Morning all.
Finally, and thankfully, this month’s international break is over and it’s back to domestic football this weekend. When we, Arsenal, play Chelsea, I often think back to that rainy day many years ago now. The match was at Stamford Bridge on the 23rd October back in1999. The player, Nwankwo Kanu. Chelsea were 2-0 up with half an hour of the game left, Tore Andre Flo and Dan Petrescu with their goals. Goalkeeper Ed De Goey had not conceded a Premier League goal at Stamford Bridge at the time so the chances of Arsenal changing that were slim to none. What followed though really was unbelievable.
Is there a better Arsenal comeback, especially away from home?
Fresh in my mind is the comeback against Fulham thanks to a late goal from Reiss Nelson. There was the Eddie Nketiah late show against Manchester Utd too. Another one, I was at the Mad Stad for this one, was the 7-5 final scoreline against Reading in the League Cup which was simply bonkers but great by the end.
Further back, before I’d even landed on earth, Arsenal went 3-0 down against Totts on October 6th 1962 with just 30 minutes of the game played. Having read a report on the match, Totts could have scored more. David Court and Johnny MacLeod made it 3-2 before half-time but soon after the restart, Totts went 4-2 up. The referee was probably checking his watch when Court scored his second of the game but no sooner had he done so, Geoff Strong made it 4-4. Not a win but I bet back on the day, it felt like it was.
2007/08. The season most Arsenal fans probably feel we threw the League title away. So much happened during that season, much of it painful. We were still in the race when we went to Bolton on the 29th March. We were soon 2-0 down too and playing with ten men after Abou Diaby got himself sent off. Arsenal were awful in the first half however, after the break, things improved and the comeback was complete by the final whistle. Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie from the spot and a late own goal ensured all three points haded back to north London.
Who can forget our FA Cup Finals against Hull City? Hull raced ahead with goals from James Chester and Curtis Davies, Arsenal were shell shocked. Then, a moment of magic from Santi Cazorla made it 2-1 just before the break. A stunning free kick. Koscielny made it 2-2 on 70 minutes. The game went into extra time but it took another super goal, this one from Aaron Ramsey, to decide the result.
I don’t know if any of you watched the Arsenal women’s defeat of Aston Villa at the weekend but boy did they leave it late to get the much needed two goals. Trailing 1-0, there was just minutes of the game left when Katie McCabe and Alessia Russo secured maximum points. A packed Emirates Stadium went bonkers. Oh, and Beth Mead is back…
Anyway, what’s your favourite Arsenal comeback?
Catch up in the comments.
1971 cup final, 1970 Inter cities fairs cup although over 2 legs we were 3-1 down from the first leg and the 3 nil second leg to win a European trophy.
I was at the bridge on the Kanu hat trick day , we were kept in after the game and then forced by the Police onto Fulham Broadway station where the Chelsea boot boys were waiting on the platform .
1987 2 nil down at WHL second leg Littlewoods cup semi having lost 1 nil at Highbury, Spurs announce at half time how to get their cup final tickets however Allison and Rocastle score and we go to Wembley where we go 1 down to Liverpool where the commentator announced that Liverpool have never lost when Rush scored the first only for Champagne Charlie to get a couple and we took the cup home .
Just so many comebacks .
All good fun
Morning Rico. Some great games listed.
I was fortunate to be at the Chelsea game where Kanu scored the hattrick. What a skillful player he was! Up to the point he scored he was invisible on the pitch and the Arsenal fans wanted him subbed off. Little did we know what was to follow.
If you look at the video clip you can see it was pouring down. We got completely soaked, sitting at the front of the away section, but afterwards it didn’t seem to matter. I can still see the looks on the Chelsea fans faces after the game 😂
We must have passed like ships in the night Potter.
Our group managed to evade the police cordon after the game. We never wore colours to Chelsea due to the antics of their fans, so it was quite easy to blend into the crowds in the pubs around the Kings Road. Oh how we chuckled…
Great memories Potter. I forgot our European comeback.
Morning Pete, I couldn’t believe what I was watching, admittedly, from my armchair. To be there must have been fantastic. Always nice to beat that lot, especially the way we did. I loved Kanu, all legs but on his day, so very dangerous.
I never wear colours away , and I had to pick the wife up at her parents place in Putney and they wouldn’t let me break the line . I went down one side and up the other , missed the agro walked out of the station and went to my car on Fulham Palace road.
The Police didn’t care because once you were in the station it became LTE’s transport police’s problem.
The thing about second guessing Kanu was that I don’t believe he knew what he was doing either.
I love reading the personal experiences you guys bring to HH. I’m kind of envious though as getting to games back then was impossible for me. Probably why I used to frequent Elm Park on a regular basis.
I didn’t want to suggest that Potter. Lol
Not wishing to out ‘age’ anyone but, I was at the 4-4 draw against the scum! A very big crowd, 67,000+. On my own and pushed from pillar to post via a few stantions by the folk on the North Bank. Given that the crowd was so large and the Green Line bus so small, (it was the only direct route home at the time) relatively I decided I’d leave 5 minutes or so before the final whistle. The score was 2-4 to the tots. Walking down Gillespie Road towards the bus stop outside Finsbury Park Astoria, there was a massive roar, I thought end of the game. 2-4! Got to the High Road, turned left, another even larger roar! Must have been the final whistle. Reached the Stop, near enough to the front of the queue, mission accomplished. Then another roar. I wondered, not surprisingly what had happened? As the queue lengthened word came from the stragglers, lucky stragglers that the game had finished 4-4. I couldn’t believe it. And I have never seen the last 2 goals! But it was a lesson learned. I have never left a game before the final whistle since!
Nor leave the television before the end either.
Happy days😊
The very first football match I ever attended was at Highbury, in the early 1950s against one of the Sheffield clubs, I don’t remember if it was United or Wednesday. I was seven, I was with my mum and dad, three of my mum’s sisters and two of their husband’s.
Arsenal were on top for most of the first half but the Sheffield team scored almost on the stroke of halftime, I cried. One of my aunt’s was my godmother, she put her arms around me and said “it’s alright, it’s starting to rain and we like the rain”. We won the game 2 – 1, I’ve no idea who scored but I was probably the happiest boy in the ground at fulltime.
Excellent Wavy..
I can’t remember what I was doing at 7 years old but I guess a special experience sticks in the mind a lot easier than doing primary school homework. Lol
I’ve been thinking about which Sheffield side or saw in that long ago game. In those days if there was a shirt colour clash the visiting team usually played in white, since I don’t recall either team in white and since United traditionally played in red and white stripes it must have been Wednesday that I saw as they played in blue and white stripes.
No winning comeback but three nil down to Manchester United back to 3 – 3 two more forManchester United , five three then another for Arsenal and it finished 5 – 4game over fantastic game the last game before the Munich air crash we never saw some of those players again
The Munich disaster was before my time but I can’t imagine how It’d and its fans dealt with it. The Leicester City helicopter was bad enough, but Munich, awful. Avoidable too I read although true or not, I don’t know.
All sorts of conspiracy theories have emerged over the years Rico, thankfully it was so long ago that it can’t be blamed on Brexit. 😉
The only problem as I recall was the weather. The wings were iced up , frozen weather also on the runway . whether they should have attempted the take off is moot.
I believe the airport was about to close down for the night so a decision was made to hurry the take off to avoid spending a the rest of the night in a hotel. There was also snow and ice on the runway and the plane may have been overloaded and so could not cope with the conditions.
Afternoon all,
the Kanu hat trick one for me, given the opposition too, and the goals came late.
The first time I saw Arsenal was at Stamford bridge (eldest brother is a Chelsea fan) It was 85 or 86 I think Don Howe was manager. The game was a dreadful 0-0 the only thing I remember was Niall Quinn was useless,so bad it was embarrassing.
Remarkable that he developed into quite a good player, also one of the better TV pundits.
Potter , if I remember rightly those three quick goals all came down our left side courtesy of Dave Bowen.
I left the north bank after the game with three or four United supporters who kept very quiet and scuttled away as soon as they reached the road.
Guys, is Michael Thomas 2nd goal with seconds left in the game a “comeback” in 1989 at Anfield?
Herd , Bloomfield x 2 and Tapscott got ours although I have to admit I looked it up. I was only 10 at the time . I went with my Dad and my uncles and Derek Tapscott was my boyhood idol until Joe Baker came along.
Guys, is Michael Thomas 2nd goal with seconds left in the game a “comeback” in 1989 at Anfield?
Not really but well worth talking about , a great night in the clubs history.
Along with Kennedy’s header at White Hart Lane. I was on the shelf for that one.
Afternoon Rico and all
There are a lot of great comebacks in the past Wenger era, but thinking about Arteta then I would add 2022-2023 arsenal vs Bournemouth, down 1 nil after 10 seconds then 2 nil down early in the second half before we scored 2 goals close to each other then scoring the winning goal in the seconds of time on,
Morning Geoff, all.
Any comeback is great isn’t it. Can’t count Anfield 89 though…
New post up now.