As Arsenal head into the final stretch of this English Premier League season, fans can be forgiven for not getting ahead of themselves. Frankly, they’ve seen this all before. A team that wasn’t expected to win in pole position. As hope returns, the scars remain.
When Arsenal left Highbury for the Emirates in 2006, Arsene Wenger knew he had his work cut out for him. Significant investment in the new stadium meant cut-backs were inevitable. Wenger knew he would have to move on experienced stars in favour of young prospects. Arsenal’s ambitions didn’t match their limitations. The team continued to play thrilling football against the best teams in the world. Arsenal would mount only three serious title challenges in the first 17 seasons at their new home. Three pivotal games would seal their fate.
Birmingham City 2-2 Arsenal
February 23rd, 2008
Arsenal entered this lunch-time kick-off as league leaders, starting the season with a fifteen-game unbeaten run. After a loss to Middlesbrough, they had won eight of their last ten. Wenger’s young Gunners, like today’s team, were ahead of schedule. A title challenge should not have been the expectation, but with their relatively recent invincibility in mind, Arsenal fans considered their side’s blistering start to be business as usual. Critics pointed to Arsenal’s lack of experience as the reason why they would fail to go the distance. They lacked bite. Same old Arsenal.
Arsene Wenger. (Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)
It would be a traumatic day from the start. The horrific injury suffered by Eduardo da Silva after less than three minutes remains tough to recount. The game was stopped for more than eight minutes after a wild Martin Taylor challenge broke his opponent’s tibia and fibula. Eduardo was a joy. He liked to stand in the eye of the storm, to wait for the flailing defenders to pass him by before rolling the ball past a statuesque goalkeeper. He would never be the same player.
His injury obviously affected his teammates. Mathieu Flamini, Cesc Fabregas and Alex Hleb were first on the scene and couldn’t hide their emotions, before signalling to the dugout in despair. They then had to compose themselves. This would be a test of Arsenal’s mettle.
James McFadden gave Birmingham the lead and they held it until the break. In the second half, Theo Walcott finally delivered on all of his promise, with his first Premier League goal, volleying home after an Emmanuel Adebayor header. He would wait only five minutes to get his second. Walcott controlled a bouncing ball and drove into the box at pace before blasting a left-foot strike into the back of the net. A fifth straight win and a three-point lead at the top looked almost certain.
After playing 90 minutes against ten men and almost the entire second half with a lead, Arsenal imploded. Flamini laid the ball off to Gael Clichy in his own box, who seemingly had an eternity to clear. Clichy took his time and his teammates switched off, only for Stuart Parnaby to sneak in on the blindside and steal the ball. Clichy recovered and made a great challenge, only for Mike Dean to award a penalty. James McFadden stepped up to earn his team a valuable point.
William Gallas’s petulance after the final whistle didn’t help to calm nerves. Arsenal’s captain was visibly upset and angry with his young teammate, Clichy. Rather than putting his arm around him and moving on, Gallas sat on the ground until Wenger walked the length of the pitch to collect him, ushering his disconsolate captain to the dressing room.
Arsenal would draw four straight games in the league, before a 2-1 loss at Chelsea, just their second defeat all season, put them on the brink. An inspiring 3-2 comeback win with 10-men at Bolton was a proud moment for the young Gunners and kept their title hopes alive, but it was false hope. A draw at home to Liverpool was followed by a trip to Old Trafford, where an Adebayor goal was canceled out by a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty. Owen Hargreaves’ free kick eventually gave United the points. The young Gunners ran out of steam, falling four points short of the title.
Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool
April 17th, 2011
The 2010-11 season was a rollercoaster for Arsenal. There was no shortage of hope and heartbreak, but by mid-April, Wenger’s side had avoided a knock-out punch. Arsenal were wobbling, but had gone 14 games undefeated in the league heading into a must-win clash with Liverpool at the Emirates. They were clinging on in the title race and had a chance to close the gap at the top to four points.
(Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Arsenal’s position probably should have been better. An infamous 4-0 lead away at Newcastle in early February had somehow been turned into a disastrous, morale-sapping 4-4 draw, thanks to an outrageous volley from the late Cheick Tioté. The turning point in the match had been a potentially horrific, unpunished Joey Barton challenge on Abou Diaby, which led to the Frenchman losing his cool and being given his marching orders. A collapse looked imminent, but Arsenal regrouped.
Twelve days later, the Champions League served up one of the great knockout ties. Wenger’s Arsenal versus Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona lived up to the billing and delivered a modern classic. Messi was magnificent but wasted a number of chances. Xavi and Iniesta met their match, as Fabregas and Jack Wilshere raised their level and met the challenge. Late goals to Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin swung the tie and gave Arsenal a 2-1 lead to take to the Camp Nou, after a game that fans remember fondly and still recall vividly twelve years later.
The optimism would last ten days. Arsenal’s quest for a first trophy in six years in the League Cup would turn to disaster when Obafemi Martins pounced in the 89th minute to win it for Birmingham City. In front of nearly 89,000 fans at Wembley, Arsenal crumbled. Birmingham deserved the win, but the Gunners and their fans could not help but look inward for the cause of such a demoralizing defeat.
Arsenal responded in the 2nd leg against Barcelona, but again fell agonizingly short. An unjust second yellow card shown to van Persie did not help their cause. Even then, seemingly with the world against them, Niklas Bendtner nearly sent Arsenal through in stoppage time, only to be denied by a last-ditch Javier Mascherano tackle.
Arsenal had one last, unlikely shot at redemption. It turned out to be a pretty dour 90 minutes, only for the 3pm kick-off to burst into life after 5pm. Liverpool had defended resolutely without their captain Jamie Carragher, until Fabregas won a dubious penalty. The spot-kick was coolly converted by van Persie in the 98th minute, sending the crowd into delirium and keeping the title race alive.
There was barely enough time for the kick-off, with Dirk Kuyt taking a direct shot at Wojciech Szczesny’s goal, almost catching him napping. The next minute was chaos. All Arsenal needed was someone to put their foot on the ball and draw a cheap foul. Instead, it was Livepool who won a free kick right on the edge of Arsenal’s area.
All of a sudden, Arsenal were clinging on. The wait for the free kick was agonizing. Luis Suarez smashed a shot straight into the wall and then up into the air. Arsenal fans breathed a sigh of relief. It was all but over. There was only time for Emmanuel Eboue to run straight into the back of Lucas Leiva and give away another questionable penalty.
Wenger was on his knees on the touchline, like all of us, barely able to watch. Kuyt smashed the penalty past Szczesny and ran straight to the corner to celebrate with the Liverpool fans. Ecstasy and agony in the 102nd minute and a moment that would define Arsenal’s banter era. Same old Arsenal.
The Gunners would lose captain Fabregas to Barcelona in the summer and Samir Nasri to Manchester City. Van Persie would leave for Manchester United the following year. Wilshere struggled to overcome recurring injuries. Arsenal could no longer contend for the title and fourth place would become Wenger’s trophy.
Manchester United 3-2 Arsenal
February 28th, 2016
In probably the strangest Premier League season to date, Arsenal sat second on the table, United were floundering post-Ferguson, City were rudderless pre-Guardiola, and Chelsea were imploding, with players plotting a mutiny against Mourinho. This was Arsenal’s big chance. Only Leicester stood in their way. The Foxes improbable unbeaten run was halted two weeks earlier at the Emirates, after an engrossing 90 minutes ended with a 95th minute Danny Welbeck winner. The Gunners were firm favourites at Old Trafford, against an underperforming United, but would have to deal with a 17 year-old striker on his Premier League debut named Marcus Rashford.
Arsenal couldn’t match United’s energy. Rashford’s youthful enthusiasm helped him react quickest to a loose ball in the box, before a side-footed finish sent the crowd into delirium. The Theatre of Dreams was watching one of their own on a dream debut. The dream would only get better.
England’s Marcus Rashford. (Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images)
Three minutes later the Arsenal defenders were left pointing at each other, watching Rashford direct a free header past Cech. Arsenal were being dismantled. They had everything to play for but it was the same old story. Big players were going missing when it mattered.
Arsenal had the best part of an hour to respond and less than ten minutes later, another United youth product found the net. Mesut Ozil’s direct free kick again found the head of Danny Welbeck, who beat a diving David de Gea. Arsenal had a lifetime that they probably didn’t deserve.
After the break, the teams traded chances. Rashford grew in confidence, running directly at the Arsenal rearguard. Two step overs and a spin opened space for Ander Herrera, who after being teed up by Rashford, used the pace on the ball to finesse a shot on target. Laurent Koscielny couldn’t react fast enough. His deflection left Cech diving toward one corner and the ball going into the other. Wenger was gesticulating frantically on the touchline.
Arsenal knocked on the door but couldn’t create an opening. Alexis Sanchez won a soft free-kick and Louis van Gaal provided an action replay for the third official. Comically throwing himself to the floor in protest. The free kick came to nothing. A 17 year-old kid that nobody had heard of had stolen the headlines.
Arsenal would lose again the next week away at Swansea. Leicester wouldn’t falter. They didn’t lose again after their defeat at the Emirates, a run of 12 games. Leicester deserved their unlikely title win, nobody could begrudge them, but it felt very Arsenal. To finally finish above all of their rivals and be beaten by Leicester.
Arsenal wouldn’t finish in the top four again under Wenger. Three FA Cups marked conciliatory success for the post-invincible era. Hamstrung by finances, he did an amazing job in retrospect. His consistency gave Arsenal the foundation from which to compete. It would take significant investment and patience with one of his proteges before Arsenal would contend again.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
The past 18-24 months have been an enjoyable ride for Arsenal and their fan-base after almost a decade of turbulence. Mikel Arteta has been…
Kai Havertz has scored twice against his former team and Ben White also got a brace as Arsenal brushed aside a dismal Chelsea side…
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has slammed the FA Cup scheduling after watching his side beat Chelsea 1-0 to reach the final, three days…
With a certain inevitability, Manchester City are suddenly in charge of the Premier League title race. Arsenal and Liverpool both produced lethargic performances under…
Ten goals flew in across the opening two quarterfinals of the Champions League as honours ended all square in Madrid and London. An incredible…
Match 7 2017. Ask any Arsenal fan what their memories were of that day and you'd get anything but a positive response. Leading 1-0…
