat Neil Webb to a bouncing ball in the centre circle and stormed forward. The Arsenal man used his brawn to see off a hefty challenge from Ince before evading Bryan Robson with a nifty stepover, long before Cristiano Ronaldo was churning them out in Manchester.
Then Rocastle's brain took over. He looked up, spotted Peter Schmeichel just off his line and floated a delightful chip over the goalkeeper from 25 yards. 'Rocky' had a decent slice of luck when the ball hit the crossbar and bounced in off Schmeichel but he had earned it. This was vintage Rocastle.
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
