10 Times Newcastle United Totally Bottled It In The Big Game

3. Arsenal 2-0 NUFC

Competition: FA Cup Final Season: 1997/98 It had been 25 years since Newcastle last contested an FA Cup final - losing 3-0 to a Kevin Keegan inspired Liverpool in 1974 - and against all the odds we made it back to Wembley in the hope of ending our lengthy trophy famine. Meeting us at the national stadium were Arsenal, seeking a domestic double after winning the Premier League, with Kenny Dalglish's side considered the underdogs following a wretched season in which we scrapped for our lives in the bottom-half of the table before eventually clambering to a 13th-place finish. A potential giant-killing at the hands of non-league Stevenage was avoided in the fourth round - although we required a replay to see off the Hertfordshire minnows - and our route to the Final was of relative comfort meaning we'd need to step it up a level to beat the Champions of England. But the negative approach adopted by Dalglish, that included fielding Alessandro Pistone on the left-wing to shackle Marc Overmars, ultimately gave us little chance of victory as he chose to deploy a system that would nullify the Gunners' free-flowing attack. It was a fruitless venture as we struggled to cope with the Gunners' pace and Overmars inevitably made us pay when he gave Pistone the slip in the 23rd minute to poke in the opening goal before a teenage Nicholas Anelka ended any hope of a fightback in the second half.