Category Archives: 2025-26

Manchester City v Arsenal: History Comparison

‘History Tradition Class’ is often used on Arsenal banners (particularly when they play City it seems; there was one at Wembley) and with the two sides meeting on Sunday (19 April 2026) it seems like the same lines will be trotted out again. So for today’s feature I’ve decided to have a look at the history of the two clubs to compare successes. It seems to me that if a club claims that their club has something that another does not then it’s only fair to test that idea. Anyway here goes….

What do we mean by history? Is it success? Is it a ‘first’ that predates the rest. Is it more trophies? Is it longevity? Is it just nonsense? (probably!). So here are a few comparisons of achievements just to get the ball rolling:

Major trophies won or achievements made:

Trophy/AchievementYear & teamOther Team
Joined the League1892 (City as Ardwick AFC)1893 (Woolwich Arsenal)
Promotion1899 (City)1904 (Arsenal)
Second Division Champions1899 (City)Never
Major Trophy1904 (City)1930 (Arsenal)
FA Cup1904 (City)1930 (Arsenal)
League1931 (Arsenal)1937 (City)
League Cup1970 (City)1987 (Arsenal)
ECWC1970 (City)1994 (Arsenal)
Fairs Cup1970 (Arsenal)Never
Domestic Treble2019 (City)Never
Traditional Treble2023 (City)Never
European Cup2023 (City)Never
Super Cup2023 (City)Never
Club World Cup2023 (City)Never
Community Shield1930 (Arsenal)1937 (City)

I’ll show more comparisons on success in a moment but first how about attendance comparisons?

The highest home attendance by either club is: 84,569 (City). Arsenal’s record attendance is over 10,000 lower at 73,707, achieved at a European game at Wembley.

Record League attendance: 79,491 (City);  73,295 (Arsenal).

The first time either side were the best supported team in the League: 1910-11 (City). Arsenal first achieved this feat almost 20 years later in 1929-30.

Okay, what about first and most recent successes? Here’s a list of the major trophies won by these sides listed with the first time one of the team’s achieved that success and the most recent time:

Trophy/AchievementFirst TeamMost RecentTeam
Major Trophy1904City2026City
FA Cup1904City2023City
League1931Arsenal2024City
League Cup1970City2026City
ECWC1970City1994Arsenal
Fairs Cup1970Arsenal1970Arsenal
European Cup2023City2023City
Super Cup2023City2023City
Club World Cup2023City2023City
Community Shield1930Arsenal2024City
Domnestic Treble2019City2019City
Traditional Treble2023City2023City

Interesting stats but what about most trophies won? Surely there’s a big difference? Err, well not really:

MOST TROPHIES WON
TrophyNumber & TeamOther Team
FA Cup14 (Arsenal)7 (City)
League13 (Arsenal)10 (City)
League Cup 9 (City)2 (Arsenal)
Club World Cup1 (City)
Super Cup1 (City)
European Cup 1 (City)
ECWC1 (both City & Arsenal)
Fairs Cup1 (Arsenal)
Total31 (Arsenal)30 (City)

I’m sure someone will say ‘but take the Super Cup off as it’s like the Community Shield’. Okay but that still means that after all these decades there are only 2 major trophies separating City and Arsenal. Also, there are some sports historians who would say ‘remove the Fairs Cup’ as that wasn’t a UEFA tournament and the rules of entry meant that often teams finishing in a position that should allow entry couldn’t enter as only one team per city could enter. In 1969 Everton finished above Arsenal and were denied entry into the Fairs Cup because Liverpool had already qualified. Similarly Chelsea, Spurs and West Ham were denied entry due to Arsenal qualifying. The same was true across Europe. In earlier years ‘London’ had entered the competition.

I’m not going to say that Manchester City’s history is greater than any other club, nor should any other person say that about their club. Each club has its own successes and failures; reasons to be proud and moments to forget. However, when a club or its fans try to claim superiority over another because of their ‘history’ or ‘tradition’ or ‘class’ (maybe I’ll do that another day) then it’s only fair to highlight the history and tradition of success other clubs have enjoyed.

Celebrate Every Success As If It’s Your First

Congratulations to Manchester City on winning the League Cup last night (22 March 2026). It was, once again, great to be there and clashes between the top two are always special. Years ago the former Manchester City trophy winning assistant manager (and later manager) Malcolm Allison was in a reflective mood when he told me: ‘Celebrate every success as if it’s your first, because it could be your last.’ It’s always stuck with me because so often we see people make assumptions about trophy success and then it’s taken away. Allison definitely experienced that, so I guess what I’m saying is… Celebrate every trophy; every moment; every player etc.

Yesterday’s success was thoroughly deserved. I was nervous in that first half when it looked like Arsenal had control for key stages, but then the second half demonstrated quite clearly how City as a team can deliver. Having our 21st birthday boy Nico O’Reilly score two goals added to the occasion and allowed a few headlines to be created. Listening to his BBC R5L interview on the way back from Wembley suggested that Nico would certainly be celebrating that success last night.

So much has already been written about the final so I don’t need to add much here. I absolutely loved the win and enjoyed the wider experience of Wembley. It’s changed a lot since my first visit (1986 Full Member’s Cup – 40th anniversary today!) and even since the 2011 FA Cup semi & final. We didn’t have a Greggs or shopping centre at our end back then!

In the 1900s when City first started making trips to Cup Finals and the 1920s when they first went to Wembley newspapers would often carry stories of how the train companies and Wembley organisers would change the food on offer depending on where the clubs were from. The 1904 final at Crystal Palace between City and Bolton brought stories published on the number of pies ordered being significantly higher than some other years because of the volume of northern fans. Southern fans, it reported, preferred sandwiches. I’d love to see if we could find similar details today – was Greggs busier last year because Newcastle were there for example?

Anyway…. If you support City enjoy the success. It was absolutely deserved and a great occasion again.

League Cup Final: Manchester City v Arsenal

I’m looking forward to today’s League Cup final at Wembley today. Safe travels to all making the journey. Here’s a reminder of the last time City and Arsenal met in the League Cup final. This photo is of the final minutes, captured by me, looking towards the Arsenal end. This was 2018 and City won 3-0.

Arsenal v MCFC

it’s one of the oldest fixtures either club has with a rich history stretching back to the 1890s. Both sides have found major success with City’s first major trophy coming in 1904 and Arsenal’s arriving 26 years later. As you’d expect with such a long history there are plenty of articles on my website about both clubs. Here’s a link to all those tagged Arsenal:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/arsenal/

MCFC: Send it Forward

It’s great to see the Manchester City Send It Forward campaign here (link below). I’m also delighted that my City Women history book forms part of the desk set up (there’s another one of my books in there too, but seeing the City Women book there is so pleasing). More on Send It Forward here: https://www.mancity.com/news/womens/send-it-forward-international-womens-day-man-city-63908379?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=organic_social

Manchester City v Newcastle United Tonight’s Match Programme

If you’re lucky enough to get tonight’s match programme look out for my tracker feature. It covers 3 seasons (‘Five, Fifteen & Fifty Years’ ago) and tracks them game by game. Coincidentally (well not quite; I did plan it a little) tonight’s features takes the 1975-76 season to the League Cup final v Newcastle. It also covers the game that followed when, amazingly, Denis Tueart netted another overhead goal which, according to many, was even better than his Wembley effort.

Hopefully everybody will enjoy the article tonight.

Here’s a link to articles about City & Newcastle on this site:

Newcastle v City

Liverpool v Manchester City

Today’s the latest in a long line of meetings between Manchester’s Blues and Liverpool’s Reds. The first competitive meeting was on 16/9/1893 (as Ardwick)) with the first meeting as Manchester City coming on New Year’s Day 1896.

In total there have been 180 League games and many of these have been featured on this site over the years, such as this meeting at Anfield:

The 1920s: Liverpool 1 Manchester City 6

Here’s one from more recent times:

The 2020s: Victory at Anfield

Here’s a link to every other post on this site tagged Liverpool. Enjoy!

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/liverpool/

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Tottenham v City

It’s Tottenham v City today, so an appropriate time to look back at other meetings. The two clubs first met in a FA Cup tie in January 1909 with the first League game coming at White Hart Lane on 27 December 1910. City’s first scorer in a League match with Spurs was John Smith, who netted in that first League game (a 1-1 draw). Smith played in only 18 League games (scoring 6) for City.

There are plenty of articles on my website concerning games between City and Tottenham, and here’s a link to the heatwave game played on 27 September 1913:

Heatwave at Tottenham

There’s also the Ballet on Ice here:

Coleman Goal in the Blue Ballet

Here’s a link to all other features tagged Tottenham:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/tottenham/

Scored in Consecutive Games for Manchester City

I’ve received separate queries from two major national media outlets today asking whether a record will be set if Semenyo scores in his third consecutive game. They wondered if any player had scored on his debut and in his next two games. Hopefully he’ll play (and score!) against United on Saturday (17 January 2026) but, incredibly, that won’t in itself be a City record as there’s definitely one City player who scored in his debut and the three games that followed (4 consecutive games). There are also others who have netted on their debut and the two games that followed (three consecutive matches). Here are the facts…

One of the media companies mentioned Adebayor and the fact he scored on his debut and in the two League games that followed, making three consecutive scoring League games. That’s true he did, but there was a League Cup tie in between the 2nd and 3rd Premier League games and he didn’t score (he did play). That makes two consecutive games.

There are many City players who have scored in 2 consecutive games such as David Cross in 1982; Stan Bowles in 1967 etc. but there are a couple of players who scored in 3 successive games (regardless of competition) and there’s even a player who scored in 4 consecutive league games (no other game breaks his sequence).

The players/sequences are:

4 consecutive games – (all ‘old’ Div 2/2nd tier): Jimmy Ross – 4/3/1899 (2 goals v Barnsley) & 18/3/1899 (v Walsall) & 25/3/1899 (2 goals v Burton Swifts) & 31/3/1899 (v Gainsborough)

3 consecutive games – Billy McAdams – 2/1/54 (v Sunderland, top flight) & 9/1/54 (FAC, 3 goals v Bradford Park Avenue) & 16/1/54 (top flight v MUFC, so a potential parallel with Semenyo if he scores)

3 consecutive games (all top flight) – Jack Dyson – 8/10/55 (v Sheffield United) & 22/10/55 (penalty v Birmingham City) & 3/12/55 (v Burnley).

There was a big gap between Dyson’s 2nd and 3rd appearances. He’d got his first chance due to injury to striker Bobby Johnstone, then returned to the reserves. His next chance came when he was selected ahead of the great Don Revie (who was having issues behind the scenes with City’s management). Dyson then kept his place for most of the season.

I have to stress I don’t have a comprehensive list of players who scored on their debut and then went on to have a sequence of scoring but I do feel the above are worthy of mention. Jimmy Ross is an interesting figure – he was one of the Preston Invincibles in 1888-89 and scored 7 (occasionally reported as 8) v Hyde in Preston’s 26-0 victory over Hyde in the FA Cup. Ross was a teammate of the brilliant Billy Meredith at City and Meredith often claimed his success back then was down to Ross. Sadly Ross died in 1902 while still a City player.

You can read more on Jimmy Ross here:

Preston and City Great: The Death Of Jimmy Ross

City’s First League Cup Semi

As tonight sees Manchester City face Newcastle United in the League Cup semi-final here’s a reminder of the first ever League Cup semi played by the Blues. That came in 1964 and was a two-legged, often forgotten, tie. The first leg ended in a 2-0 defeat to Stoke in January 1964 and then on 5 February City defeated Stoke 1-0 in the second leg of the League Cup semi-final. The goalscorer was Derek Kevan. This was the first time City had reached the semi final stage but the competition was not particularly welcome at this time in football history. Here’s a report of the game:

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Attendances across football were low in this competition. This Maine Road tie with Stoke was watched by 16,894. The first leg, on 15 January, had seen City suffer a 2-0 loss at Stoke.

Were you at either of these games? Please post your comments if you were. I’m keen to understand how fans felt about the semi final back in 1964.