Arsenal's worst opening day defeats

Hector Bellerin, 26, suffering pain in defeat 

Arsenal's worst opening day defeats


Arsenal have made a habit of entering new seasons woefully unprepared for the challenges ahead over the last decade or so.

As summer comes to an end, it feels almost predictable that Arsenal will still be chasing players, clinging on to their best talent by the skin of their teeth and three or four steps behind whichever teams will be challenging for the title that season.

For these reasons, it's unsurprising that Arsenal have suffered some appalling opening day defeats in recent memory.


Arsenal 3-4 Liverpool – 14th August 2016


It wasn't the biggest opening day defeat, but it might have been the most symbolic. 

To fully understand this, you'll first have to look at where both clubs stood during the summer of 2016.

Arsenal had finished the 2015/16 season in second behind Leicester City, and Liverpool had finished that same season in eighth place behind West Ham. 

The 2016/17 season ended with Arsenal sitting in fifth, one place below Liverpool. 

This opening day defeat symbolised the directions the two clubs were heading in. 

After years in the wilderness, Liverpool were on the verge of a renaissance. 

In contrast, after their best chance at a title in over a decade, Arsenal were on the verge of the worst slumps in the club's history. 

This transition was reflected in Liverpool's goal scorers that day, with Philippe Coutinho bagging a brace, Adam Lallana scoring once, and new signing Sadio Mane smashing home a beauty from the edge of the box.

Arsenal 0-3 Coventry City – 14th August 1993


Maybe it's for the best that Arsenal are playing on Friday this weekend. Unfortunately, 14th August doesn't seem to be a lucky day for the Gunners.

Coventry visited Highbury that day in 1993 and put George Graham's side to the sword, despite it turning out to be a relatively solid season which was topped off with a Cup Winners' Cup win.

It was a great example of Graham's biggest flaw as a manager, a perfect Plan A but no Plan B, and after Mick Quinn put Coventry ahead it never looked like Arsenal would get back in the game.

Quinn scored a hat-trick that day in a comfortable win for the Sky Blues.

Despite taking place over 20 years earlier, this performance and the pre-season that preceded it foreshadowed the chaos of the 2010s, with Arsenal failing to lure QPR's Andy Sinton to the club.

The England international decided to join Sheffield Wednesday instead.  

Arsenal 1-3 Aston Villa – 17th August 2013


Everything seemed to be going well as Olivier Giroud opened the scoring at The Emirates.

However, that dream start turned into a nightmare as two controversial penalties turned the game on its head.

Christian Benteke scored them both, and Antonio Luna added a third.

The performance was so poor, and the refereeing decisions were so shocking that the game is most remembered for being one of AFTV's first big fan cam sessions. 

Claude, Moh, and Chris Hudson were all furious after Arsenal entered the season in disarray.

Attempts to sign Luis Suarez from Liverpool had ended in embarrassment as the Gunners bid just one pound above the supposed fixed sale price for the Uruguayan. 

Luiz Gustavo had done further damage to the pride of Arsenal fans when he chose to join Wolfsburg, and then the club failed to get a deal done to sign Edinson Cavani. 

In short, it was another example of Arsenal entering the season woefully unprepared and facing the consequences of that almost immediately. 

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