Day by Day the videos – An Arsenal video for (almost) every day of the year in order.
Day by Day the stories – a key moment in Arsenal and footballing history for each day of the year
Arsenal today: “Arsenal’s new signing and preparing for Manchester United”
By Tony Attwood
The very last entry on today’s list is “21 January 2020: Chelsea 2 Arsenal 2. The result meant that Arsenal had only won two Premier League games in the last 16.”
After that game the table read
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 22 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 52 | 14 | 38 | 64 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 24 | 16 | 3 | 5 | 65 | 27 | 38 | 51 |
| 3 | Leicester City | 23 | 14 | 3 | 6 | 48 | 23 | 25 | 45 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 24 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 41 | 32 | 9 | 40 |
| 5 | Manchester United | 23 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 36 | 27 | 9 | 34 |
| 6 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 23 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 34 | 30 | 4 | 34 |
| 7 | Sheffield United | 24 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 25 | 23 | 2 | 33 |
| 8 | Tottenham Hotspur | 23 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 36 | 31 | 5 | 31 |
| 9 | Southampton | 24 | 9 | 4 | 11 | 31 | 42 | -11 | 31 |
| 10 | Arsenal | 24 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 32 | 34 | -2 | 30 |
On 21 January 2023 the table at the top reads
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 18 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 42 | 14 | 28 | 47 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 50 | 20 | 30 | 42 |
| 3 | Manchester United | 19 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 30 | 22 | 8 | 39 |
| 4 | Newcastle United | 19 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 33 | 11 | 22 | 38 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 20 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 39 | 31 | 8 | 33 |
Quite a turn around!
21 January 1893: Sunderland 6 Royal Arsenal 0 (FA Cup). Arsenal had won through to the first round proper for the first time, but then saw the difference in quality between league and non-league teams.
21 January 1899: Adam Haywood scored the only goal of the match against Gainsborough to make it six goals in four consecutive games. Sadly only 2000 turned up to see the game.
21 January 1905: The last league game for Bill Linward. He came in initially and played two games in two days and made an immediate impact on the season. Overall for Woolwich Arsenal he played 50 times and scored ten goals. His prime season was the promotion season of 1903/4 when he played 27 times.
21 January 1924: The government of the UK lost a confidence motion and resigned paving the way for the country’s first Labour government on the following day.
21 January 1925: Alex Forbes born. He won three trophies with the Arsenal and stayed on as a coach, before moving to South Africa where he coached school children.
21 January 1933: In the aftermath of the death of Chapman Arsenal played Manchester City who were 18th and had a terrible away record of just two wins, no draws and ten defeats. It was a “must win” for Arsenal, before all their credibility was destroyed. Arsenal did win – 2-1 with Bastin getting both goals. It was the last match at Highbury until 11 February.
21 January 1936: There was outrage in the nation as The Prince Edward, Prince of Wales who was due to be King Edward VIII broke royal protocol by watching the proclamation of his own accession to the throne from a window of St. James’s Palace, in the company of a married woman, Wallis Simpson!
21 January 1939: Arsenal were Kings of the 1930s, but not of 1939, although on this day a 2-0 win over Charlton took them up to ninth in the league. Being already out of the FA Cup in the 3rd round, this was not going to be a typical 1930s year.
21 January 1956: Arsenal lost 2-5 to Portsmouth. Tapscott scored both our goals. It left Arsenal with just one win in the last six games. With the club taking two attempts to get past Bedford in the Cup it was a difficult time all round.
21 January 1978: In the last eight league games Arsenal had won six, drawn one and lost just one but on this day it ended Nottingham Forest 2 Arsenal 0, with 35,743 in the Forest ground. Forest, were now being taken more seriously as possible champions, dominating the game throughout
21 January 1987: Arsenal 2 Nottingham F 0 in the League Cup fifth round as Arsenal headed for their first trophy since since FA Cup win in 1979. Nicholas and Hayes got the goals.
21 January 1997: Andy Linighan sold to Crystal Palace for £500,000. He won the League, FA Cup, League Cup, and Cup Winners’ Cup with Arsenal and went on to play 111 games for Palace before final short spells with QPR, Oxford Utd and St Albans. Also quoted in some reports as 27 January with a much lower fee.
21 January 2006: Abou Diaby made his debut for Arsenal in a 1-0 defeat to Everton. A brilliant player whose career was wrecked by injury following a serious assault on him on the pitch.
27 January 2007: Arsenal beat Manchester United
21 January 2011: Aaron Ramsey loaned to Cardiff, the club from whence he came. He had already had an earlier loan spell with Cardiff, follfowed by one at Nottingham Forest. This time he played six games and scored one goal.
21 January 2015: Arsenal announced the signing of 17 year old Polish teenager Krystian Bielik, from the Polish club Legia Warsaw, for a reported £2.4m. Having played just five games for Legia he was not sent on loan but trained up at the club.
21 January 2019: Hector Bellerin was ruled out for the rest of the season following hospital tests.
21 January 2019: Arsenal confirmed that head of recruitment Sven Mislintat was leaving the club.
21 January 2020: Chelsea 2 Arsenal 2. The result meant that Arsenal had only won two Premier League games in the last 16.
100 Years: the complete story of Arsenal’s promotion in 1919 which launched 100+ consecutive years in the top division.
Henry Norris at the Arsenal: There is a full index to the series here.
Arsenal in the 1930s: The most comprehensive series on the decade ever
Arsenal in the 1970s: Every match and every intrigue reviewed in detail.
