31 January: the day not to do anything in relation to Arsenal
31 January 2007: Beating Tottenham away. The video
1 February 1921: Herbert Chapman returns to football after being banned for life.
2 February 2014: Arsenal beat Palace – the video
3 February 2018: Aubameyang transforms Arsenal
4 February 1922: The Duke visits Arsenal and asks for a cuppa
5 February 1931: Leicester City 2 Arsenal 7
6 February 1909: 62,000 turn up for the derby
Arsenal 9 Grimsby Town 1
Arsenal goals: Jack 4, Lambert 3, Bastin 1, Holme 1
Attendance 15, 751
The match was originally intended to be played on December 6, but was abandoned after 63 minutes due to fog. This game was thus played mid-week – hence the low crowd for a 2.15pm kick off.
Having lost their previous home league game 1-3 to Sunderland, and having been knocked out of the FA Cup 2-1 away by Chelsea on the previous saturday January 24th, there must have been some gnashing of teeth.
Arsenal had never won the league, and the previous season had come 14th (although they had won their first ever major trophy, by beating Huddersfield in the FA Cup final).
Despite the Sunderland defeat Arsenal were top of the league, and some of the gloom must have been further removed by the way in which Arsenal achieved this position, including three games in November when they scored five, and a 7-1 defeat of Blackpool on December 27.
So the 9-1 was a return to the good life, and in fact the start of a nine-game unbeaten run. Indeed Arsenal only suffered one more defeat that season (away to Villa) and were champions with a record 66 points, seven above second-placed Villa, and 14 above third-place Sheffield Wednesday.
This was Arsenal’s first championship, as I have said, and this game against Grimsby was not only their best ever league win as Arsenal, but also the start of the run into that famous championship.
24 January 1998: En route to yet another FA Cup Final
25 January 1890: Arsenal win through to their first ever cup final
25 January 2003: Arsenal play Farnborough in the Cup – the video
26 January 1895: Arsenal become the first ever league club to have their ground closed.
26 January 2013: Knocking three past Brighton in the FA Cup
27 January 2019: 5 players score as Arsenal thrash Bournemouth
27 January 1934: The remarkable Alex Wilson plays his first game.
28 January 1931: Arsenal’s biggest ever win at Highbury
28 January 2004: Jose Antonio Reyes joins Arsenal
29 January 1896: Running a football club by committee
29 January 2012: Arsenal get 3 against Villa: the video
30 January 1987: Tommy Caton sold to Oxford United.
30 January 2011: Beating Huddersfield in the FA Cup – the video
17 January 1976: Boring Boring Arsenal
17 January 2004: Nothing is impossible when Henry is on the ball
18 January: Man C 0 Arsenal 2. The foul that gives the penalty is an utter classic
18 January 2015: Media predict total disaster, Wenger is useless, Arsenal win 16 out of 19 games.
19 January 1991: The almost unbeaten season
20 January 2001: Leicester 0 Arsenal 0. Wenger’s time is up!
20 January: Theo Walcott scores his first goal for Arsenal – the video, on the anniversary of his signing.
21 January 1893: The end of Royal Arsenal in the FA Cup
22 January 1910: Two meetings declare Arsenal in financial ruins and about to go out of business.
23 January 2013: Arsenal 5 West Ham 1 – the history
23 January 2013: Arsenal scoring five – the video
1970/71 was of course a special season, and at the end of the season ITV put together a programme of the matches of the campaign – or at least the matches of the campaign for which they had recordings.
Which of course included some, although not as many as we might hope, Arsenal games. Including the match on 16 January 1971.
So here’s the whole programme – the 1970/71 season… according to ITV.
15 January 2022: “Tottenham have been left furious after the Premier League accepted Arsenal’s request to call off Sunday’s north London derby, believing rules regarding coronavirus-related postponements have been manipulated to create “unintended consequences”. Arsenal would have been without at least 15 first-teamers for their visit to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and requested the postponement because they felt they would be unable to meet the league’s criteria for fulfilling a fixture… Spurs criticised the rules’ inconsistency.” (The Guardian)
The league table at that moment showed Arsenal 21 points behind Manchester City
| P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 22 | 18 | 2 | 2 | 54 | 13 | 41 | 56 |
| 2 | Chelsea | 22 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 45 | 17 | 28 | 43 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 52 | 18 | 34 | 42 |
| 4 | West Ham United | 21 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 39 | 27 | 12 | 37 |
| 5 | Arsenal | 20 | 11 | 2 | 7 | 33 | 25 | 8 | 35 |
| 6 | Tottenham Hotspur | 18 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 23 | 20 | 3 | 33 |
One year later, to the day (and before the day’s games) Arsenal were five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the league and with a game in hand ahead of… the north London derby.