20 October 2001
The number one film in the UK was still American Pie 2. The number one song in the UK was still Can’t get you out of my head by Kylie Minogue. And the number one cell phone in the world was still the classic Nokia stick phone. We are still a year or so away from the Blackberry boom. Kids, ask your parents about playing snake on a Nokia. And if you want a bit of real real good nostalgia, take a listen to the evolution of the Nokia ringtone. If you’re over 40, you’d probably laugh out loud if a phone rang with the Nokia ringtone today. It would be like hearing an old rotary phone ring for boomers.
A few other notable historical events from 20 October 2001; Christina Applegate married some dude (they would be divorced a few years later) and multimillionaire Ted Ammon was bludgeoned to death in his Hampton home. Daniel Pelosi was later convicted of the killing and Ted Ammon’s ex wife has also been implicated. Pelosi served 18 years and was recently released. Pelosi spoke to Piers Turd Morgan on Fox and claimed that he was innocent.
Arsenal started the day in 2nd place in the table and suffering a number of injuries. David Seaman, Tony Adams, Ashley Cole, and Sol Campbell were all out forcing Wenger to deploy a makeshift back 5 of Wright, Grimandi, Upson, Keown, and Lauren. That said, the back line wasn’t to blame for the three goals they let in, as you will learn shortly.
Arsenal dominated the attacking play here as Blackburn manager Graeme Sourness played a very basic 451 and allowed Arsenal to have their way. It’s funny now to hear the commentators proclaiming Souness’ 451 as some genius tactic (YouTube highlights of the match) that apparently nullified Arsenal’s attack and got a deserved point from the match. Blackburn score the first goal from almost their first attack of the game. Keith Gillespie scored 6 career goals for Blackburn and is apparently credited with this one even though it took a wild deflection off Gio van Bronckhorst to beat Wright at the near post. That goal pretty much ended the first half action.
For Arsenal, Robert Pires looked sharp and easily bossed the attack for Arsenal. Setting up chances for Dennis Bergkamp who was just slightly off in the first half. You knew that wouldn’t continue, however. But first up to score for the Arsenal was Robert Pires. Arsenal played their classic “ladder play” with the ball going from Vieira to Bergkamp to Pires and bypassing the Blackburn midfield easily. Pires then jinked, faked a shot, moved right, faked again, created a bit of space for himself and scored with a low, driven, shot across the box.
Souness was left fuming for Arsenal’s 2nd. Thierry Henry had put in a WILD tackle (even by the standard of the day it was a red) but Uriah Rennie hadn’t seen it. And with the Blackburn player on the ground, Arsenal attacked. Once again Le Bob was at the heart of the final move, collecting the parried shot on the left side of the box and picking out Dennis on the spot. Bergkamp’s volley beat Brad Friedel, who did get a block but could only parry the venomous shot into the net.
Blackburn got a bit of luck when Lauren turned the ball over with a terrible pass in his own half. I’m not sure who but a Blackburn player, played the ball to David Dunn, who fired in a shot from 35 yards? It was WAY out of the box and blasted low and into the corner.
With 12 minutes left in the match, Arsenal must have believed they got the winner when Wiltord (who had been subbed on) and Kanu (also subbed on!) hooked up on the left. Wiltord beat two defenders and squared the ball for Henry who scored a peach of a goal.
Dunn would only score 30 goals for Blackburn and two of them in this match, both lucky shots from outside the box. For their third, Blackburn did have a bit of good play and turned the Arsenal midfield and played in a lovely through ball for their forward. Richard Wright came out and smothered the attack but the ball ricocheted off him and into the path of Dunn. Dunn screwed his body up and hit the volley into the unprotected net.
That was it. Dropped points, injuries, lucky goals on both sides, and yet Arsenal go to the top of the table.
Watching the video (linked above) I’m reminded of why I fell in love with Arsenal in 2001. Highbury is a magical place with its art deco stands and where the crowds are right on top of the action in a way that we only see in classic stadiums like the City Ground or Goodison Park. And with players like Bergkamp, Vieira, Henry, and Pires it’s easy to love the football we played as well.
