On Sunday afternoon, it will feel a little like 1998-2004 all over again, when Arsenal and Manchester United were the best two teams in England and proved it by almost permanently occupying the top two places in the Premier League.
Now, nearly 20 years on from the end of that incredible duopoly of English football, the two great rivals – the footballing embodiment of the north-south divide that is evident in almost all English art, culture, and politics – will meet again in what is nearly a top of the table shootout, with Arsenal first and Manchester United tied for third place in points with Newcastle United F.C., positions that would have been almost unthinkable for both teams before the season began.
For Arsenal, it is a chance to strike a decisive blow in the title race, potentially eliminating Manchester United from it if they can win, following United’s late loss of two points against Crystal Palace during the week. However, it has been a long time since the Gunners have achieved a truly memorable, let alone historic, home win over their Mancunian rivals, so perhaps they can draw inspiration from these famous victories.
Here, in reverse order, are the five finest Arsenal home wins over Manchester United in modern times.
Five Famous Arsenal Victories Over Man United
-
2006-07: Arsenal 2, Manchester United 1
At the time (January 2007), it was thought that this would be the home win that finally made Arsenal feel truly at home in their new stadium, The Emirates. They had moved to it the previous summer after leaving Highbury, which they had occupied since 1913 and where they had won all thirteen of their top-flight titles. After Wayne Rooney had put Manchester United a goal up early in the second half, late goals by Robin Van Persie and Thierry Henry won the game for The Gunners, with Henry’s winner coming in stoppage time.
It was hoped that this late, great show against Arsenal’s greatest rivals of the previous decade might even fire Arsenal to a title challenge. Instead, it was United who became Premier League Champions that season and it is arguable that Arsenal will only ever truly regard The Emirates as their new home when they win a title there. If they can triumph this weekend against the latest iteration of United, they will have taken another decisive step toward achieving that dream.
-
2000-01: Arsenal 1, Manchester United 0
As all old school (or just old) Arsenal fans will remember forever, Thierry Henry joined Arsenal from Juventus, where he had played largely on the wing and largely flopped, in the summer of 1999, replacing Nicolas Anelka, another superb young French striker who Arsène Wenger had signed for the club. In time, Henry would become probably the greatest player in Arsenal’s history. However, he was not an instant hit, and arguably it was only his magnificent winner in this match that showed he would not only replace Anelka but in time utterly surpass him.
READ MORE: The Greatest: The Players, Managers and Matches That Made Arsenal. No.2 – Thierry Henry
Henry scored many great goals for Arsenal, but the winner against United in October 2000 definitely ranks among the greatest. Outside the penalty box and seemingly tightly marked by Denis Irwin, he brilliantly flicked the ball not only up into the air but away from him, such that he could then spin and fire it over Fabien Barthez. And in case that description doesn’t jog any memories, it might be easier to remember it as Henry’s “Whassup” goal, because he celebrated by running to the halfway line, sticking his tongue out, and mimicking the Budweiser ad catchphrase that was extraordinarily popular at the time.
-
2001-02: Arsenal 3, Manchester United 1
Henry’s “Whassup” winner, magnificent as it was, did not spark a meaningful title challenge by Arsenal in the 2000-01 season, as United ended up completing a remarkably routine hat-trick of top-flight titles at the end of that campaign. Just over a year later, however, the situation was completely different, as Arsenal not only beat United convincingly – indeed, Alex Ferguson said afterward that it was the best he had ever seen Wenger’s Arsenal play against his United side up to that point – but built on it supremely to win a second League and Cup double under the Frenchman, four years after the first in 1997-98.
Arsenal were imperious that day in November 2001 against United, who took the lead through an early Paul Scholes goal but were then almost literally brushed aside, especially in a second half that the Gunners dominated. Freddie Ljungberg scored the equaliser just after half-time, but it seemed that Arsenal would not get the rewards their outstanding play deserved until Thierry Henry scored two late goals (in the 80th and 85th minutes) to seal arguably Arsenal’s best-ever home display against United under Wenger.
-
1997-98: Arsenal 3, Manchester United 2
This November 1997 home win against Manchester United was the match that truly made Arsenal fans believers in Wenger, who had arrived at Highbury in the summer of 1996 as a virtual unknown in English football. Although his Arsenal side had shown immense promise in 1996-97, his first (nearly full) season, it was only in 1997-98, his first full season, that his Gunners really served notice that they would be United’s main contenders and occasional usurpers over the next six years.
It was also David Platt’s finest moment as an Arsenal player, although that is not the most crowded of fields. Platt had arrived at Arsenal in the summer of 1995, joining at exactly the same time as Dennis Bergkamp, and given that the two men’s ideal position was the same (No.10), Platt was always destined to play second fiddle to the great Dutchman. But not in this game, as he got the 83rd winner in a five-goal thriller with a truly spectacular header from a corner.
-
1990-91: Arsenal 3, Manchester United 1
Arsenal’s greatest home win over Manchester United in modern times came at the end of the 1990-91 season when an Alan Smith hat-trick secured a straightforward 3-1 victory. It’s the greatest not because it saw the best performance by an Arsenal side in this period (Nos. Two and Three on this list were much better in terms of team display), but because it sealed a title win. Indeed, it secured George Graham’s Gunners their second top-flight title in three seasons, albeit in a much less dramatic fashion than the manner in which they had won the first, at Anfield in May 1989.
After this comfortable win for The Gunners, Alex Ferguson, who was already nearly five years into his tenure at Old Trafford, said that Arsenal, the new champions, had set the standard that his own side had to aspire to match. Ultimately, however, Ferguson would have the last laugh over Graham, his fellow Scot, as he and not “Stroller” would go on to dominate English football for the next half a decade until Wenger arrived at Highbury and the battle between the old rivals was renewed.
A Final Thought Before Sunday
It will not have escaped eagle-eyed readers that the most recent entry on this list (No. Five) was 16 years ago. Perhaps more than any other historical fact or statistic, that speaks to the malaise that Arsenal have been in for most of the last two decades. Whatever happens during the rest of this season, this year it will be at least 19 years since Arsenal last won the title, which, since the club won its first title back in 1930-31, is the longest period of time that the Gunners have ever gone without being champions of England.
Arsenal fans will hope that Mikel Arteta’s new, young Gunners can achieve a famous home victory against Manchester United this weekend to maintain their title challenge. And because Casemiro is banned and United played midweek while Arsenal rested, Arsenal are probably favourites. Nevertheless, Arteta and Arsenal will have to be at their best to take on a United team that, under Erik ten Hag, is looking like the best one for a decade. If they are, they have every chance of winning and if that victory ultimately proves to be another one on the path to a title, it will merit inclusion in any list like this one in the future.
