Oh what a wonderful evening: and thank you Arsenal, thank you Mr Dunford

 

 

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By Tony Attwood

Oh what a glorious afternoon / evening.  Most certainly one to remember. And one to reflect on the power of the media, because so utterly enamoured and overwhelmed is the media by the glory of the ManC club (as they see it) they can start to influence even a devoted Arsenal fan and historian like me.

Of course I should not be so influenced by the media, I really should not, because although I couldn’t recall the exact details of the stats I knew before the game that Arsenal have consistently got the better of the Mancs over the years.

So yes I did spend a moment this morning look back at some of the results from days gone by, for although I could remember the couple of hammerings in the last dozen years (6-3 in 2013 and 5-0 in 2021 stick in the throat), I knew that prior to that Arsenal had hammered the Mancs.

And looking it up I confirmed that my historic knowledge, although not of the Brain of Britain variety, is still fairly sound.  Three times in the Division One days Arsenal scored five or more against Manchester C: not that I was there in 1925 I hasten to add, not in 1956, when Arsenal won 7-3 although I think my dad was there (although sadly of course I can no longer ask).

Arsenal did it again in 1961 (5-4), and I certainly do remember the ones since then.  5-1 in 2000, and then1-5 away in 2003; those stay in the memory.

And today, the Guardian notes that the Mancs collapsed like an “inadequately constructed French meringue” which I do rather like

Since then ManC have retaliated twice 6-3 in 2013, and 5-01 in 2021.   But last night it was our turn, and as a result, we are just two points and four goals behind where we were last season, with exactly the same goals conceded as by this time last season.   Do not let anyone tell you Arsenal are in decline.  To achieve this with the level of injuries we have and have had is extraordinary.  

Even the Sun, the eternal supporters of ManC no matter what they do and how they do it, say Gunners “thrashed their rivals in spiky clash.”   They also reproduce the rather tasteless chant that rang around the stadium later in the game, putting asterisks in one of the words as if that somehow sanitised everything.  They really are a bunch of turnips.

So now it is three wins and two draws, since that seemingly eternal set of defeats against ManC, and the win leaves Arsenal just two points and four goals away from where they were at this stage last season.

 

	Year	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
3	Arsenal 2024	24	16	4	4	53	22	31	52
2	Arsenal 2025	24	14	8	2	49	22	27	50

 

Of course, if this were any other team it would be the BIG story of the morning, but no, in the Telegraph we’re relegated to third place behind a story about Rashford, and “Transfer Deadline Day Live” although to be fair they then do have “Indolent Erling Haaland is a luxury player Man City can ill-afford to carry” with the subheading, “Striker may be record-setter, but he was more interested in battle with Arsenal fans than fighting for his team on pitch.”

They continue, “He took only six touches in the first half, completing one of three passes and offering zero defensive contributions. True to confounding type, he stirred belatedly into life, rising highest to bury Savinho’s cross and kindle some semblance of a fightback. But no sooner did Phil Foden clumsily gift Thomas Partey Arsenal’s second goal than the Norwegian appeared to lose interest, making just one further contact with the ball all game. He was a study in surly fatalism…”

And One may say in reply, it has taken them a long old time to learn, but they got there in the end.

So since Arsenal’s early January dip which filled the media with such delight, and in which Arsenal drew with Brighton away and then lost in the League Cup and FA Cup at home to Newcastle and Manchester U respectively, Arsenal have played six, won five and drawn one which seems to me a fairly decent response.

But here’s a funny thing, not only did Arsenal score handsomely, they also have almost double the number of shots as Manchester C, and yet they did all this with just 46% of possession and only 45% of the passes in the game.

The Sun of course can never be positive about Arsenal, as they note that early in the game, Havertz somehow sliced his shot wide.   “It was an absolute sitter and it might persuade Arsenal’s hierarchy to stick an extra zero onto their £40million bid for Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins ahead of tomorrow’s transfer deadline.”

Even if victory we are told we are not good enough. 

As for me, it was a glorious day.  For not only did we win but I thought the Radio 5 broadcast I have been talking about for days worked very well (it’s now available on BBC Sounds) and the guys running the PA system maybe noted that, by playing “North London Forever” both at the start and the end of the game.  That probably had nothing to do with my morning broadcast, but it was a lovely touch nonetheless.