Robert Exley
After suffering relegation in 1975, Chelsea were to spend two seasons in the second tier of English football. While down in the second tier, Chelsea were on the receiving end of a 0-3 drubbing at London rivals Millwall away at The Den in 1977 however finished runners up in 1976/77 and secured their passage back to the top flight with a 4-0 victory over Hull at Stamford Bridge marred by frequent pitch invasions, with the players forced to exit the pitch mid-way through and manager Eddie McCready forced to appeal to the crowd for order through a microphone @19.47. On Chelsea’s return to the top flight, in March 1978 Arsenal’s visit to Stamford Bridge resulted in a 0-0 draw. Chelsea however finished the following season rock bottom of the table and were already relegated when Arsenal visited Stamford Bridge on May 14th 1979, two days after winning the FA Cup. The game finished 1-1 with Malcolm McDonald scoring in his last ever game, after being forced to quit the game as a result of a knee injury, after spending the summer on loan in Sweden in an attempt to regain fitness.
It would be another five years before Chelsea would return to the top flight again, along the way suffering a humiliating 0-6 defeat away at Rotherham in 1981/82. It was also around this time that Ken Bates would buy Chelsea for £1 plus debts, which ended the club’s long association with their founding Mears family. Chelsea returned to the top flight as champions of the second tier in 1983/84 with exciting squad members such as Pat Nevin, David Speedie and top scorer Kerry Dixon, here beating other present day oligarch club Manchester City at Maine Road on Match of the Day. Arsenal’s first visit to Stamford Bridge after Chelsea’s return came in January 1985 on a quagmire of a pitch, which ended in a 1-1 draw with Paul Mariner scoring for Arsenal (you’ll also note during these years at Stamford Bridge there would be several parked cars along the track between the pitch and crowd. Was Ken Bates running a second hand car lot to pay off Chelsea’s debts?).
Just two months later, many were shocked at the scenes of violence which emanated from Chelsea’s home leg semi-final defeat to Sunderland, although obviously much worse was to follow for English football by the season’s close. In 1985 Chelsea appointed John Hollins as manager, who came back to Stamford Bridge after a four year period at Arsenal. Hollins lasted in the role until 1988, as Chelsea were relegated back to the second tier as the last side to be demoted via a two-legged play-off (the format was changed the following year, meaning that only promotion chasing sides competed to remove the relegation aspect. Play-off finals also became a one-legged tie at Wembley after 1990, instead of played home and away over two-legs). Playing Middlesbrough in the play-off final, Chelsea lost 0-2 at Ayresome Park and though winning 1-0 at Stamford Bridge it was not enough to stop their slide to the second tier, much to the anger of their fans who invaded the pitch and rioted at full time.
Chelsea’s time in the Second tier lasted just one season. Bertie Mee’s former assistant at Highbury, Bobby Campbell was appointed in 1988 and secured the Second Division title by accruing 99 points. Back in the top flight however, Chelsea remained an unspectacular outfit though did inflict Arsenal's only defeat of the 1990/91 season, losing 1-2 at Stamford Bridge in January. Chelsea however were to play a small part in the destination of the title, striking a blow against Liverpool with a 4-2 win at Stamford Bridge, with Arsenal securing the title the following Monday. An Arsenal victory at Stamford Bridge however remained elusive until 1993/94 when Arsenal pulled off a 2-0 win securing their first victory at the Bridge in twenty years.
It wasn't until the start of the Wenger era however when the situation reversed, with Chelsea experiencing difficulty with picking up all three points against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. Wenger's first visit to the Bridge resulted in a comprehensive 3-0 win for Arsenal in April 1997, with goals from Ian Wright, David Platt and Dennis Bergkamp. The following September, Arsenal took full points with a 3-2 win secured with a belter from Nigel Winterburn in the closing minutes. It was however at Stamford Bridge that season where an Arsenal treble was foiled, where Chelsea manager Ruud Gullitt had been sacked after their first leg defeat at Highbury. New manager Gianluca Vialli, aided by former Arsenal star Graham Rix, pulled the tie back to win 4-3 on aggregate.
The difficulties Chelsea were experiencing in beating Wenger were exemplified by their meeting with Arsenal at Stamford Bridge in 1999/2000, as Chelsea with a 2-0 lead were undone by a second half Kanu hat-trick, which ended in a famous 3-2 win for the Arsenal The following season, the Blues were undone by a late Silviniho better, resulting in a 2-2 draw. In 2001/02, the fixture at Stamford Bridge had been a 1-1 draw with a Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink penalty cancelling out an earlier Thierry Henry strike, where twelve months on a debut goal from Kolo Toure spared Arsenal from defeat, cancelled out Gianfranco Zola's earlier strike, leading to the exact same scoreline.
It was to be the FA Cup however were Chelsea's failure to beat Arsenal would be more pronounced, as after Chelsea won the FA Cup in 2000, Arsenal would stand in the way of FA Cup glory for the Blues for four consecutive seasons - including victory at the Millenium Stadium in the 2002 final. The following season, Chelsea would hold Arsenal to a draw in the Quarter Final, however an early own goal from John Terry set the tone for the evening as Arsenal outclassed their West London rivals 3-1, with goals from Lauren and Sylvain Wiltord. That fixture however would be the last between the two sides before the takeover of Roman Abramovich in the summer of 2003.
Almost instantly there were fears that Chelsea would purchase dominance, but for the first season it was Arsenal who still looked the dominant force in the land, going unbeaten for an incredible forty nine games between May 2003 and November 2004, winning the League title without a defeat throughout the 2003/04 season. On route to the title Arsenal saw off Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in February with a 2-1 win with goals from Patrick Vieira and Edu. It turned out however to be the last time Chelsea would lose a game at home until 2008, an incredible eighty six games later, meaning that Arsenal (along with every other team in the land) would go through a barren period at Stamford Bridge.
Fresh from winning the Champions League with FC Porto, Jose Mourinho took over at Stamford Bridge from Claudio Ranieri in the summer of 2004. His first meeting against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge ended in a 0-0 draw, with Chelsea just weeks away from winning their first league title for fifty years. Jose however would finally break Chelsea’s Arsenal hoodoo in 2005/06, inflicting a 0-1 defeat in August with a goal from Didier Drogba, who would go on to be the scourge of Arsenal fans in the years ahead. The 2006/07 fixture, the last at Stamford Bridge during Jose’s first reign at Chelsea, had the added twist of Ashley Cole’s desertion of Arsenal for West London. Arsenal took the lead through a Flamini strike, however was cancelled out through a Michael Essien belter from over thirty yards out.
Despite winning two league titles in three years, clearly not everyone was impressed with Jose Mourinho and a fall out with Roman Abramovich led to his departure in 2007. Early on in the 2007/08 season, Arsenal put together an impressive run of form which led many to wonder whether a title run could be formulated. Arsene Wenger’s side however fell away after January. Arsenal played a Chelsea side now managed by Avram Grant at Stamford Bridge on a cold Easter Sunday which fell before the clocks went forward (which surely was the only thing more anti-climactic than Arsenal’s poor run-in that spring!). Arsenal did take the lead at Stamford Bridge through a Bacary Sagna header, however the curse of Didier Drogba would strike again. The Drog bagging two goals in a 1-2 defeat for the Arsenal – surprisingly the second of just three defeats that season (Arsenal’s third lowest ever for a single campaign).
Arsenal were unable to build on the early promise of 2007/08 the following season, however did score a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge during 2008/09. Chelsea took the lead through a Johan Djourou own goal, though Arsenal took all three points with two goals from Robin Van Persie. Later that season however Chelsea would inflict a 1-2 defeat on an Arsenal side playing their first game at the new Wembley Stadium with Didier Drogba again popping up with the winner.
In the calendar year of 2010, Chelsea would inflict two 0-2 defeats on Arsenal in Stamford Bridge – in February of that year with Didier Drogba scoring two, as well as in October with Drogba opening the scoring again and a thunderbolt free kick Brazilian central defender Alex. In 2011/12 however, after Chelsea astonishingly sacked Carlo Ancelotti twelve months on from them securing their only League and FA Cup double, Arsenal were given a glimmer of hope after Andre Villas Boas struggled to make an impact at Stamford Bridge.
In late October, a Robin Van Persie hat-trick as well as goals from Theo Walcott and Andre Santos gave Arsenal an astonishing 5-3 victory at Stamford Bridge. After watching this 12.45PM kick off at the Twelve Pins in Finsbury Park, I can recall checking for the reaction on social media and noticing people on my timeline paying tribute to Jimmy Savile as his passing had only just been announced. What with that and banging five goals past Chelsea, it’s fair to say that the forces of darkness took a right hammering that day (if Carlsberg did Saturdays!). As good as it was however, as well as 2012/13 being a rare example of a recent season where Arsenal have finished above Chelsea, the Blues did finish the season as the first London side to be crowned as Champions of Europe (and from the Quarter Finals onwards that season they pretty much were as dogged as a turd that simply refused to flush!).
That win in late October 2011 was also Arsenal’s last win at Stamford Bridge. In 2012/13 Arsenal suffered a 1-2 defeat and with the return of Jose Mourinho in 2013/14 a humiliating 0-6 loss. Despite that heavy defeat, Arsenal fans would be in full voice singing ’49 undefeated’ on the tube home, (behaviour which greatly contrasted with the classless way Chelsea fans have conducted themselves on subway trains in recent years!).
Last season, Chelsea’s signing of former Arsenal old boy Cesc Fabregas and title win was also compounded by a 0-2 defeat away for Arsenal at Stamford Bridge last October. Luckily Wenger managed to break his duck against Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea last month with a 1-0 win at Wembley secured with an Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain goal. That said however, if Arsene Wenger wishes to re-establish Arsenal as a trophy winning force, he needs a significant improvement on a record of just one win against Jose Mourinho out of fourteen meetings. Wenger must show enough ruthlessness to capitalise on Jose Mourinho and Chelsea’s poor start to this campaign for Arsenal to progress to anywhere near the level that this side of great potential (though so far are relative under-achievers) are capable of reaching.
Any pre-2003 Chelsea manager may have scoffed at the suggestion of Arsene Wenger being a ‘specialist in failure’, however as can be seen from Arsenal’s sixties barren spell against Chelsea just prior to the double period and what has become of Arsene Wenger’s record against Chelsea Post-2004, in this particular fixture history and the form book are very often turned on its head within a matter of a few games. Who knows, we could be looking back at a second Arsenal win over Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in under two months as being a very important psychological boost in the development of this particular Arsenal side if Wenger plays his cards right.
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