Arsenal on 31 December – including the day John Jenson scored

Today’s historic video – 31 December: Arsenal beating QPR on New Years Eve

Day by Day the videos – An Arsenal video for (almost) every day of the year in order. 

Day by Day the stories– a key moment in Arsenal and footballing history for each day of the year

100 Years: the complete story of Arsenal’s promotion in 1919 which launched 100+ consecutive years in the top division.

31 December 1898: Haywood and Hunt each got a hatrick in a game that ended Arsenal 6 Luton 2.  It was also the start of a run of six goals in four consecutive matches for Haywood and concluded a run of five goals in three for Hunt.

31 December 1904:  Arsenal 0 Newcastle Utd 2.  The last of the five games in seven days which resulted in one victory and four defeats.  The decline was all the more concerning in that it had come in the wake of Notts C 1 Arsenal 5 – the first time Arsenal had scored five in the first division.

31 December 1909: A miserable end to the year with Arsenal having lost their last three league games of the year (all at home) and with (truthful) stories circulating that Arsenal were in dire financial trouble.  Arsenal were in 18th, just one point above the relegation positions..

31 December 1917:  Arsenal Football and Athletic Company Limited produced its annual accounts showing that Henry Norris and William Hall were owed £15838 between them; and Humphreys Ltd, who had built the grandstand at Highbury, were owed £19943 – a sum also guaranteed by Henry Norris.

31 December 1921: Arsenal played their eighth game of the month beating Chelsea 2-0 away to make it  2 wins, 3 draws, 3 defeats in the month.  40,000 turned up. The result left Arsenal one from bottom with only Manchester Utd below them.

31 December 1960: Nottingham Forest 3 Arsenal 5.  Herd got three, Eastham and Henderson the others. It was the 10th match in the 25 league games thus far in the season in which five or more goals had been scored and the sequence continued in the first five league matches of 1961..

31 December 1977, Everton 2 Arsenal 0, before a crowd of 47,039.  With Nottingham Forest opening up a gap at the top, Chelsea beating Birmingham 5-4 away, and Tottenham knocking four past Blackburn, Arsenal needed to win in style to show they were still in contention but the result left Arsenal 4th, seven points off the top.

31 December 1980: Death of Leslie Jones – the man fundamental to the league title win of 1938.   He was released on a free transfer in 1946, and went to Swansea as a player-coach signing on 22 May 1946.  Shortly after he moved on again to be player-manager at Barry Town. He then played for Brighton and later managed Scunthorpe.

31 December 1984: David Rocastle and Michael Thomas signed as professionals.  Rocastle made his debut in September 1985, Thomas in February 1987.

31 December 1984: Brian McDermott sold to Oxford for £40,000.  He had played 61 times for Arsenal in the league and scored 12 goals, as well as having two loan spells with Fulham and IFK Norrköping.

31 December 1984: Steve Williams, the most committed of players, signed from Southampton for £550,000.  During his time at Southampton he played in a league cup final, became captain of the club, played in the FA cup semi-final and took the club to runners’ up in the first division in 1984 – their best-ever performance.

31 December 1994: John Jensen scored his first ever goal for Arsenal – Arsenal 1 QPR 3.  His failure to score before that point became a matter that was widely discussed and resulted in a number of fans thereafter proclaiming “I was there when Jensen scored”.

31 December 2008: Jay Simpson went on loan to WBA where he played 13 games.  After a further loan spell with QPR he was sold to Hull City for whom he played 78 games.  After a period in Thailand he returned to play for Leyton Orient.

31 December 2009: Abou Diaby signed a new contract to keep him at the club until 2015.  Sadly continuing injuries precluded him playing very much and the contract was allowed to expire.

31 December 2017: Mike Dean as referee made one of his classic “mistakes” to give WBA a goal and a point that they in no way deserved in a game at the Hawthornes.

31 December 2020: Sead Kolašinac loaned to Schalke until the end of the season.

Henry Norris at the Arsenal:  There is a full index to the series here.

Arsenal in the 1930s: The most comprehensive series on the decade ever

Arsenal in the 1970s: Every match and every intrigue reviewed in detail.