Only Two Days Left – Arsenal America Dinner Honoring Danny Karbassiyoon

January 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Only two days left to reserve one of the few remaining spots for next Friday’s dinner in Washington. Please contact me with any questions you may have…

Arsenal America Dinner Honoring Danny Karbassiyoon

Please join Arsenal America for a very special evening honoring Danny Karbassiyoon, the only American to have ever scored for Arsenal. Held at Washington DC’s historic Old Ebbitt Grill at 8 PM on Friday, January 25th, the event will include a three course meal, along with a trophy presentation. Cost for the evening is $80 per person, which includes the three course meal (filet mignon & salmon or vegetarian pasta) as well as non-alcoholic beverages. The restaurant’s copious adult beverage selection will be available at your expense.

Space is limited, so be sure to reserve your space on the guest list as soon as possible. We’ve set the default number of “pluses” to 1 per guest. However, for larger parties (families, etc) please reserve your spots in groups of two (contact Mike K @ mikek@arsenalamerica.com for help).

Above, you’ll find a link to Evite.com where you can confirm your reservation and make a payment via PayPal to the “treasurer@arsenalamerica.com” account. Please also be sure to select your entree option on the invitation.

We look forward to having you be a part of what promises to be a special night in the history or Arsenal America. If you should have any questions, please email Mike Kavanagh – mikek@arsenalamerica.com

The deadline for reservations is January 21st.

Posted by mikek | Filed Under ArsenalAmerica News 

Fulham vs Arsenal

January 18, 2008 | 63 Comments

Boring Boring History:
Fulham vs Arsenal is marked off as just another ‘London Derby’ but the birth of modern day Arsenal lies buried within Fulham’s past. In 1910, Henry Norris who was one of the Fulham club directors, joined the board of then Woolwich Arsenal. Norris, also the Major of Fulham from 1909-1919, wanted to merge both Fulham and Arsenal into a “Super Club” but the Football League rejected the idea. After that rejection, Norris put his energy in trying to make Woolwich Arsenal a bigger force in the English game. But the poor condition of Woolwich’s Manor ground didn’t help in the team’s on-field performance. In 1913, Woolwich Arsenal were relegated after they picked up only 3 wins, 12 ties and lost 23 games out of the 38 games. Norris decided that a move to a new stadium with a bigger fan base would help in the team’s cause. In 1913, the word Woolwich was dropped and a newly born Arsenal moved to North London much to the dismay of Spurs, Leyton Orient and Chelsea. Even though Arsenal struggled in the 2nd division in the early years of their Highbury existence, they got a huge break when Norris arranged for them to get promoted to the 1st division in 1919 at the expense of Spurs. The hated North London derby started with a man from Fulham. As per Jon Spurling (Highbury The Story of Arsenal in N.5) “No Less than twenty Spurs-related sites cite him [Norris] as the prime reason to hate Arsenal”.

On-field, because of Fulham’s long absence from division one, Arsenal and Fulham have only played a total of 41 league games and just one F.A Cup game between them. That single F.A Cup game was also the first ever meeting between these two teams all the way back on Feb 6, 1904 when Arsenal won 3-2. The first ever league game between the two took place in the second division on Nov 8, 1913 when Fulham won 6-1, which is also the highest score by which Fulham have ever beaten Arsenal. Arsenal won the return fixture 2-0 and racked up another 28 wins against Fulham. The two have tied 6 with Fulham winning the remaining 6 games.

Since Fulham’s promotion to the Premier League in the 2001/02 season, Arsenal have won 11 of the 13 games between the two outscoring Fulham 29-6. The only two games that Arsenal didn’t win took place on Nov 30, 2003 (a 0-0 tie) and Nov 29, 2006 (a 2-1 loss). Two winless games in the final days of a sometimes rainy/chilly November time frame doesn’t make a pattern — Arsenal have won 4 out of 7 November fixtures between the two (1-0 win away to Craven Cottage on Nov 3, 2002; 1-0, 5-1, 2-1 home wins on 19-11-1966, 25-11-1950, 5-11-1949).

Current Season — Early vs Late Shows:

Arsenal kicked off the 2007/08 season with an eventful game at home to Fulham. All eyes were anxious to see how a young Arsenal would do without the likes of Henry and Ljungberg, when an early gift (52 seconds) allowed David Healy to put Fulham into a shock lead. Arsenal were frustrated until two goals in the last six minutes won them the game (84th min Van Persie penalty and a last minute Hleb marker).

Interestingly, that opening game contained some of the patterns found in both team’s performance since then. That game was the first of 10 league games where Fulham took an early lead only to either lose or tie the game. Out of those 10 league games where Fulham scored early, they lost 3 times and had to settle for a tie on 7 occasions. Including that Arsenal game, Fulham scored 8 times before the 20th minute mark in those 10 matches.

For Arsenal that opening Fulham game showed their ability to score late goals. Arsenal have scored 17 of their 43 league goals after the 75th minute mark, with 13 goals arriving on/after the 80th minute mark. 5 league games were won and two crucial ties against Liverpool and Man Utd came on the back of these late goals. Arsenal also scored deep into injury time in their only league loss this season to Boro. Even the young guns have followed this late goal spirit to win a Carling Cup tie against Newcastle with goals in the 83rd (Bendtner) and 89th minute (Denilson). Bendtner also produced a 75th minute strike to finish off Burnley in the F.A Cup while Walcott managed to artfully deflect a shot off his body in the 79th minute to earn a 1-1 tie against the auld enemy last week in the Carling Cup semi.

Fulham’s 19th position defies belief. A talented squad of Antti Niemi, Healy, Dempsey, Davies, Smertin, Konchesky, Danny Murphy, Bocanegra, McBride (injured for most of this season) can certainly manage better. But as noted above, the late goals have played a part in the team being stuck near the bottom. Fulham have only managed 2 wins out of their 11 home games, drawing 5, losing 4 and scoring 16 goals and letting in 18. They are winless away from home with 4 ties and 7 losses, scoring just 7 goals and letting in 21 strikes. Fulham’s top scorers this season are Dempsey with 6 goals and Simon Davies with 4.

Away from Home Arsenal have won 5, tied 4 and lost 1, scoring 17 goals and letting in 9. Arsenal’s home record is much stronger with 10 wins, two draws, 26 goals scored and 8 let in. Ade is top scorer with 13 goals, 3 adrift of Ronaldo at the top of the league scoring charts.

Saturday’s game:

History and stats mean nothing when both teams need 3 points, even if those points are for vastly different reasons. The intense title race means that any draws that Arsenal get against mid/bottom placed teams will feel like two points lost as opposed to one gained. Whereas, Fulham’s currently tally of 15 points means that they are already 5 points behind their relegation rivals — Sunderland, Wigan, Birmingham and Bolton all have 20 points. Boro are not that safe with only 21 points.

Fulham will certainly be up for this game as they would have taken heart from the point that Birmingham managed to get against Arsenal. For Arsenal, the game will be a chance to get things back in perfect harmony in order to keep pace at the top.

Posted by Sachin | Filed Under Game Preview