What happened after the 8-2 defeat to Man U?

When Arsenal lost on 28 August 2011 to Manchester United 8-2, a moment of modern history was written.  Not a wanted moment from an Arsenal point of view, but still a moment of history.  It was a most terrible defeat and one that the Anti-Arsenal movement claimed that they had “seen coming” for a long time.

So big was the event that what happened thereafter is often forgotten, yet it is an interesting footnote to the remembered match, simply because it reflects on how quickly things can change.

On 10 September 2011 Arsenal beat Swansea City 1-0 at home with a goal from Asharvin.  Hardly a matter of huge celebration in the context, but nevertheless a win.   But the defeat one week later to Blackburn on 17 September 2011  suggested that the letting in of large numbers of goals was the norm, and the Swansea win, the aberration.  Blackburn won 4-3 with Arsenal’s goals coming from Gervinho, Arteta and Chamakh.

Thus what had been a terrible start to the season (the opening two games were a 0-0 with Newcastle away and 0-2 home defeat by Liverpool, was looking ropey indeed.  After the Blackburn game we had won one, drawn one, lost three.

		Pd		W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Manchester United	4		4	0	0	18	3	+15	12
2	Manchester City	4		4	0	0	15	3	+12	12
3	Chelsea	4		3	1	0	7	3	+4	10
4	Newcastle United	5		2	3	0	4	2	+2	9
5	Stoke City	4		2	2	0	3	1	+2	8
6	Liverpool	4		2	1	1	6	3	+3	7
7	Aston Villa	5		1	4	0	6	4	+2	7
7	Everton	4		2	1	1	6	4	+2	7
9	Queens Park Rangers	5		2	1	2	4	6	-2	7
9	Wolverhampton Wndrs	5		2	1	2	4	6	-2	7
11	Norwich City	5		1	2	2	5	7	-2	5
12	Swansea City	5		1	2	2	3	5	-2	5
13	Wigan Athletic	5		1	2	2	4	7	-3	5
14	Blackburn Rovers	5		1	1	3	7	10	-3	4
15	Arsenal	5		1	1	3	6	14	-8	4
16	Bolton Wanderers	5		1	0	4	8	13	-5	3
17	Tottenham Hotspur	3		1	0	2	3	8	-5	3
17	West Bromwich Albion	5		1	0	4	3	8	-5	3
19	Sunderland	4		0	2	2	2	4	-2	2
20	Fulham	4		0	2	2	2	5	-3	2

Next up a 3-0 win against Bolton and then a 2-1 away defeat to Tottenham.  It looked like it was going to be a long and bumpy ride

But then something strange happened.  Here are the results that followed that opening sequence.

• 16 October  beat Sunderland 2-1 at home
• 23 October beat Stoke 3-1 home
• 29 October beat Chelsea 5-3 away
• 5 November beat WBA 3-0 home
• 19 November beat Norwich 2-1 away

So the revival was created from utter disaster, and Arsenal eventually finished the league in third place – something utterly unthinkable at the moment when we were 15th.

Here is the final table…

		Pd	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Manchester City	38	28	5	5	93	29	+64	89
2	Manchester United	38	28	5	5	89	33	+56	89
3	Arsenal	38	21	7	10	74	49	+25	70
4	Tottenham Hotspur	38	20	9	9	66	41	+25	69
5	Newcastle United	38	19	8	11	56	51	+5	65
6	Chelsea	38	18	10	10	65	46	+19	64
7	Everton	38	15	11	12	50	40	+10	56
8	Liverpool	38	14	10	14	47	40	+7	52
9	Fulham	38	14	10	14	48	51	-3	52
10	West Bromwich Albion	38	13	8	17	45	52	-7	47
11	Swansea City	38	12	11	15	44	51	-7	47
12	Norwich City	38	12	11	15	52	66	-14	47
13	Sunderland	38	11	12	15	45	46	-1	45
14	Stoke City	38	11	12	15	36	53	-17	45
15	Wigan Athletic	38	11	10	17	42	62	-20	43
16	Aston Villa	38	7	17	14	37	53	-16	38
17	Queens Park Rangers	38	10	7	21	43	66	-23	37
18	Bolton Wanderers	38	10	6	22	46	77	-31	36
19	Blackburn Rovers	38	8	7	23	48	78	-30	31
20	Wolverhampton Wndrs	38	5	10	23	40	82	-42	25

Looking at the two tables one might note the decline of Stoke and Aston Villa, and suggest perhaps that their positions of 5th and 7th were false in the first table and that they were bound to fall back.   But I recall that the suggestion that Arsenal were bound to climb up were far from acceptable at the same time.   The notion that we might even make it to the top half of the table was considerable risible in some quarters.

And who would have predicted that Wolverhampton, having been ninth after five would finish up 12 points adrift of safety?   Maybe a lot of people, but then, maybe more should have had faith in Arsenal’s recovery.  Why can we only see false dawns, and not false midnights?

Amazingly Arsenal even ended up with a goal difference of +25.  Way below the league winners it is true, but equal third best in the league – and that after such a defeat and such a poor start.

It just goes to show.

I’m not sure what it just goes to show, but it just goes to show something.

Tony Attwood

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