Arsenal in the 30s part 10. March 1931: hope, defeat, hope

This series is currently being updated ahead of its publication as a book on Kindle.

The table at the end of the February had looked like this

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GAv	Pts
1	Arsenal	30	20	7	3	101	46	2.20	47
2	Aston Villa	32	18	8	6	102	62	1.65	44
3	Sheffield  Wednesday	31	17	6	8	81	57	1.42	40
4	Manchester City	32	15	6	11	61	56	1.09	36
5	Derby County	30	14	7	9	74	61	1.21	35

With two games in hand over their only serious rival – Aston Villa – and a three points lead plus a much better goal average, the only way for Villa to catch Arsenal was to beat them in the match at Villa Park half way through the month (which would narrow the gap to one point), and hope that Arsenal lost both their games in hand, and one more, while Villa kept winning.

And although that seemed unlikely in the context of the season, Arsenal also had to play third placed Sheffield Wednesday during the month, so there were doubters, not least because Arsenal had never won the league before, and had just one FA Cup to their name.  Villa had won the League six times (although not for 20 years), and won the FA Cup six times.  Arsenal, it was being said, lacked the experience of winning (although Chapman certainly had it).

In the national news, there was some hope that the long running disputes between the United Kingdom and its colony India, might come to an end as Mahatma Gandhi and Viceroy of India Lord Irwin signed an agreement to end the Indian civil disobedience campaign. In return, citizens along the coast were allowed to make their own salt (which seems a strange concession, but was fundamental), all political prisoners were given amnesty and a second Round Table Conference on the matter of Indian independence would be held in London on March 29.

However later in the month the Indian National Congress unanimously voted to accept nothing short of complete independence.

Back with the football Arsenal unexpectedly started the month playing out a 0-0 draw with Huddersfield on 7 March.   The Arsenal team for the match however was disrupted from its tried and tested line up.  Eddie Hapgood missed only his second game of the season at left back giving Alf Baker his one and only game of the season – it was in fact his final game for the club.   Baker played 310 games for Arsenal all told – his only senior club – and went on to become a scout for the team. 

Bob John was out for the first time in the season, replaced by George Male (who would have to wait until 1932/3 to give his big chance, long term).  Jack Lambert was also out – for the fifth, but thankfully last, match in a row, which meant that the dependable but now ageing Jimmy Brain continued his run at inside right.

The focus of the game was on ensuring the re-worked defence held firm, everyone played deeper, and a goalless draw it was.

Matters improved in the rearranged mid-week match at Elland Road where Arsenal won 1-2, Bastin and James getting the goals.  Len Thompson came in for the first of two consecutive games at left half, with Bob John still absent, while Male moved across to replace Baker who had not impressed at left back against Huddersfield.  Jack dropped out and Lambert finally returned.

The line up meant Arsenal still had seven members of the team that started the season playing in this game, and it worked, but only just.

Which thus gave the club some worries for the big match the following Saturday away against Villa.  The 1-5 defeat in this game, the worst of the season, didn’t take Villa to the top of the league but it must have given them hope.  And it certainly shook Arsenal although it was however Arsenal’s only defeat in the last 19 games of the season.

Chapman was clearly still looking for ways of patching up the injured team, and this time put Bob John in as left back.  John had played there before – but only twice in the previous season.  Lambert was out yet again – his comeback having lasted just one game.  Thompson continued at left half – but it meant that down the left side of the defence both the key players were missing.  Their replacements were not bad players, but this was the match that Villa knew they had to win, and they knew where the weakness was.

Jack got Arsenal’s goal.  But Chapman’s view of the game was also clear: not for the first time the goalkeeper was to blame.  Having played 10 consecutive games, Preedy was dropped, and Harper came back for the rest of the season.

The result left the table looking like this

There was no respite of course because the following game was at home to the third placed club: Sheffield Wednesday.  Another defeat would leave Arsenal vulnerable as their precious games in hand would have gone.

This game marked Jimmy Brain’s final appearance for Arsenal.  He played 204 league games and scored 125 goals.   He left Arsenal for Tottenham for £2,500 in September and played 45 league games for them, before moving on to Swansea, Bristol City and Cheltenham, and then later managing in non-league football.  

But back with the Arsenal, the club were however rescued by the fact that much of the original team – the team that clearly could play the Chapman system so well together, were back.   There were changes of course: Hulme, the outside right was injured and was replaced by Jack moving across from centre forward.  Lambert came back as number 9 and Brain continued as inside right.  But it meant that the original defence (Parker, Hapgood, Jones, Roberts, John) were back together the first time in four games – and with no one playing out of position.  The result was a 2-0 victory, with Jack and Bastin scoring.

And as the evening papers rolled off the press, there was another piece of good news.  Aston Villa had been held 1-1 away to Derby.  Arsenal’s lead was extended.

That must have been a huge relief to everyone, as was the fact that the last game of the month (on 28 March) meant Arsenal were at mid-table Middlesbrough, where a comfortable 2-5 victory put Arsenal back in the driving seat.   Alf Haynes came in for his first of two games for the season, in place of Roberts (who was winning his only cap for England at the time), but otherwise it was business as usual.  Best of all Lambert was back, and he marked his return with a hattrick.  Jack got the other two.

But Villa had not given up, and on the same day Aston Villa beat Blackpool 4-1.  Nothing in this most exciting of seasons was the slightest bit certain.

Here are Arsenal’s results for the month’s  games in summary

Date	Opponent	Op Pos	H/A	Result	Pos	Pts	Crowd	AC
7.3.31	Huddersfield Town	9	home	D0-0	1	48	31,058	17,075
11.3.31	Leeds	21	away	W1-2	1	50	12,212	13,385
14.3.31	Aston Villa	2	away	L5-1	1	50	60,997	30,781
21.3.31	Sheffield Wednesday	3	home	W2-0	1	52	47,872	37,106
28.3.31	Middlesbrough	8	away	W2-5	1	54	23,476	16,860

• Op pos, is the league position of the opposition before the game
• Pos is Arsenal’s position after the game
• AC is the average crowd for the home team through the season, providing a comparison between the crowd on that day and and the norm expected by the home side.

The lowness of the Leeds crowd can be explained by it being a mid-week match and by the team looking likely to drop to the second division.  Otherwise all the crowds were all above average – Villa in fact getting almost double their normal crowd.

Tottenham meanwhile were still holding on for glory of their own in the second division, being second, three points above West Brom in third, who also had a game in hand.

The Arsenal defeat at Villa turned out to be Arsenal’s last defeat of the season.  Here’s the full table for the end of the month.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GAv	Pts
1	Arsenal	35	23	8	4	111	54	2.056	54
2	Aston Villa	36	21	9	6	114	65	1.754	51
3	Sheffield Wednesday	35	19	6	10	88	65	1.354	44
4	Derby County	34	16	9	9	80	63	1.270	41
5	Portsmouth	35	15	10	10	71	61	1.164	40
6	Manchester City	36	16	8	12	66	62	1.065	40
7	Huddersfield Town	35	15	9	11	72	60	1.200	39
8	Liverpool	35	14	10	11	78	69	1.130	38
9	Middlesbrough	36	16	6	14	80	74	1.081	38
10	Blackburn Rovers	36	14	8	14	74	72	1.028	36
11	Newcastle United	35	15	4	16	71	73	0.973	34
12	Chelsea	35	13	8	14	57	59	0.966	34
13	Sheffield United	35	12	9	14	69	67	1.030	33
14	West Ham United	35	13	6	16	71	77	0.922	32
15	Grimsby Town	36	14	4	18	69	80	0.863	32
16	Leicester City	35	14	4	17	70	83	0.843	32
17	Sunderland	35	11	9	15	76	79	0.962	31
18	Birmingham City	35	10	9	16	50	65	0.769	29
19	Bolton Wanderers	35	10	9	16	52	71	0.732	29
20	Blackpool	35	10	8	17	61	106	0.575	28
21	Leeds United	36	10	5	21	60	75	0.800	25
22	Manchester United	36	5	6	25	41	101	0.406	16