Who likes goals against Chelsea?
Arsenal’s 5-0 thumping of Chelsea this week was the Gunners’ biggest ever victory over the Blues. Or was it?
Tuesday evening’s London derby between Arsenal and Chelsea was remarkable, to say the least.
The victory was a big statement as Arsenal looked to keep their title hopes alive, and the fact that it came against big rivals just added to the importance of the win.
This wasn’t lost on players, pundits and the boss, either, as these quotes sourced from Arseblog demonstrate.
“I’m happy to be back in the team and also to get a win in the derby. It’s a really important game, so I’m very happy.”
Thomas Partey is happy
“I think there’s losing the game and then there’s losing a game to your London rivals in that fashion. And I think that really sticks with the fans.”
Ex-Chelsea player Joe Cole isn’t happy
“Congratulate them [the players] for their performance, for making our supporters proud and happy. It’s a big London derby and we know what it means for them as well. And it was a joy to watch them play. And rest, enjoy today and on to Spurs now.”
Mikel Arteta is happy
It was also, according to several sources, Arsenal’s biggest win over Chelsea in any competition.
At the risk of invoking a pantomime, I can confidently say: “Oh no it isn’t!”
Herbert Chapman’s Arsenal side put five goals past Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in November 1930, coming back from 1-0 down at half time with goals from Jack Lambert, Joey Williams and a David Jack hattrick.
But that’s not the game I’m thinking of.
Arsenal v Chelsea, 6 November 1943
Wartime football was very different to ‘normal’ league football. Regional competitions were arranged and, with some players having been called up to serve in the armed forces, clubs were permitted to draft in guest players.
This means that, for most historical records, these games don’t count. But I beg to differ.
On 6 November 1943, Arsenal hosted Chelsea at White Hart Lane - Highbury having been adapted for use by Air Raid Precautions. This picture on the Arsenal website shows players including Cliff Bastin (on the left) posing as ARP wardens.
Arsenal’s only guest player for this match was James Briscoe from Hearts, while Chelsea called on several outsiders, including Eric Westwood (Manchester City), John Harris (Wolverhampton Wanderers), George Stewart (Hamilton Academical), Tom Hinchcliffe (Derby County) and Charlie Mitten (Manchester United).1
An interesting side note: Arsenal trio Eddie Hapgood, George Swindin and George Curtis all guested for Chelsea in the 1943-44 season, but not in this game. Hapgood went on to don Chelsea colours a further 16 times during the war, scoring once against Fulham on 26 August 1944.2
The Gunners scored three times in each half to cruise to victory. Reg Lewis, who scored a remarkable 140 goals in 126 wartime appearances, scored twice, as did Cliff Bastin and Denis Compton.
Arsenal’s aim was aided by an injury to Chelsea’s goalkeeper John Jackson, who was taken off at 5-0 but was described by at least one newspaper as “obviously unfit” from the start.
Arsenal went on to finish fourth in the 18-team Football League South competition, which was won by Tottenham Hotspur.
Chelsea, meanwhile, finished eighth, considerably better than where the team is likely end up this season.
Source: This historical database of Chelsea data and stats.
Source: See footnote 1.