at the time of the points deduction, arsenal were placed second in the league, eight points behind leaders liverpool and one in front of local rivals tottenham hotspur. o'leary expressed his disappointment at the docked points: "the champagne will be out at liverpool tonight because this makes our task very much harder." his teammate limpar was more optimistic: "it seems very harsh. it makes it a little bit harder to catch liverpool, but it is not impossible." indeed, arsenal went on to lose just one game all season and won the first division title, seven points ahead of runners-up liverpool.