‘I thought Arsene Wenger was crazy for not playing me in the FA Cup final, but we had an unforgettable night days later – we climbed a mountain that year’ Arsenal legend tells FFT about winning the double, days after his omission from a showpiece fixture

Arsene Wenger celebrates in front of the Arsenal fans after winning the title at White Hart Lane
Arsene Wenger (Image credit: Getty Images)

Arsenal are attempting to win a Premier League and Champions League double before this season is over – having previously done a domestic double on three occasions.

After bagging both the league and the FA Cup in 1971 and 1998, they repeated the feat once more in 2002.

On that occasion, they defeated Chelsea 2-0 at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, before clinching league at the home of perennial rivals Manchester United four days later.

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Defender's Double memories

Martin Keown

Martin Keown (Image credit: Getty Images)

Martin Keown was part of that Arsenal squad, just as he was in 1998, but was surprisingly left out of the starting line-up for the FA Cup final.

“It was weird because that was the one cup final where Arsene Wenger said ‘Look, you're not playing in this game’,” the TNT Sports pundit tells FourFourTwo now.

Tony Adams playing for Arsenal in 1997

Tony Adams (Image credit: Alamy)

“We played Tony Adams in that game, even though that summer I went to the World Cup. He said ‘Look, there’s a bigger game coming up in four days’ time, you’ll play tomorrow at some point, but I need you to be fresh for Wednesday.

“I thought he was crazy at the time, but I did get on in the final and then I was pretty fresh, to be fair, and managed to do well. Tony and I were obviously getting on in years then – I think I was 35 or 36 at the time.

“But it still turned out to be a good day against Chelsea, and against United days later as well – it was unforgettable to win the league at Old Trafford. We climbed a mountain to get together that year.”

Keown was talking ahead of a month like no other, with five major football finals live on TNT Sports & HBO Max kicking off with the Emirates FA Cup this Saturday. Enjoy a full day of FA Cup coverage live on TNT Sports & HBO Max from 9am.

Chris Flanagan
Senior Staff Writer

Chris joined FourFourTwo in 2015 and has reported from more than 20 countries, in places as varied as Ivory Coast and the Arctic Circle. He's interviewed Pele, Zlatan and Santa Claus (it's a long story), as well as covering the World Cup, AFCON and the Clasico. He previously spent 10 years as a newspaper journalist, and completed the 92 in 2017.

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