Robert Exley
(Flashbacks for Chelsea away can be found here and here. While yesterday’s edition on Chelsea at home can be found here).
Chelsea would come straight back up as second tier champions in 1988/89, beating runners up and fellow present day oligarch side Man City by seventeen points, as well as winning 3-2 at Maine Road. Chelsea also thumped Walsall 7-0 away, with five goals for Gordon Durie. On returning to the top flight, Chelsea visited Highbury in mid-March. Narrator Jim Rosenthal remarks that Chelsea were having a ‘really good season’ in sixth position. After inflicting a 0-1 defeat on Arsenal at Highbury (the Gunners first home defeat of the season), they would move just one point off of Arsenal in third place though Arsenal would have a game in hand. The Gunners however would finish the season in fourth place, two points ahead of Chelsea in fifth.
A revitalised Arsenal in 1990/91 however would meet Chelsea at Highbury again six months later and enact their revenge in the form of a 4-1 win with goals from a Lee Dixon penalty, Anders Limpar, Paul Merson and David Rocastle. As Arsenal stormed to the title in 1990/91, Chelsea would be the only side to beat the Gunners that season away at Stamford Bridge. On visiting Highbury the following season in early October 1991, the Blues raced into a two goal lead. Arsenal however clawed the game back with a Lee Dixon penalty, Ian Wright’s first goal at Highbury and a winner from Kevin Campbell, as the Gunners secured a 3-2 win.
Exactly twelve months on brought the first meeting between Arsenal and Chelsea during the Premiership era. Arsenal opened the scoring with an excellent chip from Paul Merson. Dennis Wise equalised for Chelsea, however Anders Limpar on as substitute set up a winner from Ian Wright to give Arsenal a 2-1 victory. Ian Wright would also be the difference the following season, as Arsenal picked up a 1-0 win over Chelsea at Highbury in April 1994. Six months later, Dennis Wise would give Chelsea a first half lead at Highbury. However the Gunners came back in the second half with two goals from Ian Wright and one from Kevin Campbell in a 3-1 victory.
The previous season, Glenn Hoddle’s Chelsea reached the FA Cup Final though lost 0-4 to Double winners Man United. By virtue of this, the Blues qualified for the European Cup Winners Cup and came within a goal of facing Arsenal in the 1994/95 Final, beating Real Zaragoza 3-1 at Stamford Bridge, however a 0-3 defeat away in the first leg meant that Chelsea would be eliminated 3-4 on aggregate. The Blues’ last visit to Highbury during the Glenn Hoddle era came a week before Christmas 1995. John Spencer gave Chelsea the lead, however an excellent twenty yard drive from Lee Dixon meant honours even as the two sides played out a 1-1 draw.
Hoddle became England manager in the summer of 1996, with the biggest star signing of the Hoddle era - Ruud Gullit – taking over the reins as Chelsea manager. Chelsea allowed Gullit to invest in star names such as Gianluca Vialli and Mark Hughes, as well as upcoming talent in Franck Leboeuf and Roberto Di Matteo. In early September 1996, an Arsenal side awaiting the arrival of Arsene Wenger played host to Chelsea. The Blues took a two goal lead through a Franck Leboeuf penalty and a goal from Gianluca Vialli from a John Lukic mistake. Arsenal pulled the game back through goals from Paul Merson and Martin Keown and substitute Ian Wright giving Arsenal the lead. Dennis Wise however equalised late on, with the game finishing in a 3-3 draw.
Chelsea had been trophy-less for twenty seven years by 1996/97, however started an excellent FA Cup run by defeating Liverpool at home 4-2 in January and securing the FA Cup with a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough in May with Roberto Di Matteo scoring the opening goal after thirteen seconds. The following season Chelsea were heading to Wembley again in the lesser domestic tournament, but would face Arsenal in the League Cup Semi Final in January 1998. Arsenal triumphed in the first leg 2-1 with goals from Marc Overmars and Stephen Hughes. A lot happened however between the first and second legs, firstly Arsenal met Chelsea again at Highbury in the league, winning again 2-0 with both goals scored by Stephen Hughes (taking his tally to three goals in two games against the Blues).
Five days later, Chelsea parted company with boss Ruud Gullitt, despite him winning their first trophy in over a quarter of a century just a few months prior. The Blues appointed Gianluca Vialli in his place and overturned the deficit in the second leg to eliminate the Gunners, as well as beating Middlesbrough 2-0 in the League Cup Final and winning the penultimate European Cup Winners Cup Final in May (beating VFB Stuttgart 1-0 with a Gianfranco Zola goal) and like Arsenal achieving a double of sorts in 1997/98. Arsenal and Chelsea met again in the fourth round of the League Cup the following season, which would show Arsene Wenger’s future intentions with regard to the tournament. Wenger fielded a second string eleven (although both Bergkamp and a young Freddie Ljungberg were in the starting line-up). Chelsea however would hammer Arsenal 0-5 at Highbury.
In the Premiership though, Chelsea were unable to secure a win over Arsenal during this period, either home or away. At the end of January 1999, a Dennis Bergkamp goal gave Arsenal all three points with a 1-0 win at Highbury. The following season, the first post-millennium visit of Chelsea to Highbury ended in a 2-1 win for the Gunners with two goals for Thierry Henry. In 2000/01, Chelsea visited Highbury in January with Robert Pires giving Arsenal the lead after just three minutes. John Terry however equalised for Chelsea just past the hour to earn the Blues a 1-1 draw.
The two sides met again around a month later in the fifth round of the FA Cup, taking the lead through a Thierry Henry penalty. Chelsea equalised with a great twenty yard strike from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. Arsenal however secured their passage to the Quarter Finals (and beyond) with two goals from Sylvain Wiltord which gave the Gunners a 3-1 win. The following season, Chelsea’s visit to Highbury came on Boxing Day of 2001 and brought the return of Emmanuel Petit to Highbury, lining up for Chelsea after a failed season at Barcelona. The Blues took the lead with a goal from Frank Lampard, however Arsenal took all three points with goals from Sol Campbell and Sylvain Wiltord in a 2-1 win for the Gunners.
Arsenal won the Double in 2001/02, the first leg of which was secured by defeating Chelsea in the FA Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. In defending their League title in 2002/03, Arsenal would meet Chelsea on New Years’ Day at Highbury in which Arsenal took the lead through a Marcel Desailly own goal. It would be the last ten minutes however that would bring a goal rush with Arsenal going three goals up through a goal by Giovanni Van Bronckhorst in the eighty first minute and Thierry Henry a minute later. In the last five minutes however Chelsea would pull two goals back through Mario Stanic on eighty five minutes and Emmanuel Petit capitalising on a Stuart Taylor mistake on eighty seven minutes. The result however ended 3-2 to the Gunners.
For the third season running Chelsea would meet Arsenal in the FA Cup, this time – as in 2000/01 - at Highbury and in the Quarter Finals. John Terry would give Chelsea the lead on three minutes, however Arsenal would equalise through a Francis Jeffers goal and take the lead through Thierry Henry. Chelsea however would force a replay with an equaliser from Frank Lampard six minutes from time, with the game ending in a 2-2 draw. Arsenal would however win the replay at Stamford Bridge, knocking Chelsea of the FA Cup for the third year running. This Cup tie however would be the final time that Arsenal would meet Chelsea in the Pre-Abramovich era.
The Russian oligarch bought Chelsea from Ken Bates in the summer of 2003. As bad as it was that Chelsea acquired Roman’s Roubles, it could have been far worse had Sven Goran Eriksson not advised him to buy Chelsea instead of Tottenham. How Abramovich acquired so much money so quickly is explained here in a BBC documentary called ‘How Roman Abramovich Made His Billions’. Over the summer close season of 2003, Chelsea spent £111 million on new signings, such as Wayne Bridge, Damien Duff, Joe Cole, Juan Sebastian Veron, Adrian Mutu, Hernan Crespo and Claude Makelele.
Arsenal met Post-Abramovich Chelsea in mid-October, with both sides unbeaten and joint top of the table. Arsenal took the lead with a goal from a free kick by Edu after five minutes. Hernan Crespo however equalised with a great twenty yard strike three minutes later. Arsenal however took all three points courtesy of an error by Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini which fell to Thierry Henry who put the ball into the net to give the Gunners a 2-1 victory. Arsenal would of course remain unbeaten and secure the League title in 2003/04. For the fourth season in a row, Arsenal and Chelsea would meet in the FA Cup – this time in the fifth round - and for the third season out of four the tie would be at Highbury.
Chelsea took the lead just prior to half time with a strike from Adrian Mutu, however two strikes from Arsenal’s new signing Jose Antonio Reyes – the first an absolute belter – secured a 2-1 win for Arsenal and their passage to the Quarter Final. The two sides would meet again in the European Champions League Quarter Final second leg later on that season, with the first game a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge. Reyes would be on target again to give Arsenal the lead, though Frank Lampard would equalise. Wayne Bridge however would secure Arsenal’s elimination from the Champions League and inflict a 1-2 defeat on the Gunners – the first time in which Chelsea would beat Arsenal at Highbury outside of the League Cup since 1990.
Chelsea would however lose in the Semi Final to Monaco, but would finish as runners up in the Premiership. Over the summer of 2004, Chelsea would sack manager Claudio Raneri and replace him with the manager of that year’s European Cup winners, FC Porto – Jose Mourinho – who on arrival proclaimed himself as ‘the Special one’ (although if you were called that at my school, it was never something to boast about, Jose!). Mourinho’s first of only two visits to Highbury came in December 2004. Thierry Henry opened the scoring with an excellent strike after just two minutes. John Terry equalised with a header from a corner on seventeen minutes. Henry would put Arsenal back in the lead again with a quickly taken free kick on the half hour, though Chelsea would equalise just after half time with a goal from Eidur Gudjohnsen with the game finishing in a 2-2 draw.
Though unable to equal the feat of Arsenal’s invincibles of a year earlier, Chelsea in 2004/05 would lose only one game all season and secure the title with a 2-0 win away at Bolton’s Reebok Stadium. The following December, Chelsea would triumph in their final visit to Highbury. The Blues inflicted a 0-2 defeat on Arsenal with goals from Arjen Robben and Joe Cole as the Blues marched toward back to back League titles in 2005/06. The following season Arsenal and Chelsea played out the last major final played away from Wembley at Cardiff in Late February 2007. Though Theo Walcott’s first goal for Arsenal gave the Gunners the lead, two Didier Drogba goals gave Chelsea the League Cup by inflicting a 1-2 defeat on Arsenal.
Chelsea’s first visit to our new ground also coincided with Jose Mourinho’s away game at Arsenal during his first term in charge at Stamford Bridge. The Blues required a win to keep their League title hopes alive, but fell behind just before half time to a penalty by Gilberto Silva, which he cooly spotted past future Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech. Chelsea avoided defeat with an equaliser by Michael Essien on seventy minutes, however 1-1 draw handed the title back to Old Trafford for the first time in four years. Jose Mourinho left Chelsea in September 2007, with the then unknown Israeli Avram Grant taking over for the rest of the 2007/08 season.
The first Post-Mourinho meeting between Arsenal and Chelsea took place a week before Christmas. Arsenal were top of the table and three points above Chelsea in third place, however lost their first League game of the season a week earlier away at Middlesbrough. This would also be Ashley Cole’s first visit to Arsenal since his controversial move across London in 2006. It would however be the player going the other direction that would make the difference with a William Gallas header at the end of the first half, giving Arsenal all three points with a 1-0 win. Arsenal however would finish the season two points behind runners up Chelsea in third place. Chelsea would also reach the only ever all English Champions League final, though lose to Man United on penalties.
In 2008/09, Chelsea would win their first ever game at Ashburton Grove in May by inflicting a 1-4 defeat on Arsenal with goals for Alex, former Gunner Nicolas Anelka, Florent Malouda and an own goal from Kolo Toure. Six months later, Chelsea would again triumph away at Arsenal by three clear goals. Two goals for Didier Drogba and a Thomas Vermaelen own goal inflicted a 0-3 defeat on the Gunners. Chelsea would win back the Premiership title in 2009/10 and become only the seventh separate English club to complete the League and FA Cup double by beating Portsmouth in the 2010 FA Cup Final. Arsenal however would get their revenge two days after Christmas 2010 with a 3-1 win with goals from Alex Song, Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott for the Gunners and Branislav Ivanovic pulling one back for Chelsea.
