On this day (29 November) in 2011 Manchester City defeated Arsenal 1-0 with an 83rd minute goal from Sergio Aguero. You can watch highlights below:
Tag Archives: Arsenal
Top Two Divisions Attendances and Table From 40 Years Ago!
Last week I posted the top flight attendances for this last week forty years ago and this led to a number of comments/questions and so to answer some of those I’ve now posted the top two divisions attendances together with the two League tables AND the end of season average attendances. People asked for clarity on how the figures compared to the second tier and whether League position played its part in affecting crowds. As a reminder here’s last week’s attendances…
And here’s this week’s (published 24 November 1985) and the League table too.
Obviously, these are only snapshots from that season but to add a bit more context here are the end of season averages here are the top 46 best supported clubs in order that season (hopefully it might make those who sing songs like ‘Where Were You?’ think about the crowds at their own clubs first):
A few notable League positions for those who do sing ‘Where Were You?’… The top eight clubs in the League were: Liverpool (champions), Everton, West Ham, Man Utd, Sheff Wed, Chelsea, Arsenal and Forest. Manchester City (who were 4th best supported club) were 15th (only 4 points above relegation zone), Spurs were tenth, Newcastle 11th and Aston Villa 16th.
In the Second Division best supported club Sunderland were 18th (avoiding relegation by 4 points); the top four were Norwich, Charlton, Wimbledon and Portsmouth.
If you’d like to know more about Manchester City at this time, here’s a 2,500 word subscriber feature on the 1985-86 season. Enjoy!
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Attendances 40 Years Ago!
These two results tables for top flight football in November 1985 make interesting reading. I’ve included the details published today (17 November, for games played the previous day) in 1985 and also the week after’s details too. This gives an idea of what the top clubs were attracting back then. Notice West Ham’s game attracted more at home than Arsenal’s and that Liverpool were over 26,000 less than Manchester United. Arsenal’s crowd was 6,000 less than struggling Manchester City and Tottenham attracted more than Arsenal too. Reigning League champions Everton were some way ahead of the London clubs and only about 600 behind Liverpool. Obviously, these are only snapshots from two weekends but hopefully it might make those who sing songs like ‘Where Were You?’ think about the crowds at their own clubs first.
the Marwood scoring for Sheffield Wednesday was of course Brian Marwood who went on to play a key part in Manchester City’s modern return to glory. If you’d like to know more about Manchester City at this time, here’s a 2,500 word subscriber feature on the 1985-86 season. Enjoy!
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Arsenal Lose At Home To Manchester City – Classic Action From 1971
Here’s film of the 13 November 1971 meeting between Arsenal and Manchester City at Highbury which ended 2-1 to City. The City scorers are Ian ‘Spider’ Mellor and Colin Bell. Well worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wzpZ3g0aG8
You can find out more about the 1971-72 season for Manchester City in the this 4,700 word article on the entire season – a hugely significant season though one that’s often neglected. This is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!
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DonateLessons From History: MCFC 2020 & 2025
It’s part of the football circus these days that occasional defeats are greeted as devastating occurences. Social media goes into meltdown; shock jock style radio stations begin to predict the end of eras and even the BBC seems to take a ‘your all doomed’ approach if you lose a game. After City’s narrow defeat at Villa last week the BBC’s website stated: ‘In the context of the title race, there are concerning signs for City’ and elsewhere on the BBC there were fans quoted complaining about the weaknesses in the team. So, to take a more reasoned view I decided to take a look at the 2020-21 season when similar reporting occurred of City’s games. Back then pundits like the former Arsenal player Martin Keown were highly critical of City. After five games of the 2020-21 season City were 12th and Keown said: ‘there’s certainly some rebuilding to be done. We will see how good Pep really is now; he’s got to rebuild the team.’
Those Keown comments are similar to some being aired at the moment about City being rebuilt etc. Pep proved back then (I wonder if he chatted to Keown about his comments in 2020?) how good he was.
Back in 2020-21 City lost to Tottenham in their eighth League game. That put Spurs top and some began predicting the London club may manage to actually win the league. Similarly, some predicted that City were too unpredictable to lift the title. The statistic often quoted that weekend was that City’s points total of 12 from eight games was the club’s lowest at that stage since 2008-09. Very similar style comments to this season when the BBC quoted (after the Villa defeat): ‘City have lost three of their opening nine games in the Premier League this season (W5 D1), with the Cityzens last suffering more defeats at this stage of a league campaign in 2008-09 (four).‘
As a direct comparison it’s worth noting that City are two points behind where they were five years ago, and in both seasons faced criticism. Remarkably City ended up winning the Premier League in 2020-21 by 12 points and the early season leaders Spurs finished seventh. Some pundits and journalists would later rewrite history and go on to talk as if the 2020-21 title race had been a foregone conclusion with City ‘dominating football’ like no other team had ever done before (it was ‘bad’ for football, blah, blah blah). They talked negatively about other teams not standing a chance etc. but that is so wrong.
So, what am I going on about. Well, if 2020-21 shows us anything it is that no league title is decided so early in the season. Nor does a defeat mean all is lost. City are currently two points behind where they were in that remarkable 2020-21 season, when they won the title by 12 points. Imagine if that happened again? I know it’s doubtful and Arsenal are certainly a better team than they were back then and Spurs were too. But football’s unpredictable and anything is possible.
For those wondering here are 2020-21’s results at this stage followed by a table with this season’s:
| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Points |
| 21/09/2020 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 3-1 | 3 |
| 27/09/2020 | Leicester City | H | 2-5 | 0 |
| 03/10/2020 | Leeds United | A | 1-1 | 1 |
| 17/10/2020 | Arsenal | H | 1-0 | 3 |
| 24/10/2020 | West Ham United | A | 1-1 | 1 |
| 31/10/2020 | Sheffield United | A | 1-0 | 3 |
| 08/11/2020 | Liverpool | H | 1-1 | 1 |
| 21/11/2020 | Tottenham Hotspur | A | 0-2 | 3 |
| 28/11/2020 | Burnley | H | 5-0 | 3 |
| Total | 18 |
Here’s this season’s results:
| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Points |
| 16/08/2025 | Wolves | A | 4-0 | 3 |
| 23/08/2025 | Spurs | H | 0-2 | 0 |
| 31/08/2025 | Brighton | A | 1-2 | 0 |
| 14/09/2025 | Utd | H | 3-0 | 3 |
| 21/09/2025 | Arsenal | A | 1-1 | 1 |
| 27/09/2025 | Burnley | H | 5-1 | 3 |
| 05/10/2025 | Brentford | A | 1-0 | 3 |
| 18/10/2025 | Everton | H | 2-0 | 3 |
| 26/10/2025 | Aston Villa | A | 0-1 | 0 |
| Total | 16 |
Charlton-Arsenal Attendance
Here’s a cutting from a Manchester City match programme in October 1936 which talks of a game between Charlton and Arsenal, played on 17 October 1936. The official attendance that day was 68,160 for the League game. Note how it talks of Arsenal leaving their original base south of the Thames due to issues attracting crowds and then the mention of Charlton’s popularity in south London.
Incidentally, Manchester City’s record League attendance at this time was 79,491 and record attendance was 84,569.
You can find out all about Manchester City during the 1936-37 season by reading the following 2,500 word subscriber article on that season. If you subscribe (see below) I hope you enjoy it. If you don’t subscribe then why not try it for a month (£3 per month or sign up for a year at a discounted £20 per year)?
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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:
Manchester City 3 Arsenal 1
On this day (18 September) in 1920 Arsenal were defeated by Manchester City 3-1 with goals from Horace Barnes, Tommy Browell and Billy Murphy. A crowd recorded as 38,000 at the time watched the match at Hyde Road.
For more on this season why not read the following 2,350 word subscriber article. If you subscribe (see below) I hope you enjoy it. If you are not currently a subscriber then why not try it for a month (£3 per month or sign up for a year at a discounted £20 per year)?
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As well as subscriber pieces this series on the 1920s includes some free articles. Watch out for a daily post.
Arsenal 0 Manchester City 1
On this day (17 September) in 1921 Manchester City defeated Arsenal for the second time in a week. This time the Blues won 1-0 at Arsenal with a goal from Horace Barnes. You can read more on Manchester City during this season if you subscribe (see below). I hope you enjoy it. If you are not currently a subscriber then why not try it for a month (£3 per month or sign up for a year at a discounted £20 per year)?
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As well as subscriber pieces this series on the 1920s includes some free articles. Watch out for a daily post.
Manchester City 2 Arsenal 0
On this day (10 September) in 1921 Manchester City defeated Arsenal 2-0 with goals from Horace Barnes and Jack Warner at Hyde Road. You can read more on Manchester City during this season if you subscribe (see below). I hope you enjoy it. If you are not currently a subscriber then why not try it for a month (£3 per month or sign up for a year at a discounted £20 per year)?
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As well as subscriber pieces this series on the 1920s includes some free articles. Watch out for a daily post.
Gary James' Football Archive 