By Bulldog Drummond
We are now back up to third in the injury league table with five men reported down and out. Top of the league are the tax payer funded West Ham with nine, Watford with six, and then a whole bunch of clubs including us with five.
I have a thought about West Ham – since we are all paying for the club as tax payers, shouldn’t we all have a chance to say who should play in the team? Selection by public vote, perhaps.
Bellerin is the latest man out with a muscle injury. I doubt he would have played in this match anyway, and he is certainly a doubt for the game against Liverpool. Monreal is apparently still out (in the last piece I suggested he could come back in for the this game as a warm up, but it seems not). Kolasinac still has a tight hamstring, while Mavrapanos is expected to return to training in November. And of course there is Koscielny who it is suggested might be back and playing next month, but I think December is more likely.
Returning to the question of Blackpool, the head to head account shows that we have won 43 games against them, drawn 24 and lost 15 times.
And that head to head with Blackpool really is rather curious in that in the first 24 games between the clubs Arsenal either won each game or it was a draw. Some of the wins were quite good – 6-0 in 1899, 7-1 in 1930, 5-1 away in 1931, among others.
But then suddenly on Christmas Day 1937 Blackpool beat us 2-1 at their place, their first ever victory over Arsenal, after which they started picking up wins quite regularly. Indeed in 1957 and 1958 they beat us three times in a row – although as a look at the history books will reveal, we were pretty rubbish around that time.
Here is the final part of the head to head rundown.
| Date | Match | Result | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Dec 1937 | Blackpool v Arsenal | L | 2-1 | Division One |
| 21 Jan 1967 | Blackpool v Arsenal | W | 0-3 | Division One |
| 29 Oct 1968 | Arsenal v Blackpool | W | 5-1 | League Cup |
| 03 Jan 1970 | Arsenal v Blackpool | D | 1-1 | FA Cup |
| 15 Jan 1970 | Blackpool v Arsenal | L | 3-2 | FA Cup |
| 07 Nov 1970 | Blackpool v Arsenal | W | 0-1 | Division One |
| 20 Mar 1971 | Arsenal v Blackpool | W | 1-0 | Division One |
| 21 Sep 1976 | Blackpool v Arsenal | D | 1-1 | League Cup |
| 28 Sep 1976 | Arsenal v Blackpool | D | 0-0 | League Cup |
| 05 Oct 1976 | Arsenal v Blackpool | W | 2-0 | League Cup |
| 13 Dec 1999 | Arsenal v Blackpool | W | 3-1 | FA Cup |
| 21 Aug 2010 | Arsenal v Blackpool | W | 6-0 | Premier League |
| 10 Apr 2011 | Blackpool v Arsenal | W | 1-3 | Premier League |
The 6-0 on 21 August 2010 was an interesting game. Blackpool had won at Wigan on the opening day but then slipped up againist us. They had a man sent off for a foul early on which resulted in an Arsenal penalty. And what do you think the critics said? It was “a foul that appeared to be outside the area.” The BBC report. That was the main headline in many reports. Nothing about how good Arsenal were.
Andrey Arshavin scored the penalty, Theo got a hattrick, Abou Diaby got one and Marouane Chamakh headed the sixth. Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie, having played in the world cup final, came on from the bench when it was 5-0.
So that was good wasn’t it? Well, staying with the BBC report we read that Arsenal “squandered numerous chances to extend their advantage.” So no, apparently it wasn’t very good – although I can still remember the game, and certainly appreciated it at the time.
Ian Holloway the Blackpool manager was more balanced, for although unhappy with the penalty had the grace to add, “Arsenal are a team full of fantastic players. They way they try and play, pass and move is an education.
“We were doing OK until the referee deemed Ian’s challenge to be a sending off. I thought it was a penalty at best but then to send him off ridiculous – it absolutely ruined game as spectacle. But we’d probably have been beaten anyway. Some of the football Arsenal played was world class and they could have scored more. After the red card it was then damage limitation and the damaged us all the way to the end.
The Arsenal team was
Almunia
Sagna Vermaelen Song Clichy
Diaby Wilshere
Rosicky Walcott Arshavin
Chamakh
More on tomorrow’s game and a look at the possible team, tomorrow morning.
- Arsenal v Blackpool: team selection thoughts and our opponents
- WSL Week 7 Review: Now we really have got our Arsenal back!
- Funny ol game, funny ol pitch, and why don’t we have a say in how Wembley is used?
R u for Real 7 mins and he’s sent it an Arsenal youth player with the resulting free-kick ending up in the net.
A straight red really. Man thank goodness i cashed out. Cheltenham havent a win in 6 4 loses and 2 draws.
Smells fishy.
And a quick question is there abywherenshowong the under 21 games in the C’trade?
My guessed Emery’s Arsenal 4-2-3-1 starts and the 7 Gunners on the bench to beat Blackpool 6-0 are below.
Starts:
Cech;
Lichtsteiner Sokratis Holding Xhaka;
Guendouzi Torreira;
Ramsey Smith-Rowe Mkhitaryan;
Welbeck.
Bench:
Leno Mustafi Medley AMN Willock Iwobi Nkethia.
Following Atkinson’s 2-0 gift to Palace, there is an interesting read on the BBC
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46035982
Re the last 6-0 game, I have to give the Blackpool fans top marks. Not once did they stop singing despite the drubbing they were being given even to the extent of singing “we’re gonna win 6-5” after our fifth went in.