The north London club were locked in an annual two-way battle with Manchester United for the Premier League crown at the start of the millennium.In 2002-03, Arsenalthrew away an eight-point lead in March to hand Sir Alex Ferguson’s United the title - a season which hurt Gilberto.But the Brazilian midfielder says that served as motivation for Arsene Wenger’s side to win the league without losing a match the following year.Speaking in the January issue ofFourFourTwo, available now, Gilberto says: “We tried to distance ourselves from talk of an undefeated league season. We were really stung by how we’d blown the lead we had over Manchester United in the 2002-03 title race, and all we wanted to do was take the...
There’s 34 teams to get and six minutes to do your best and get them. We’ll tell what season they got to the quarters, obviously, and we’re also giving you what league they were in at the time (which can be more of a hindrance than a help for some).Then sens a screenshot of your score to @FourFourTwo on Twitter and we’ll tell the world how clever you are.THEN TRY Quiz! Can you name the best attacking players in the 2019/20 Champions League group stage? Tonight’s the night that most fans will realise whether or not their club is still in the League Cup.That’s right: it’s the quarter-finals, also known as the fifth round, or When We Start Paying Attention.We’ve...
Mike Arteta is the popular choice to succeed Unai Emery at Arsenal. At the time of writing, pictures have emerged of him meeting with the club’s executives, Manchester City are urging him to clarify his future and the bookmakers have installed him as a prohibitive favourite.The job certainly seems to be his if he wants it.The reasons behind that clamour are vague, though, and seem representative of a strange modern trend which values theories and ideas above CVs and resumés. Arteta is the classic example. What is he as a head coach? How, with any certainty, can anybody describe his attributes?Arteta is under the patronage of Pep Guardiola and has been since 2016. While that obviously means he’s inextricable from...
All of these players have been involved in at least five goals in the group stage – either by scoring or creating them. We’ll tell you how many they’ve scored, how many they’ve assisted, and the clubs they play for – all you have to do is name them in the six minutes allotted time.Once you’re done, take a screenshot of your score, send it to @FourFourTwo, and we’ll share it with the world.THEN TRY Quiz! Can you name the 50 best teams ever in the European Cup/Champions League? Today’s Champions League draw sets us up for the last-16 of Europe’s elite club competition in the new year.So let’s have a quick look back at the group stage, and which...
The cameras caught Eddie Howe at full-time. Eyes shut, fists clenched. He broke to shake Frank Lampard’s hand, but given the increasingly gloomy tone of Howe’s press-conferences in recent weeks, he was entitled to that little moment of relief as the whistle blew.Had Bournemouth lost at Stamford Bridge, it would have been their sixth defeat in a row. Most recently they’d be humbled on their own pitch by Liverpool – no shame in that – but that was a run which also involved a much-worse-than-it-sounded 3-2 loss to Tottenham, a home defeat to Wolves and a dreadful 1-0 calamity at the hands of ten-man Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.Along with that baggage, they also brought a near-total injury list to...