Whatever happened to Eduardo?

On 23 February 2008, Eduardo suffered a broken left fibula and an open dislocation of his left ankle in a match against Birmingham City, following a tackle by Martin Taylor, for which Taylor was sent off. Eduardo was immediately taken to Selly Oak Hospital, where he underwent surgery. Eduardo’s injury was so awful that Sky Sports were unable to find any excuse for Taylor’s behaviour and so did not show replays of the incident on the grounds that the injury was too graphic.    Arsène Wenger called for a lifetime ban for Taylor;  he got three matches.  Arsenal, who were looking good for a serious challenge for the title, saw their chances slip away.

Eduardo never regained his true form and in the end only played 41 league games for Arsenal before moving on to Shakhtar Donetsk where he stayed from 2010 to 2014.  He returned to the club after a year with Flamengo .  In 2018 he signed for Legia Warsaw.

Here are the anniversaries…

 

16 February 1886: Andy Ducat born.  It was his transfer from Arsenal after 175 league games that signalled that the club would sell any player in order to try and survive financially.

16 February 1889: Woolwich Arsenal beat dreaded local rivals Millwall Rovers for the third time in six games, but the score is lost to history – a reminder that it was only through joining the League that the club ensured all details of its history were kept.

16 February 1907: Tim Coleman’s sole appearance for England.  He was one of a number of players who came to Arsenal via Kettering Town – although he first moved to Northampton Town.

16 February 1918: Arsenal’s time in the war time league was very much an up and down affair – largely dependent on who was available. On this day it was a 3-0 away win over QPR, meaning that Arsenal had just won two away games scoring seven conceding one while in between losing at Highbury 0-3.

16 February 1935: Despite being top of the league, the defeat to Birmingham in the previous match convinced the press that Arsenal would slip up against Reading of the 3rd Division in the FA Cup 5th round – even though Reading had not played any 1st division teams so far.  The press were wrong, Arsenal won 1-0 with a goal from Bastin.

16 February 1938: Arsenal 2 Manchester City 1 in which Eddie Carr replaced Leslie Jones at inside left.  Carr wasn’t thought worthy of holding his place but when he did get a chance he scored seven times in the eleven games including five in the last three games, when the championship was up for grabs between three clubs.

16 February 1946. After a run of six straight wins in the wartime league Arsenal went five without a win, including a 0-2 defeat on this day to Tottenham – a result which followed a goalless draw against the same team the week before.  Indeed Arsenal won only four of their last 16 games and ended the final wartime season in a disappointing 11th and came 13th in the first season in which the League proper resumed.

16 February 1955: Arthur Milton sold to Bristol City.  A most relaxed, down to earth man he was the last of the twelve men ever to play international football and test cricket for England.   He married the daughter of his landlady while at Arsenal.

16 February 1957:  Bournemouth of Division 3 (South) managed by ex-Arsenal man Freddie Cox, beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-1.  Aside from the League Cup and a friendly, Bournemouth had to wait until 2015 to play Arsenal.

16 February 1974: With both clubs in decline only 38,804 turned up for the north London derby, which ended Arsenal 0 Tottenham 1.  Arsenal’s team was Wilson, Rice, Nelson, Storey, Simpson, Kelly, Armstrong, Ball, Radford, Kennedy, Brady – a team that should never have been in decline. But Mee insisted he knew best.

16 February 1980: Bolton Wanderers 1 Arsenal 1 in the FA Cup, with 23,530 in the crowd and a pitch (and very quickly the players) totally covered in mud.  The only tactic was to boot the ball as hard as possible up the pitch.

16 February 1991: Tony Adams played his first game for Arsenal upon release from prison – a reserve game in front of 7000 having been immediately rehabilitated into the club.

16 February 2002: Arsenal 5 Gillingham 2. FA Cup 4th round. (Kanu, Adams, Parlour and two for Wiltord).  Part of the 3rd Double season.

16 February 2008: Man U 4 Arsenal 0 (FA Cup 5th round).  The match was followed by a run of five league games without a win.

16 February 2009: Eduardo played his first game after injury, in a game against Cardiff, and scored twice.   Bendtner and Van Persie got the other two as Arsenal won 4-0; all the more remarkable as it came in the midst of a run of four 0-0 draws in the league.

16 February 2011: Arsenal 2 Barcelona 1 – a match which raised the hopes of a return to form for Arshavin, who scored.  Van Persie got the other.

16 February 2013: Arsenal 0 Blackburn 1.  FA Cup Round 5.  Blackburn had one shot; the referee was Mike Dean and his performance was considered somewhat “unbalanced” by some commentators.

16 February 2014: Arsenal 2 Liverpool 1.  FA Cup Round 5.  Arsenal continued on their way to Cup victory and the end of the dearth of trophies since moving to the Emirates Stadium.

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