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10. Arsenal 1-2 Manchester United, Premier League, Emirates Stadium, 22nd November 2014
(Arsenal – Giroud 95; Manchester United – Gibbs (O.G) 56, Rooney 85)
This was a strange match really, and till this day I can’t understand how an Arsenal side that dominated the entire game against Manchester United’s worst side in years, contrived to lose.
When Louis van Gaal named a defense of Paddy McNair, Chris Smalling and Tyler Blackett, Arsenal fans could be forgiven for rubbing their hands in delight. Arsenal created chance after chance, which they either wasted or shot them straight at the mercurial United keeper David de Gea.
Manchester United got their first goal, completely against the run of play. Antonio Valencia’s shot was deflected into the goal by a wayward leg from Kieran Gibbs. Arsenal created more chances, but just couldn’t score. Wayne Rooney scored his customary goal in this fixture from a quick break. Olivier Giroud scored a fantastic goal late on, but it was too little, too late.
9. Stoke City 1-0 Arsenal, Premier League, Britannia Stadium, 1st March 2014
(Stoke – Walters 76 (pen))
Arsenal’s title challenge looked to be slowly fading away as they slipped up at Stoke. In a dull afternoon of football, barely any chances were created. The Gunners looked insipid and Stoke were happy keeping Arsenal at bay. The decisive moment came when Laurent Koscielny was harshly adjudged to have handled the ball in the penalty area. Walters scored the ensuing penalty ensuring Arsenal’s drop to 3rd position.
8. Arsenal 0-2 Bayern Munich, Champions League Round of 16 First Leg, Emirates Stadium, 19th February 2014
(Bayern – Kroos 54, Mueller 88)
Arsenal were again undone by a red card on the European stage as they slumped to a home defeat to Bayern Munich for the second season running. Despite Arsenal’s faltering domestic form, optimism was still high ahead of the Champions League clash with mighty Bayern.
The shocking news was a start handed out to rookie striker Yaya Sanogo, preferred to Olivier Giroud. Both sides started the match at a quick pace, and Arsenal forced two saves from Manuel Neuer off Sanogo and Chamberlain, who was causing Austrian left back David Alaba plenty of problems. The big chance of the match fell to Mesut Ozil on 14 minutes, when he beat Jerome Boateng in the penalty box, and his compatriot bought him down with a trailing leg.
However, Ozil’s weak penalty was saved easily by Neuer. Arsenal lost their direction after the miss, as Bayern started rolling the ball around. The Gunners suffered a setback when Kieran Gibbs had to be taken off due to a hamstring injury. But, 6 minutes later disaster struck, as Szczesny was sent off for colliding with the onrushing Arjen Robben in the 37th minute.
Robben made the most of it, but Bayern missed the penalty as Alaba screwed it wide. The Gunners stood no chance in the second half as Bayern drew their tanks closer. Toni Kroos scored a beauty in the 54th minute, leaving Fabianski with no chance. Arsene Wenger would have been happy with a 1-0 loss, but Laurent Koscielny went too far ahead late on in the game, allowing Mueller space to convert the second goal for the visitors.
7. Swansea City 2-1 Arsenal, Premier League, Liberty Stadium, 9th November 2014
(Swansea – Sigurdsson 75, Gomis 78; Arsenal – Sanchez 63)
Arsenal suffered a disappointing loss on a watery evening at the Liberty Stadium, days after they succumbed to a 3-3 draw against Belgian champions Anderlecht. Swansea dominated initial proceedings before Arsenal showed flashes of brilliance in the lead up to half time, but neither side could take advantage. Arsenal had the lead in the 63rd minute, Alexis with a simple finish past former Arsenal goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.
Swansea equalized through a brilliant free-kick from Gylfi Sigurdsson, after Kieran Gibbs fouled debutant Modou Barrow. However, Swansea turned the match on it’s head, when Ecuadorian winger Jefferson Montero, who ran Callum Chambers ragged all afternoon, crossed in for France international striker. Bafetimbi Gomis for the winner.
6. Stoke City 3-2 Arsenal, Premier League, Britannia Stadium, 6th December 2014
(Stoke City – Crouch 1, Bojan 35, Walters, 45; Arsenal – Cazorla 68 (pen), Ramsey 70)
Arsenal’s miserable record at the Britannia Stadium continued, as they were beaten 3-2 by the Potters, in a game where they failed to show any sort of formidable threat. Arsenal’s form seemed to be improving, after they registered 3 consecutive wins over Dortmund, West Brom and Southampton, but they were undone in the very first minute, as Peter Crouch took advantage of a calamitous moment of misunderstanding between stand-in goalie Emiliano Martinez and Callum Chambers. After Olivier Giroud missed an open header,
Stoke scored their 2nd goal in the 35th minute, when a Jon Walters cross allowed the former Barcelona, Milan and Roma man Bojan to make it 2-0. Walters then got one of his own at the stroke of half-time, making it an unbelievable 3-0. Arsenal briefly rallied when Cazorla scored a penalty and Aaron Ramsey’s fine finish in the 70th minute, but in honesty, Arsenal deserved to lose by a bigger margin.
5. Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Arsenal, Champions League Group Stages, Westfalenstadion, 16th September 2014
(Dortmund – Immobile 45, Aubameyang 48)
Arsenal were outrun, outfought and outbattled by a side struggling for survival in the Bundesliga. Dortmund, who have suffered a terrible start to the domestic season so far. They showed it didn’t matter in Europe as they heckled Arsenal to a 2-0 win. The Gunners, without Olivier Giroud, Kieran Gibbs, Nacho Monreal and Mathieu Debuchy, struggled to get anything going for them, in a match dominated by the die Schwarzgelben.
Italian forward Ciro Immobile put the home side in the lead on the stroke of half-time, before Gabon international Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made it 2-0, minutes after the second half started, following a confusion between Szczesny and Koscielny.
4. Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal, Premier League, Stamford Bridge, 5th October 2014
(Chelsea – Hazard 27(pen), Diego Costa 78)
Arsene Wenger’s poor record against Jose Mourinho showed no signs of letting up, as Arsenal put up a pale performance yet again at Stamford Bridge. The only positive probably was that the Gunners didn’t get pasted 6-0 this time round, but that was little excuse for an insipid performance, devoid of any sort of creativity.
Chelsea, as usual, stuck to their game plan, stifled the hell out of Arsenal, and scored two goals on counters. The highlight of the match was Wenger and Mourinho having a go at each other on the touchline after a Gary Cahill challenge on Alexis.
Eden Hazard was bought down by Koscielny in the box, and the Belgian duly stepped up to make it 1-0. Fabregas, who got a mixed reception from the away fans, provided the assist for the second goal, to set up his Brazilian born compatriot, Diego Costa for a fine second goal.
3. Everton 3-0 Arsenal, Premier League, Goodison Park, 6th April 2014
(Everton – Naismith 14, Lukaku 34, Arteta (O.G) 61)
Everton stepped up their pursuit of 4th place, with a thumping win over a subdued Arsenal. Steven Naismith scored the opening goal after Lukaku’s initial shot was saved and the Belgian striker made it 2-0, 20 minutes later, after he heaved his way through Arsenal’s leaky defence.
The afternoon was made more miserable as former Everton midfielder Mikel Arteta scored an own goal on his return to his old stomping ground, when he was pressurized by Kevin Mirallas. This win put Everton just one point behind Arsenal, with a game in hand, and 5 games left for the Gunners to play in the season.
2. Liverpool 5-1 Arsenal, Premier League, Anfield, 8th February 2014
(Liverpool – Skrtel 1, 10, Sterling 16, Sturridge 20, Sterling 52; Arsenal – Arteta 69 (pen))
Arsenal were thoroughly demolished in a 20-minute blitz of super attacking football by Liverpool. Arsenal arrived at Anfield, top of the table but were made to look like a pub side suffering from a bad hangover in the opening minutes, as Liverpool carved them open again and again. With barely a minute gone on the clock, Slovenian defender Martin Skrtel put Liverpool ahead with a header from a Steven Gerrard’s corner.
Arsenal had barely got the ball rolling, when Liverpool and Skrtel struck again. Steven Gerrard provided the assist again, as Skrtel’s header glided past Chamberlain on the goal line. Liverpool should have added a 3rd just seconds later, but his chipped effort went just wide. Then, a low cross from Sturridge failed to find Suarez. Then, the Uruguyan unleashed a powerful volley straight at Szczesny, who managed to save and Kolo Toure missed with the goal gaping open. Arsenal were clinging on to their lives, but on 16 minutes it was 3-0, as Sterling converted rather easily from a Suarez cross. 4 minutes later, Sturridge beautifully made it 4-0 collecting Coutinho’s pass from the deep.
There was absolutely no way back for Arsenal, who barely mustered anything going forward. Defensively, well they held on till half time, and 7 minutes after half time, when Sterling scored his second and Liverpool’s 5th. Arsenal got a consolation goal back, when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was fouled in the penalty area by Steven Gerrard. Mikel Arteta scored to make it 5-1. The scoreline was still an embarrassing one.
1. Chelsea 6-0 Arsenal, Stamford Bridge, Premier League, 22nd February 2014
(Chelsea – Eto’o 5, Schurrle 7, Hazard 17 (pen), Oscar 42, 66, Salah 71)
On what was supposed to be a momentous occasion for Arsene Wenger, who reached the milestone of 1000th game in charge of Arsenal, it turned out to be one of the most shambolic displays in the Frenchman’s reign. Arsenal were ruthlessly taken apart by Jose Mourinho’s rampaging Chelsea side. Samuel Eto’o scored with just 5 minutes on the clock with his left foot, and just 2 minutes later German international Andre Schurrle scored a similiar goal.
The comical/disastrous/strange moment of the match came 10 minutes later, when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain stupidly handled the ball in the penalty area. In the melee, Andre Marriner sent Kieran Gibbs in a case of mistaken identity much to Arsenal’s fury. Eden Hazard scored the resulting penalty. All so typical Arsenal. Chelsea 3-0 up inside 17 minutes.
Then came a period of brief solidity, as Brazilian Oscar scored an easy goal having been set up by Fernando Torres. Arsenal’s 10 men displayed some sort of steel in the second half, but couldn’t prevent the Blues from scoring. Oscar doubled his tally and then new signing Mohamed Salah, beat the offside trap to score an easy goal past a bewildered Szczesny. A rather disastrous display on a day that was supposed to be a memorable one.
