Ten years on from 8-2 United defeat, Arsenal are hopeless again in Manchester
Martin Macdonald
- Updated: 28 Aug 2021 15:03 BST
- 4 min read
On 28 August 2011, Arsenal put out one of their performances in the entire history of the club, losing 8-2 away at Manchester United.
Arsene Wenger fielded a meme-worthy defence on that day consisting of Carl Jenkinson, Laurent Koscielny, Johan Djourou and Armand Traore.
The match became one of the most famous in Premier League history as Man Utd, who hardly had a team of superstars out, with the likes of Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck in the starting XI, licking their lips at the prospect of taking on that patched up defence.
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It would be Welbeck who opened the scoring on that day, while Robin van Persie missed the opportunity to equalise from the penalty sport after his strike was saved from David de Gea.
Ashley Young added a second before Wayne Rooney scored the third.
The Gunners received a boost just before the break when Theo Walcott scored to make it 3-1.
The floodgates would open after the break, though, as Rooney scored two more for a hat-trick, with Park Ji-Sung and Nani also getting on the scoresheet to make it eight.
Following the game, Wenger would apologise to the Arsenal fans, while Man Utd fans would subsequently vote the fixture as the club's best in the history of the Premier League.
Ten years later - to the day
In the 10 years that have passed since that fateful day for the Gunners, Wenger has retired, Unai Emery has came and left, and Mikel Arteta, who was actually signed not long after the 8-2 loss, has been appointed as manager.
So far, apart from a FA Cup victory, Arsenal have simply not been good enough, at all, under the Spaniard.
Recruitment, in particular, has been shoddy, though that admittedly has just as much to do with director of football Edu.
This summer, Arsenal have spent more money than any other Premier League side, including the acquisition of two defenders.
After two defeats on the bounce against Brentford and then Chelsea, Arteta's men faces a mountain to climb versus Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola's side were overwhelming favourites going into the game, and when they saw the Arsenal team sheet, they would have had the same licking the lips sensation that Man Utd had 10 years ago.
Bernd Leno featured in goal, in behind a back five of Cedric Soares, Callum Chambers, Rob Holding, Sead Kolasinac and Kieran Tierney.
£50m man Ben White would ultimately be missing for the City game.
It is certainly up for debate as to whether that defence, on paper, is better or worse than the one that features against Man Utd.
Tierney, typically, was the only player to come out of the game against Man City with any kind of positivity, and even the Scot was nowhere near his best.
On the day, Arsenal were destroyed 5-0.
Beaten in Manchester.#MCIARS
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) August 28, 2021
Despite a positive start, just like against Chelsea, they quickly conceded a terrible goal, with Ilkay Gundogan taking advantage of a mistimed header from Chambers to squeeze a header beyond the week hand of Leno.
By the 12th minute, they were 2-0 down, as a deflected cross split the defence wide open, allowing Ferran Torres to poke him.
Thing went from bad to worse when Granit Xhaka, number new contract Granit Xhaka, went in two-footed on Joao Cancelo to earn a straight red card.
Gabriel Jesus and Rodri scored either side of the break before Torres scored his second to make it 5-0.
In reality, it could have been much, much more and Arsenal never looked like scoring - they didn't record a single shot on target.
At least in the 8-2 match they scored a couple of goals.
Arsenal would record just 19% possession which is the lowest of any club since records began in England.
Indeed, things became so embarrassing for the Arsenal fans that a section of them actually celebrated Rodri's goal in the second half.
If they didn't cheer, they would have cried.
