Liverpool 0–2 Arsenal (1989)

The final match of the 1988–89 Football League season was contested at Anfield between Liverpool and Arsenal, respectively the first and second-placed teams in the First Division, on 26 May 1989. The clubs were close enough on points for the match to act as a decider for the championship. However, Arsenal had to win by at least two goals to overtake Liverpool in the table; anything else would result in Liverpool becoming champions. Arsenal won 2–0; midfielder Michael Thomas scored the second goal in the final seconds of the match, ending Arsenal's 18-year wait to be crowned champions.

The two clubs had been due to meet a month earlier, but the stadium disaster at Hillsborough during Liverpool's FA Cup semifinal against Nottingham Forest, which killed 97 Liverpool supporters, meant the fixture was postponed out of respect. It was moved to 26 May, six days after the FA Cup Final – which Liverpool won over crosstown rivals Everton. Arsenal manager George Graham adjusted his usual formation to a defensive one to stop Liverpool's attacking threat; David O'Leary was employed as a sweeper in a back five.

A peak British television audience of over 12 million saw a first half of few chances as Arsenal successfully nullified Liverpool. Striker Alan Smith scored from a header as play resumed in the second half, but as the game drew to a close with the score 1–0, Arsenal needed a second goal to win the title. In stoppage time, Arsenal's Thomas made a run through the Liverpool midfield. He scored a last-minute goal, in the process denying Liverpool the chance of a second League and Cup double.

The match is considered to be one of the most dramatic conclusions to a league season in the history of the English game and is sometimes seen as the starting point of a renaissance in English football. The ban on English clubs playing in European football was lifted a year later and a new top division – the Premier League – was formed in 1992, which generated more revenue for clubs. The title decider also formed the dramatic climax in the romantic fictional adaptation Fever Pitch (1997) of Nick Hornby’s million-selling autobiographical essay Fever Pitch: A Fan's Life.