Arsenal play like a draught horse

The Anniversaries …

Below are the Arsenal (and for historical context, occasionally one or two non-Arsenal) anniversaries for today taken from the files of over 6000 Arsenal anniversaries which appear on the Arsenal History Society website.   You will also find links to the month by month listing of anniversaries in the right hand column of this page.

Our headline comes from 1973.


The series

“Henry Norris at the Arsenal” is now complete.  The index to all the articles can be found at Henry Norris at the Arsenal.   We are now  preparing a more concise edition for publication as a book.

Arsenal in the 1930s: the complete history.  The most detailed review and analysis of Arsenal in the 1930s ever published.  The full index is here.

Arsenal in the 1970s: the complete history.  Every game reviewed and analysed.  The full index is here.


The Anniversaries for Today

22 December 1900.  Arsenal 2 New Brighton Tower 1 – a game against one of the artificial clubs of football created to make use of a large stadium.

22 December 1910: A funeral procession moved from from Liverpool St Station to a service in St Paul’s Cathedral for the policemen shot dead in the Houndsditch jewel robbery.  All the mayors of London including of course Henry Norris were specifically invited.

22 December 1917: Arsenal beat QPR 3-0 at home – the start of a fair set of Christmas games, with two draws against Fulham on Christmas and Boxing Day and 2-1 against Clapton Orient 2-1 away on 29 December.

22 December 1923: Arsenal, away to Huddersfield, were 1-0 down at half time, but then Kennedy and Butler both just back from injury got injured again, and Town ran out winners 6-1.   That made it three defeats in a row and no wins in the last seven games. Arsenal were 17th and back in the relegation dogfight just two points clear of Middlesbrough at the foot.

22 December 1934: Despite near perfect home form Arsenal’s away form continued to be a trouble as Derby beat the champions 3-1.  The two previous home games had been a 7-0 and 8-0 victories.

22 December 1937: Ex-Arsenal player David Halliday was made manager of Aberdeen.  In 1945–46 he won the Scottish League Cup and also won Aberdeen their first ever title.

22 December 1971 Arsenal paid £220,000 (a record) for Alan Ball.  Arsenal were 8th at the time, eight points behind the leaders.  They ended the season 5th, six points behind Derby, the new champions.

22 December 1973: Arsenal had 1-0 home win over Everton, in front of 19,886. The Guardian likened the side to a draught-horse.  Everton had one shot which hit the emblem on the top of the North Bank stand, as a result of which the ball got a puncture.  It was a major incident in the game. Ball scored out of the one exciting move of the game.

22 December 1984: Arsenal 1 Watford 1.  Last league game for Colin Hill.  He was replaced by Viv Anderson and moved on to C.S. Marítimo in Portugal.

22 December 2007: Bendtner scored six seconds after coming on for the match against  Tottenham to give Arsenal a 2-1 victory.

22 December 2017: Arsenal v Liverpool.  Liverpool went two up, Arsenal responded with three goals in five minutes from Alexis, Xhaka and Özil but Liverpool scored an equaliser.  It was called the game of the season.

The Anniversaries …

Below are the Arsenal (and for historical context, occasionally one or two non-Arsenal) anniversaries for today taken from the files of over 6000 Arsenal anniversaries which appear on the Arsenal History Society website.   You will also find links to the month by month listing of anniversaries in the right hand column of this page.

Our headline comes from 1974.


The series

“Henry Norris at the Arsenal” is now complete.  The index to all the articles can be found at Henry Norris at the Arsenal.   We are now  preparing a more concise edition for publication as a book.

Arsenal in the 1930s: the complete history.  The most detailed review and analysis of Arsenal in the 1930s ever published.  The full index is here.

Arsenal in the 1970s: the complete history.  Every game reviewed and analysed.  The full index is here.


The Anniversaries for Today

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