Tag Archives: Arsenal

Lessons 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:

DateOpponentVenueResultPoints
21/09/2020Wolverhampton WanderersA3-13
27/09/2020Leicester CityH2-50
03/10/2020Leeds UnitedA1-11
17/10/2020ArsenalH1-03
24/10/2020West Ham UnitedA1-11
31/10/2020Sheffield UnitedA1-03
08/11/2020LiverpoolH1-11
21/11/2020Tottenham HotspurA0-23
28/11/2020BurnleyH5-03
Total18

Here’s this season’s results:

DateOpponentVenueResultPoints
16/08/2025WolvesA4-03
23/08/2025SpursH0-20
31/08/2025BrightonA1-20
14/09/2025UtdH3-03
21/09/2025ArsenalA1-11
27/09/2025BurnleyH5-13
05/10/2025BrentfordA1-03
18/10/2025EvertonH2-03
26/10/2025Aston VillaA0-10
Total16

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:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/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.

The 1920s: Peter Hodge

Continuing the series on Manchester City in the 1920s here’s a brief post on 1920s City manager Peter Hodge. Enjoy!

Peter Hodge

City Manager between: 26 April 1926 – 12 March 1932

Previously:  Former Leicester City manager.

Took Over From: Committee led by vice-chairman Albert Alexander snr.

Inherited: Sam Cowan, Tommy Johnson & Frank Roberts.

Players Brought In: Eric Brook & Fred Tilson.

Youngster Gave Debut To: Matt Busby

Players He Let Go/Sold:  Tommy Johnson in 1930, leading to widespread demonstrations and a boycott (crowds dropped by around 8,000 following the move). 

First Game: City 2 Leeds Utd 0 (City scorers Austin & Johnson), 27 April 1926, Division One, attendance 43,475 

Lows: Relegation five days and 2 games after taking over in 1926.

Last Game: Arsenal 1 City 0, 12 March 1932, FA Cup semi final at Villa Park,  attendance 50,337.  

Unusual Start:  It was agreed Hodge would become City manager in 1926 but would only take up the post after his current club Leicester ended their own season.  Their last game was on 24th April 1926 and he became City’s manager with 2 League games left the following Monday.  The Blues looked safe from relegation, but defeat at Newcastle saw City demoted (a point would have kept them up).

Similar End:  Hodge’s City career ended with defeat by a solitary goal in the dying seconds of the FA Cup semi-final with Arsenal in 1932.  The manager had already agreed to return to his previous club Leicester once City’s FA Cup campaign ended.

Season By Season Record:

League

1925-26 P 2 W 1      D 0      L 1      GF 4               GA 4   Pts 2

1926-27 P 42 W 22 D 10    L 10    GF 108          GA 61 Pts 54

1927-28 P 42 W 25 D 9      L 8      GF 100           GA 59 Pts 59

1928-29 P 42 W 18 D 9      L 15    GF 95             GA 86 Pts 45

1929-30 P 42 W 19 D 9      L 14    GF 91             GA 81 Pts 47

1930-31 P 42 W 18 D 10    L 14    GF 75             GA 70 Pts 46

1931-32 P 32 W 11 D 10    L 11    GF 70             GA 59 Pts 32

2 points for a win

FA Cup

1925-26 City competed in the FA Cup Final 2 days before he took over.

1926-27 P 1 W 0      D 0      L 1      GF 1   GA 4   Reached 3rd round

1927-28 P 3 W 2      D 0      L 1      GF 3   GA 2   Reached 5th round

1928-29 P 1 W 0      D 0      L 1      GF 1   GA 3   Reached 3rd round

1929-30 P 5 W 2      D 2      L 1      GF 18 GA 7   Reached 5th round

1930-31 P 1 W 0      D 0      L 1      GF 0   GA 3   Reached 3rd round

1931-32 P 5 W 4      D 0      L 1      GF 16 GA 7   Reached semi-final

TOTAL (League & cup fixtures)

P260   W122  D59     L79     GF  582         GA 446

Trophies Won: Second Division title 1927-28, the season after missing out on promotion by the tightest margin in the history of the game.

Followed By: City secretary Wilf Wild who went on to become a truly successful manager.

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The 1920s: Manchester City 3 Arsenal 1

On this day (4 September 1929) Manchester City defeated Arsenal 3-1 with goals from Fred Tilson (2; photographed in the 1934 FA Cup final) and Bobby Marshall at Maine Road, watched by a crowd of 38,458. You can find out more on the 1929-30 season below in this piece for subscribers (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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The 1930s: 1934-1935 Topical City

My series on Manchester City in the 1930s continues today with a subscriber article on the 1934-35 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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The 1930s: 1931-32 A Minute to go!

My series on Manchester City in the 1930s continues today with a subscriber article on the 1931-32 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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