11th September

On the 11th September 1893 came the first victory for Woolwich Arsenal in the Football League. Back then, the club was playing in the third division. The match was against Walsall Town Swifts, the predecessor of current League One club Walsall FC. In this match, John Heath scored three goals, and it was the first hat-trick by the club in the third division. Woolwich Arsenal won the match by the score of 4-0.

The 11th September 2003 was the date when Cesc Fabregas joined Arsenal from Barcelona's youth academy. He had been a Barcelona youth player for 6 years. Eventually, he turned out to be a great acquisition for Arsene Wenger and one which goes down in the history books of the club as one of the best players to feature for Arsenal. A century of assists, 57 goals and 303 appearances was his input to the club in the 8 seasons that he played for them as a senior player. He joined Barcelona again on the 15th August 2011. After helping Arsenal win the 2004/05 FA Cup and the 2004 Community Shield, and reaching the Final of the Champions League in 2005/06, Fabregas left for his childhood club for the fee of £29 million.

10th September

On the 10th September 1904, Arsenal played their first home match in the First Division at Manor Ground in Plumstead. The club was still known as Woolwich Arsenal at the time. This first home match in the top division in England was played against Preston North End and finished with the score tied at 0-0.

104 years later on the 10th September 2008, young English winger Theo Walcott became England's youngest player to score a hattrick for the English senior team against Croatia. The match was played away at the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb, and England registered a 4-1 win over the Croatians.

9th September

A bit of early history of the club. Going back two centuries, to the year 1893, Woolwich Arsenal played their first away match in the league on the 9th September. The predecessor to the current Arsenal FC played Notts County in the league and lost by the score of 3-2. Arsenal's goals were scored by Arthur Elliott and Walter Shaw.

8th September

On the 8th September 1970, Arsenal were hosted by Ipswich Town at Portman Road in the Second Round of the League Cup. The Gunners could not find a goal that would settle the game in their favour, and a replay had to be played after the match finished with the score of 0-0. The performance at home stadium Highbury was more convincing as Arsenal ran out 4-0 winners.

In 1984 on the 8th September, Arsenal defeated Liverpool by the score of 3-1 at home stadium Highbury in the First Division. The victory meant that Arsenal went straight to the top of the First Division table: something which the fans had been longing for for 12 years since 1972.

7th September

The 7th September 1945 is the birthdate of former Arsenal player Peter Storey. Storey played in the position of full back and also defensive midfielder. In total, the English player from Surrey made 501 appearances for Arsenal between 1965 and 1977, where he scored 9 goals. He moved to Fulham in 1977 but played for the other London club for just one season before bringing down the curtain on his career. Between 1971 and 1973, while at Arsenal, Storey earned 19 international caps for England. Storey is the 8th player in the ranking of players who have appeared the most for Arsenal.

More recently in the year 2007, on the 7th September Arsene Wenger renewed his contract with Arsenal until 2011. The contract extension was reported to be worth £4 million per annum. Arsene Wenger's comment at the time was, "My heart is tied to this football club. It has deep-seated roots and a tremendous heritage. It is my aim to uphold these values and help create new history for future generations. Arsenal is the club of my life. I have been entrusted with complete freedom to implement and execute my plans on what will make the team successful. That means I have a responsibility to the fans to deliver silverware and also a responsibility to the players to help turn our potential into prizes." During the period of this contract extension, however, Arsenal failed to win any domestic or European title.

6th September

Morris Bates was a full-back for Royal Arsenal between 1886 and 1890. Bates was nicknamed the 'Iron Man' and captained Royal Arsenal as they won their first trophies: the Kent Senior Cup and the London Charity Cup. In total, Bates played 73 first team matches for Royal Arsenal. On the 6th September 1905, Morris Bates died at the age of 41 from tuberculosis.

On the 6th September 1913, the first match at Highbury was played against Leicester Foss. 20000 fans attended the opening of Arsenal's new stadium. Previously they used to play home games at Manor Ground in Plumstead. Highbury was the home stadium of Arsenal between September 1913 and May 2006, when they moved to the new Emirates Stadium. George Jobey scored for Arsenal after Leicester Fosse's Tommy Benfield opened the score. The win for Arsenal depended on the late penalty converted by Arsenal's Archibald Devine. At the time, the pitch was not yet finished and had a distinctive slope. George Jobey was injured and he had to be taken to the dressing room on a milk cart.

5th September

On Saturday the 5th September of the year 1970, Arsenal's English winger George Armstrong scored twice in a match against arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur. Arsenal beat their rivals by the score of 2-0 at Highbury thanks to Armstrong. Later in the season, Arsenal also beat Tottenham at their home stadium White Hart Lane to complete a double over their biggest rivals. In the 1970/71 season, Arsenal lifted both the domestic league title and the FA Cup.

4th September

On the 4th September 1946, Arsenal played a First Division match at Highbury against Blackburn Rovers, and the Gunners lost by the score of 3-1. Reg Lewis was the only goalscorer for Arsenal. Arsenal at the time were managed by Geogre Allisson, which led them to 2 First Division titles, 1 FA Cup and 1 Charity Shield.

Hat-trick hero Alan Sunderland

In the year 1979 on the 4th September, Arsenal registered their biggest winning margin ever in the League Cup when they played Leeds United and beat them 7-0. The match was contested at Highbury and was the replay of the Second Round of the competition. Alan Sunderland scored a hat-trick, Liam Brady scored two penalties, and Sammy Nelson and Frank Stapleton scored a goal each.

Arsenal's new signing: Mikel Arteta

Mikel Arteta started his youth career in 1994 at the age of 12 at the amateur Spanish football club Antiguoko Kirol Elkartea in the Basque Country. This amateur club produced talent such as Xabi Alonso and Javier de Pedro. Arteta then moved to Catalonia, joining Barcelona's youth academy in 1997. In 1999, the Spanish midfielder started his senior career by playing for Barcelona's B team. He was loaned out to French club PSG between 2000 and 2002 to get match experience, and he played 31 league matches for the French club in which he scored 8 goals.

Arteta moved to one of Scotland's biggest teams in 2002: Glasgow Rangers. He spent 2 seasons at this club where he scored 12 goals in 50 league appearances. He moved back to Spain in 2004 to play for a club which is a parent club to Antiguoko Kirol Elkartea, the youth club where he started his football career. The midfielder was loaned out to Everton in 2005 and did enough to convince the club to sign him on a permanent deal. He played regularly for the club for 7 consecutive seasons, and was again set to be a key player in the 2011/12 season before he moved to Arsenal. For Everton, Arteta appeared 208 times in all competitions. He scored 33 goals and made 41 assists. He will be remembered in the club's history as one of the best players to play for the club. He wa stwice named player of the season for Everton: 2005/06 and 2006/07, as well as Players' Player of the Season in 2005/06, Sky Sports Midfielder of the Year in 2006/07 and North West Player of the Year 2006/07.

Mikel Arteta's wife is former Miss Spain, Lorena Bernal. He has a close friendship with Xabi Alonso, and while the latter played for Liverpool, the two used to be neighbours at the Albert Dock apartment complex in Liverpool. Arteta can speak English very well, as well as French, Italian, his mother tongue Spanish, and the Basque and Catalan languages.


Just minutes before the 2011 summer transfer window shut down, Mikel Arteta became Arsenal's fourth signing on the 31st August 2011. He joined the club for a reported £10 million on a four-year deal. He was signed to fill the boots of Cesc Fabregas who moved to Barcelona, and to strengthen the midfield department which was depleted following the departure of star players Fabregas and Nasri. Arteta will wear the number 8 jersey. This number was worn by Samir Nasri before he moved to Manchester City.




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3rd September

Going back to the early years of the club, on the 3rd September 1904, Arsenal played their first game in the top division in England at the time, the First Division. Like the first Football League match was played against Newcastle United back in 1893, Arsenal kicked off their First Division campaign with a game against Newcastle United. Woolwich Arsenal, as they were known at the time, lost the match by the score of 3-0.

Goalkeeper George Swindin made his debut for Arsenal on the 3rd September 1936. His debut came in a match against Brentford, which the club lost by the score of 2-0. Swindin played for Arsenal between 1936 and 1954, and played in 297 league matches. Years later, he was manager of Arsenal between 1958 and 1962. Swindin died in October 2005 at the age of 90 years.

On the 3rd September 1994, Sir Billy Wright, who managed Arsenal between 1962 and 1966, died of stomach cancer at the age of 70. In his playing days, Wright played as a centre-half for Wolverhampton Wanderers, for which he made 490 league appearances. He also featured for the English national team between 1946 and 1959, making 105 appearances in the England jersey.

2nd September

Going back several years in the history of Arsenal, the 2nd September 1893 was the first time that Woolwich Arsenal played a Football League match at Manor Ground in Plumstead. The match was played against Newcastle United in front of 10000 spectators. Manor Ground is situated in South-East London, and was used by Woolwich Arsenal between 1893 and 1913, and by their predecessor Royal Arsenal between 1888 and 1890. When the team moved to Arsenal Stadium (popularly known as Highbury), they changed the name from  Woolwich Arsenal to Arsenal FC. The first match at the stadium against Newcastle finished with the score of 2-2, with Woolwich Arsenal at one time leading 2-0.

Again on the 2nd September, but in the year 1908, George Morrell took charge of his first Woolwich Arsenal game after he took over as manager. The game was played at Monor Ground and Woolwich Arsenal were heavily defeated at the hands of Everton by the score of 4-0.

1st September

On the 1st September of the year 1934, Arsenal played Liverpool in a league match at Highbury. The match finished with the astonishing scoreline of 8-1 in Arsenal's favour. Both Ted Drake and Ray Bowden scored 3 goals each in this match, while Jack Crayston scored his first goal at Highbury. Arsenal eventually won the league, which was the third successive time they achieved this success. The match coincided with approximately the 21st anniversary since Woolwich Arsenal played their first game at Highbury stadium.