"Arsenal are not boring, not all the time anyway, but they are a constant reminder of why music hall died. The main act is worth waiting for, and on Saturday Ian Wright enthralled the stalls to a roll of drums and clash of cymbals, but there is often a lot of indifferent juggling in between."
The opening paragraph of David Lacey's match report in the Guardian on Arsenal's 2-0 win over Everton in August 1993 neatly summed up the situation at Highbury. Solid defensively - barring the Mick Quinn inspired reverse on the opening day of the 93/94 season - a distinct lack of creativity was suffocating the team. Any excitement would invariably come through one man.
The over reliance on Wright was not a healthy position to be in, certainly not conducive for a title challenge over the course of a long season. But keeping things tight and relying on flashes of genius from their star centre forward had proved the perfect formula for the double domestic cup success of the previous campaign. And there would be more cup glory in Europe to follow.
A look back at the statistics of Arsenal's 92/93 season emphasises the importance of Wright. His 30 goals in all competitions - split evenly between league and cup - left Kevin Campbell (9) and Paul Merson (8) trailing in the distance. But none of this was Wright's fault. Manager George Graham had allowed the team to drift in this direction and with cups being won, the end justified the means.
Arsenal fans were thankful that Wright was capable of providing these rare sparks of entertainment. With Merson dropped for the Premier League match against Everton at Highbury, a midfield of Eddie McGoldrick, Ray Parlour, John Jensen and David Hillier was hardly going to get bums off the new seats in the North Bank.
"Highbury suffered toothache for 45 minutes," Lacey wrote regarding the first half. As someone who was at Highbury that day, it is hard to disagree. Yet with Hillier removed for Merson at half-time, there was at least a sense of anticipation when the substitute got on the ball. Merson helped to change the mood in the stadium, but inevitably it was Wright who took centre stage.
His first goal just after the break was hardly a thing of beauty. A long ball from David Seaman was flicked on by Campbell - the VAR lines would have been out for this one - and Wright thumped a shot past Neville Southall from the corner of the six-yard box. Yet it would be Wright's second goal that left a lasting impression.
Seaman's boot would again play a significant part, his long ball evading everyone to leave Wright with just Matt Jackson between him and Southall. As the ball bounced just outside the penalty area, Wright flicked the ball inside the Everton defender with his right foot, forcing Jackson to spin and temporarily lose his bearings. In a split second, Wright's left foot twisted Jackson's blood once more.
With the ball dropping into the penalty area, Wright lifted a delicious lob over Southall from roughly 12 yards out, the great keeper remaining rooted to the spot as all he could do was watch the ball arc over his head. Wright celebrated with fans in the front row of the North Bank, joy spread across his face as his team mates joined him.
"A remarkable statement of his virtuosity," Lacey noted about Wright's gorgeous goal, under the headline 'Modest bill topped by the juggler'. The Telegraph's Christopher Davies described it as "the perfect example of a truly great striker's improvisation". "Arsenal can't be boring when you are watching players like Ian Wright out there," Everton boss Howard Kendall added.
Wright mentions the goal in his autobiography My Life in Football. "I don't even know what made me do it because those goals were so hard to score in training, but the way the ball came down after each time I lobbed it over Matt Jackson was so perfect I thought, 'Why not just lift it?' As the ball flew past him [Southall], he looked stunned, because that was the last thing he was expecting."
"I rate that goal as one of the greatest I ever scored," he continues. "It was everything I would want to be remembered for, and I was so disappointed when, on Match of the Day, Alan Hansen blamed the defender! He said that goal was down to bad defending." Jackson, deputising for the injured Dave Watson, can surely be excused for appearing as bamboozled as many a defender would have been.
For all his undoubted genius, one cloud did hang over Wright in the various match reports that praised him: whether he could translate his club form on to the international stage. With just one goal in his 13 England appearances, many remained unconvinced that Wright could fit into a national team that would not play to his strengths.
"Whatever he does for England is down to the England manager," a defensive Graham responded as he was forced to field questions on the topic. His eventual total of nine goals in 33 matches may not have reflected his ability, but ask any Arsenal fan at the time and his value to the club was priceless. Moments like his second goal against Everton proved that.
"The second goal from Ian Wright will be talked about for years to come," Match of the Day commentator Tony Gubba said. It certainly will be remembered a lot more than Wright's single at the time - Do the Right Thing peaked at No. 43 since you didn't ask - with nostalgic legacy fans like this particular blogger willing to write a few words on a great goal scored by a great goal scorer.
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