- Arsenal are bottlers and referees have no idea what they are doing
- Are Sun journalists encouraged to laugh at each others work, as the rest of us do?
By Tony Attwood
Perhaps a little surprisingly, Arsenal have played Port Vale 22 times in the past, although not previously this century, the most recent meeting being in 1998.
Arsenal have lost once to the Valiants and that was in the very first meeting 124 years ago on 28 September 1901 in Football League Division 2. Thus Vale won the very first meeting at thier ground in Burslem in Stoke on Trent. It was 1-0. In the return league match on Boxing Day Woolwich Arsenal took their revenge and won 3-1.
And indeed revenge it was because since then in that first league game, in the subsequent five league games (including of course, the return match noted above) and in four subsequent FA Cup matches, there have only been Arsenal wins or draws.
But Port Vale have been good at the draws for in the two occasions that Port Vale have been drawn against Arsenal (all in the FA Cup) the first game was a draw and the replay an Arsenal win.
But perhaps most alarming was the result in 1998 when Arsenal played a goalless draw at Highbury against the Vale After extra time, it was 1-1 (Dennis Bergkamp getting a penalty) and Arsenal won the penalty shoot out 4-3.
What is particularly noteworthy (or maybe alarming, depending on your point of view) is the team that Arsenal put out on that occasion:
Seaman
Dison, Bould, Keown, Winterburn
Hughes Vieira Overmars Parlour#
Bergkap Wright
I can’t recall the game, but I do recall the season because, as you might have remembered, in 1998 Arsenal won the double. And the cup run to Wembley started with draws against Port Vale! Never judge a cup run by the opening match (unless it is a defeat!)
Port Vale have slipped down this century, entering League Two in 2008 – a descent through the leagues in just a decade. Last season they were promoted from League Two and so rather obviously now play in League One. They finished the last campaign as runners-up.
Indeed, since Leagues One and Two were formed in 2004 the club has oscillated between the two. They are in some danger of going down again, so I suspect that although they will give it all tonight, their minds will also be on avoiding yet another relegation. Here’s their current table position
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | Port Vale | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 10 | -2 | 8 |
| 20 | Reading | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 13 | -4 | 8 |
| 21 | Rotherham United | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 11 | -5 | 7 |
| 22 | Blackpool | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 14 | -6 | 7 |
| 23 | Peterborough United | 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 15 | -8 | 7 |
| 24 | Burton Albion | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 5 |
If we measure their home games against Arsenal away this season, in the usual way, we get a disparity of games played…
