When Martin Keown played a long ball from inside his own half. Dennis Bergkamp headed it up in the air, Nicola Anelka flicked it on and Marc Overmars nodded it forward, drove into the United area and fizzed a shot between Peter Schmeichel’s legs.

When Christopher Wreh smashed one in against Bolton. When Steve Bould fed Tony Adams on that sunny day in May against Everton and the captain buried it with his left foot. When Overmars and Anelka scored the goals at Wembley to win the FA Cup and the double, and Alan Shearer was sad.

When we used to play Manchester United and all day you could feel the nerves build and when the games were on you didn’t have just butterflies in your stomach you had bats, and moths, and possibly some small singing birds. It was a rivalry that meant so much and provided so much and it was absolutely brilliant.

When David Seaman saved an Aston Villa penalty and then Robert Pires lobbed him and then Robert Pires injured his cruciate against Newcastle and you thought ‘Oh shit’, but this was a team that could live with one its best players missing games so they went to Old Trafford and ‘WILTOOOOOOOOOOOORD‘ and won the title.

When the players did ‘we’re not worthy‘ to Pires. When Ray Parlour reminded everyone ‘Its only Ray Parlour‘ and Freddie Ljungberg left a young John Terry flat on his face before curling home a brilliant shot to make it 2-0 in an FA Cup final that took place before winning the league at Old Trafford when ‘WILTOOOOOOOOOOOORD’. Lee Dixon warming up behind the goal celebrating as the ball hit the net and another double was sealed.

When Pires scrapped home a goal in an FA Cup final in 2003 when our central defensive pairing of Martin Keown – who required injections in every bit of him to play – and Oleg Luzhny played a blinder. Oleg and Seaman high-fiving after the game.

When we beat Everton 2-1 on the opening day of the next season and you weren’t even that worried after Sol Campbell got a 25th minute red card because you knew we could cope.

When Vieira kicked out at van Nistelrooy at Old Trafford and got sent off and afterwards everyone called him a cheat. When it was made all the more sweet by the fact he missed that penalty and then Keown did Angry Starjump man and Lauren throttled a terrified Phil Neville and James Lawton said Arsenal were ‘sickening, brutish and disgusting’, but we loved it.

When we went to the San Siro and Thierry Henry roasted the brilliant Javier Zanetti to score Arsenal’s third in a 5-1 win.

When Henry made what was potentially a very bad Good Friday in a great Good Friday with a hat-trick against Liverpool. Jamie Carragher still has a bruise on his arse from the way Henry left on him it to score the third to put us ahead and if Highbury had a roof it would have come off but it didn’t and noise spread across North London like a blanket of celebration and joy.

When he scored four against Leeds. When we went to White Hart Lane and they thought that the late penalty, annoying as it was, was enough for them to stop us winning the league but it wasn’t enough to stop us winning the league and we won the league.

When even their players thought the draw was enough. When Thierry Henry remembered: