Although Arsenal had some excellent attacking players in Jimmy Logie, Doug Lishman, Peter Goring and Cliff Holton, the 1952/53 team struggled to gel throughout the campaign.

Yet somehow, Tom Whittaker’s dogged Gunners dug deep, and put together a five-match winning run in April which kept them in the title mix with nearest rivals Preston North End and Wolves.

With just two games remaining, a nervous Arsenal lost 2-0 at Deepdale, succumbing to the brilliance of Preston's Tom Finney. The Lilywhites then won their season finale at Derby County, held two days prior to ours, to put them two points clear at the top.

That meant that we had to win at home against sixth-place Burnley in order to pip Preston to the big prize. We had garnered 52 points from 41 games, the fewest any potential champions had gained at that stage of the season, but boasted a better goal average than our title rivals, which would ultimately prove vital.

In our mid-1990s interview, winger Don Roper [below] said: “By May, the pitches became really heavy, and the Highbury surface barely had a blade of grass on it. We felt the pressure, but had the chance to win the league...