Robert Exley
In January 1976, Stoke City started the calendar year in the top half of the table, however their activity in the transfer market the season before had seen the club incur a debt of around half a million pounds despite a growth in attendances at the Victoria Ground, just as the UK had entered a disastrous double-dip recession after nearly three decades of post-war economic stability. Even worse was to follow when the Stoke on Trent area had been battered by a hurricane that damaged the roof of the Victoria Ground, which the club had failed to insure against. The Potters were forced to play their league fixture against Middlesbrough at Vale Park – the home of local rivals’ Port Vale - as a result, however worse was to follow as Stoke City would have to fund the repairs by selling top talent like Jimmy Greenhoff to Man Utd and Alan Hudson to Arsenal.
Despite the emergence of new talent such as local lad Garth Crooks, as a result of their weakened side Stoke would be relegated at end of 1976/77 and the reign of Tony Waddington would come to an end with his resignation. Stoke would however return for another spell in the top flight in 1979/80 and would achieve their last away victory at Arsenal, inflicting a 0-1 defeat at Highbury in August 1981. During the early 1980s, Stoke City would also sign both the father (Mark Chamberlain) and uncle (Neville Chamberlain) of current Arsenal star Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from local rivals Port Vale (both Chamberlain brothers hailed locally from Burslem). This footage of Stoke's visit to West Ham in 1982/83 shows Mark Chamberlain turning out for Stoke City, as well as nineteen year old Steve Bould scoring an incredible own goal @01.54. Stoke however would fall out of the top flight again with their calamity season of 1984/85.
Stoke City's last league visit to Highbury would come in September 1984, resulting in a 4-0 win for Arsenal with goals from England internationals Paul Mariner, Kenny Sansom and two for Tony Woodcock. Stoke's campaign would be a then-record low tally of just three wins and seventeen points, with relegation sealed by losing 0-2 to that season's run away champions Everton at home in April 1985. That season's relegation would lead to a twenty three year absence from the top flight for Stoke City.
There would be further visits to Highbury for Stoke City during that period however in the Cup competitions. As holders of the League Cup Arsenal would meet Stoke at home in the fourth round in November 1987, with a 3-0 victory with goals from David O'Leary, Kevin Richardson and David Rocastle. Despite the defeat, George Graham was impressed enough to poach Lee Dixon and Steve Bould from Stoke's defence within the following twelve months (Footage here from an impressive 7-2 victory for Stoke over Leeds United in 1986/87 includes a goal scored by Dixon with an overhead kick).
In the days before all League Cup ties were decided on the night, there would also be a third round replay at Highbury against Stoke in November 1996, which Arsenal would go on to win 5-2 with goals from David Platt, Paul Merson, Dennis Bergkamp and two for Ian Wright. Stoke's final visit to Highbury in all competitions however would come in January 2005 in the third round of the FA Cup, which Arsenal would go on to win 2-1 with goals from Robin Van Persie and Jose Antonio Reyes. YouTube footage here includes the view of the pre-match build-up of the tie from the Stoke fans’ end and Stoke's last ever goal at Highbury scored by Wayne Thomas.
Stoke's drop out of the top tier in 1984/85 led to the reigniting of their local rivalry with Port Vale in 1989/90, which had remained dormant for thirty two years. Stoke-on-Trent is the smallest city in England to host two Football League sides and such was Stoke's decline that after their drop to the third tier at the end of 1989/90 Port Vale had become the city's biggest side. While in the third tier of English football, Stoke were joined by big city clubs such as West Brom and Birmingham, their away fixture at the latter was the scene of some serious crowd trouble in 1991/92, with a referee attacked in the process. (When Stoke played West Brom later on that same calendar year however it was to be the referee in hot water for insulting a West Brom player).
After Port Vale also dropped to the third tier two seasons later, there followed a further eighteen meetings between the two sides over the decade which followed, the last of which occurred in February 2002. Stoke City's last win over their rivals came in April 1997. While in the bottom two tiers of the Football League Stoke also clinched the Autoglass Trophy with a 1-0 win over Stockport courtesy of a goal from Mark Stein in 1991/92. They won the same trophy again, now called the Football League Trophy, in 1999/2000 with a 2-1 win over Bristol City, though the following season would suffer a 0-8 home defeat to Liverpool in the League Cup.
A turning point for Stoke was the appointment of Tony Pulis as manager in 2002, however he was sacked at the end of the 2004/05 season following a disagreement with the club's owners, replaced by a Dutch manager called Johan Boskamp. Pulis was reinstated after a takeover of the club by former chairman Peter Coates in 2006, gaining promotion back to the top flight at the end of the 2007/08 season. Since their return to the top flight, Stoke have been a troublesome away fixture for the Gunners, however at home Arsenal have had a perfect record of seven wins out of seven. Stoke's first visit to our new home came at the end of the 2008/09 season with a 4-1 win for Arsenal with goals from Abou Diaby, two for Robin Van Persie and a James Beattie own goal.
As seen from this YouTube footage, the Red Action group organised a pro-Arsene Wenger rally which seems to have ran into a group of irate Stoke fans. The 2009/10 home fixture against Stoke City saw a 2-0 win for Arsenal with goals from Arshavin and Aaron Ramsey just six weeks before the latter's horrific leg break in the away fixture at the Britannia Stadium. In 2010/11 a goal from Sebastien Squallici secured full points for the Arsenal. The following October, the 2011/12 home fixture with Stoke City saw a comfortable 3-1 victory for Arsenal with goals from Gervinho and two for Robin Van Persie, with a post-match interview with Robin Van Persie given to the BBC's Jonathan Pearce. Van Persie's replacement at Arsenal the following season, the still popular Lukas Podolski popped up with Arsenal's winner the following season in a 1-0 win in early February 2013.
The 2013/14 home fixture with Stoke came during a good early season run which took Arsenal to the top of the Premiership and notably all Arsenal goals came from set pieces in a break from the 'tippy tappy' brand of football Arsenal had been practicing in the years prior. Arsenal ran out 3-1 winners with vengeance for Aaron Ramsey returning back to form after his leg break at Stoke three and a half years prior with an excellent early season goal run. Also among the goals were Per Mertesecker and Bacary Sagna. The last home fixture for Arsenal against Stoke came at the start of this calendar year with a 3-0 victory, Laurent Koscielny among the goals with two for Alexis Sanchez, however the injury curse striking again against Stoke with Mathieu Debuchy hobbling off after dislocating his shoulder following a challenge with a Stoke defender which led Arsene Wenger to bitterly complain about Stoke's roughhouse tactics.
Ironically however the following April, Wenger saw the visit of Stoke's under 21s to Arsenal as the ideal opportunity to test the fitness of three recovering first team squad members. Club captain Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshire and one of the last ever outings in an Arsenal shirt for the injury prone Abou Diaby helped inspire the under 21s to a 4-1 win over Stoke.
Stoke City have been led by Mark Hughes since Tony Pulis left the club two years ago (although rumour has it that their ideal candidate would have been our current number two – Steve Bould). Despite Mark Hughes failing to ever win an away fixture at Arsenal, he and Wenger often find a way to get under each other’s skin (as seen here), however the form guide doesn’t really suggest anything other than an Arsenal victory tomorrow.
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