19th August

On the 19th August 1961, Arsenal striker Laurie Brown made his debut in a 2-2 draw against Burnley. He was converted by Arsenal into a centre-half and played 109 league matches for the club, scoring just twice. Brown moved to arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur in 1964 after 3 seasons at Highbury. At Tottenham, he scored 3 goals in 62 league appearances. His debut with Tottenham was coincidentally against Arsenal and he nearly scored in a 3-1 victory for Tottenham. The transfer fee received by Arsenal for the centre-half was £40000.

John Kosmina was Arsenal's first Australian senior player. He joined the club from Adelaide City but spent a very short time in England. In fact, he played just one senior game for Arsenal, and this was a substitute appearance against Leeds United on the 19th August 1978. He was sold to West Adelaide SC in May 1979.

Dutch striker Dennis Bergkamp made his debut for Arsenal on the 19th August 1995. He started his career at Ajax, then moved to Inter for two season, before joining Arsenal in 1995. His debut was in the match against Middlesbrough at Highbury which finished in 1-1 tie. For Arsenal, Bergkamp made 316 league appearances, scoring 87 goals. He retired at the club in 2006 and started a career in coaching with Ajax in 2011, being appointed Assistant Manager.

The 19th August 2006 was the date when the first league match was played at the new Emirates Stadium which replaced Highbury as Arsenal's home stadium. The match was played against Aston Villa and finished with the score of 1-1, Gilberto Silva scoring Arsenal's goal. The stadium which cost £390 million to construct has a capacity of 60361.