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Game #4042

Aston Villa

Saturday, 31 December 1988

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Lost

13th (-3)

Last 5: 🟩 🟨 🟨 🟩 🟥

Division One

Arsenal

Villa Park

Attendance: 32,486

🟥 31 December 1988, Villa 0-3 Arsenal, Villa Park.

Aston Villa

0-3

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Arsenal

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Assist(s) | None

🟥 31 December 1988, Villa 0-3 Arsenal, Villa Park.

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MATCH TIMELINE

Saturday, 31 December 1988

🥅 | 2’ Goal, 0-1, (Arsenal), Alan Smith
🥅 | 24’ Goal, 0-2, (Arsenal), David Rocastle
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 0-2 Arsenal
🥅 | 88’ Goal, 0-3, (Arsenal), Perry Groves
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 0-3 Arsenal

🔁 | Sub off, Andy Gray, Sub on, Martin Keown

Match Statistics

Not recorded

🟥 31 December 1988, Villa 0-3 Arsenal, Villa Park.

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ON THIS DAY

Saturday, 31 December 1988

  • Villa lose for the first time in six as they concede two minutes into the game and two minutes from the end after Nigel Spink, who has been outstanding all season, has a difficult game.

  • Villa drop back to 13th in the table.

  • Chris Price makes his 25th appearance in a Villa shirt to make it W10 D8 L7 and 1 Assist so far in his Villa career.

🟥 31 December 1988, Villa 0-3 Arsenal, Villa Park.

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DEBUT APPEARANCES

FINAL APPEARANCES

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Aston Villa

European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1981-82

Arsenal

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European Cup / Champions League: ❌
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆
Last Trophy: 1986–87

Aston Villa

Arsenal

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FIXTURE HISTORY

Villa v

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Arsenal

Previous 5 vs. Arsenal: 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟥 🟩

🟥 31 December 1988, Villa 0-3 Arsenal, Villa Park.

FIXTURE DETAILS

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Season | 1988-89 |
Matchday | #25 |
League Match | #19 |
Manager Game | #76 |
Saturday, 31 December 1988

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🟥 31 December 1988, Villa 0-3 Arsenal, Villa Park.

MATCH SUMMARY

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Manager: Graham Taylor | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Worksop, 1987-1990
Referee: Peter Tyldesley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Stockport, 1979–1991
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟥 0-2
FT Result: 🟥 Lost
FT Score: 🟥 0-3
Last 5: 🟩 🟨 🟨 🟩 🟥

Scorers
Timeline
On This Day
Trophies
Matches
Fixture

MANAGERIAL RECORD

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Graham Taylor | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1987-1990

GAMES | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS PER GAME

🕒 76 | 🟩 | 36 🟨 | 20 🟥 20 | 1.68

Villa Career Form:

Top 6

ALL THE MATCHES LED BY:

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Graham Taylor | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1987-1990

🟥 31 December 1988, Villa 0-3 Arsenal, Villa Park.

MATCH OFFICIALS

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Referee: Peter Tyldesley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Stockport, 1979–1991
Matches Officiated: 4
🟩 : 2
🟨 : 0
🟥 : 2
🆘 : 1
Previous 5: 🟥 🟩 🟩
Last Match: 🟩 9 October 1985, League Cup, Villa 8-1 Exeter, Villa Park.
Cards: None

ALL THE MATCHES REFEREED BY:

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CARDS

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None

None

🟥 31 December 1988, Villa 0-3 Arsenal, Villa Park.

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TEAM NEWS

TEAM STATS

Graham Taylor names an unchanged line up.

Starting XI Average Age
| 26.90 |

Oldest Player |
CB Allan Evans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 | 32.24 |

Youngest Player |
W Tony Daley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 21.22 |

Referee
Manager

🟥 31 December 1988, Villa 0-3 Arsenal, Villa Park.

MANAGER

Graham Taylor | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 1987-1990

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Aston Villa

GK Nigel Spink | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Chris Price | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Allan Evans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |
CB Derek Mountfield | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Kevin Gage | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Stuart Gray | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Andy Gray | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
M Gordon Cowans | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M David Platt | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
W Tony Daley | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CF Alan McInally | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |

MANAGER

George Graham (ex) | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 |

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Arsenal

GK John Lukic | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
RB Nigel Winterburn | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB David O’Leary | 🇮🇪 |
CB Steve Bould | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
CB Tony Adams | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M David Rocastle | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |
M Brian Marwood | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Kevin Richardson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Michael Thomas | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |
M Paul Merson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁 |
CF Alan Smith | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |

Line Ups

🟥 31 December 1988, Villa 0-3 Arsenal, Villa Park.

SUBSTITUTES

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🔁 CB Martin Keown | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | for M Andy Gray | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

SUBSTITUTES

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🔁 | M Paul Merson | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | (W Perry Groves | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽ |)

Substitutes

🟥 31 December 1988, Villa 0-3 Arsenal, Villa Park.

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

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CF Ian Olney | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES

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M Paul Davis | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

Player Positions:

GK : Goalkeeper
CB, D, B : Centre Back, Defender, Back
FB, LB, RB, WH : Full Back, Left Back, Right Back, Wing Back, Wing Half


M, CH, LH, RH : Midfielder, Centre Half, Left Half, Right Half
W, OL, OR : Winger, Outside Left, Outside Right
F, IF, IL, IR : Forward, Inside Forward, Inside Left, Inside Right, Second Striker, False 9
CF : Centre Forward

Match Symbols:

⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution

🟨 | Booking

🟥 | Sending off

🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game

Squad Bios

🟥 31 December 1988, Villa 0-3 Arsenal, Villa Park.

SQUAD STATS

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1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 11/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 13/13

SQUAD STATS

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1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 10/11

Squad:
Home Nation 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇬🇧 : 12/13

🟥 31 December 1988, Villa 0-3 Arsenal, Villa Park.

MATCHDAY SQUAD

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MATCHDAY SQUAD

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🟥 31 December 1988, Villa 0-3 Arsenal, Villa Park.

UNAVAILABLE

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Not recorded

UNAVAILABLE

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Not Recorded

Unavailable

LEAGUE TABLE

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MATCHDAY PROGRAMME

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Tables & Programmes

🟥 31 December 1988, Villa 0-3 Arsenal, Villa Park.

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MATCH QUOTES

"Villa belatedly got their act together in the second half, but safe goalkeeping by John Lukic and a timely clearance by Tony Adams kept Arsenal in charge."
Quotes

🟥 31 December 1988, Villa 0-3 Arsenal, Villa Park.

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MATCH REPORTS

Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. With thanks to Reach PLC. Digitised by Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited. All rights reserved. Source: British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

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*Sunday Life*
Sunday, 1 January 1989

ARSENAL showed their championship class with an outstanding first half performance at Villa Park. Villa, surprise winners at Highbury in September, saw their hopes of a double disappear as early as the second minute when Alan Smith headed his 16th goal of the season. Goalkeeper Nigel Spink was late with his challenge on that occasion and it was his weak clearance that led to David Rocastle chipping Arsenal's second goal after 24 minutes. Villa belatedly got their act together in the second half, but safe goalkeeping by John Lukic and a timely clearance by Tony Adams kept Arsenal in charge. Steve Bould had a shot cleared off the line by Gordon Cowans and the Londoners clinched their seventh away win of the season when substitute Perry Groves scored two minutes from time.
Reports

🟥 31 December 1988, Villa 0-3 Arsenal, Villa Park.

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MATCH VIDEO

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