In the 1930s Arsenal won the league five times and the FA Cup twice and thus we think of the 1930s as a time of endless glory – but just as now, Arsenal could have ups and downs.

On this day in 1936 Drake scored his third goal of the season – but it was his eighth game and this was not the sort of return rate that had taken the club up the table in previous seasons.

It is true that even as early as one-third of the way through October no team was unbeaten, but it was clear, as it had been throughout the decade that any team that could master the away games issue would stand a good chance of winning the league.

And this is exactly what Chapman had done, repeatedly taking Arsenal’s away form up to the level of the side’s home form.  But now Arsenal were at best, a modest performer away from home, and the fact that they had not scored in three away games suggested that even “modest” was an exaggeration for them when not at Highbury.

Worse, the image of Arsenal as the great team of the decade – the team that would not only win trophies, but overcome the rapid “fade” effect that was dominant at the time (that meant that one season’s champions were next season’s average team).  Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa, Everton, and even last season’s runaway champions Sunderland had all suffered from this effect.

Thus on 3 October Arsenal were needing to buck their current away form and the possibility to do that came with an trip to Manchester United.  Man U had been promoted with Charlton at the end of the previous season, but while Charlton were flourishing, Man U were in difficulty.  They were 17th, but such was the bunching of the table, that they were only one point ahead of the team at the bottom, Leeds United.  But then, Arsenal themselves were only one point ahead of Man U.

And so it turned out, as for the fourth away match running Arsenal failed to score.  Indeed Arsenal’s last away win was on March 4!  Including this game Arsenal had now won 0, drawn 3 and lost 7 of their last 10 away games.   This was Arsenal now in serious decline, and questions were raised about how much Allison could bring to the team, and how much he was still reliant on the quickly fading set of players that Chapman had left him.

And remember this was 1936: part of the glorious 1930s.

But that weekend football was by and large forgotten, especially by Londoners, as on 4 October the nation was appalled to receive the news of the Battle of Cable Street between Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists (who dressed in uniforms that were based on those of the Blackshirts), and anti-fascist demonstrators.

Back with the football, on 10 October Arsenal were thankfully (in terms of results thus far) back home, although they were playing the team that had been one of Arsenal’s main challengers in the early part of the decade: Sheffield Wednesday.  The one hopeful factor however was that although Wednesday had stayed at the top longer than most (Champions in 1929 and 1930, and then third in each of the next three seasons), Wednesday’s decline, once it had started had been ever more rapid than Arsenal’s.   They had only just escaped relegation in the previous season and were now currently 16th, just one place above Arsenal but with the same number of points.

Like Arsenal Wednesday had a poor away form, with just one point gained so far, but as luck would have it, they chose this day to get their second away point, in a 1-1 draw.  Drake scored his third goal of the season – but it was his eighth appearance and this was not the sort of return rate that had taken the club up the table in previous seasons.

As a result, Arsenal remained 17th in the league and for their next game were facing the side newly promoted with Man U – Charlton.  And it was away from home, on October 17.  Charlton were unbeaten at home, and Arsenal had still (as we have noted) not even scored a single goal this season outside of Islington.