In one of sport’s truly shocking upsets, the mighty Arsenal crashed out of the League Cup to struggling minnows Brighton and Hove Albion in a shocking 3-1 loss at London’s Emirates Stadium last night.
Looking to be the first English side to win the coveted ‘quadruple’ – favourites Arsenal were unable to hold onto an early lead, and could only watch in horror as the Seagulls swooped in with three unanswered goals to shatter Gooner dreams of winning the League, the FA Cup, the Europa League and the League Cup in one season.
In a poll conducted by @YankeeGunner after the result filtered onto social media, (the game was not broadcast anywhere around the world) Arsenal fans made their feelings clear, with thousands of incredulous and disgruntled supporters voicing their disbelief and disappointment:
The loss didn’t only ruin the night of an Arsenal fanbase elated by their young side’s other-worldly achievements this season, and their inevitable elevation to Football God-status – it had other, more tangible repercussions.
Terry Awnree, the well-known Islington sculptor, received a dreaded phone call from the Club just before midnight last night.
“I was told to cease all work on my Arteta statue commission for the foreseeable future. It’s devastating – I was more than halfway through, and now it’s all for nothing. If Arteta loses his job over this then all my work will be for nothing. They’ll never give him a statue. I’m distraught.”
Awnree told us that the statue was going to be unveiled by Arséne Wenger at the Emirates after the team returned from Budapest with the Europa League trophy. It would have been the first time Wenger returned to Arsenal after his ignominious departure in 2018, and the Club planned a week of festivities to celebrate the massive quadruple achievement.
For diehard Dutch Gooner, Jan Roit, though – the loss is even harder to take:
I got a tattoo on my back with the four trophies and the Arsenal crest to celebrate the Quad, but now I’m going to have to have the League Cup removed. It took me a month to have it done, and I haven’t even had a chance to show it off. It really sucks. A lot.
Though last night’s results have put a huge dampener on the season’s many triumphs – Arsenal fans have been encouraged by owner Stan Kroenke to be realistic, and celebrate the fact that they still have the Triple.
How did last night’s loss affect you? Please let me know in the comments below.
I was eleven-and-a-half. My family had just emigrated from Rhodesia to South Africa. All the kids on my street supported United or Liverpool, because of their Southern African goalkeeper connections: Bailey for United and Grobbelaar for ‘Pool. Problem was: I didn’t like the colour red – so when FA Cup Final day came around in 1979, I supported the team in yellow, even though their name sounded like “Asshole”. At the final whistle, I had bragging rights and a team that had won my heart.
Then I discovered that the Gunners also wore red. Luckily, I remained loyal, and the Arsenal has kicked my heart around ever since… (apart from a few lost years in the ’90s and early ’00s, when I was busy doing grownup things as a composer in Hollywood).
Abandoned invinciblog.com to launch this site with 1 Nil Down 2 One Up blogfather Dave Seager – and we have used this platform to help launch the writing careers of a number of amazing Arsenal bloggers.
A bit insulting to refer to BHA as struggling minnows!
I guess you’re right. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Idiots.
How stupid would you have to be to think we would win the quadruple on the back of a good first quarter of a season. I bet he was moaning six months ago that we wouldn’t make top four and that Arteta should be sacked. ” I haven’t even had a chance to show it off. It really sucks.” PMSL he only has himself to blame.
You know this is satire, right?
I can only take this post as a joke. If otherwise you have fallen way down, as far as I am concerned.
It seems your joke radar is working.
As they say, “many a true word said in jest”
I dare say the result against Brighton might have been sufficient to bring a lot of fans down to earth.
The fixture list and lady luck have been very kind to us so far this season.
It may be a good idea for people to keep their feet on the ground over the next few months, so that they do not get too discouraged.
I believe that it is better to be a pleased pessimist than a disappointed optimist.
It is ironic that my disillusionment with Arteta has been such that throughout the season I have lost too much interest in all the games that we won, but on Wednesday night I began to feel the green shoots of interest growing again and we lost.
I’ve been riding the wave the whole season. Amazed that we’re still standing. The irony for me is that the one game that we *couldn’t* watch is the one game that we end up losing.