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    Soccer News: “I’d be an Arsenal 8-2 fan”: reliving Man Utd’s incredible victory and Wenger’s darkest day 10 years later

    Arsenal began the worst start to a league season in their 118-year history in England’s top four levels with straight losses without scoring against Brentford and Chelsea.

    The Gunners find themselves in the relegation zone after more than one game for the first time since August 1992 and the pressure on manager Mikel Arteta builds to change things.

    Arteta is no stranger to slow starts, having been signed by Arsenal on the day of the deadline in 2011 with the club struggling near the bottom of the division with one point in three games.

    The catalyst for that signing, in addition to the arrivals of Yossi Benayoun, Per Mertesacker, Andre Santos and Park Chu-young, was a humiliating 8-2 defeat to Manchester United that reduced the Gunners to the target of all the jokes on the social media – “I would be an Arsenal fan for 8-2” as they say.

    It remains one of the most extraordinary achievements in Premier League history, one that legendary boss Arsene Wenger later described as one of his lowest moments in management.

    Exactly a decade after that hefty defeat at Old Trafford, Stats Perform comes close to the numbers behind the score.

    GOAL GOLORE … BUT ONLY A SHORT RECORD

    The 10 goals scored in the match are the second most scored ever in a single Premier League match, with Portsmouth 7-4 Reading in September 2007 in the lead.

    The win remains United’s biggest against one of their “big four” rivals in the Premier League era and is one of four occasions they have scored eight or more in the competition.

    It is one of only two occasions where Arsenal have conceded eight or more goals in a league match in their history, the other being an 8-0 defeat to Loughborough in 1896.

    The Gunners have since suffered another six-goal defeat in the top flight, losing 6-0 to Chelsea in March 2014 in what was Wenger’s 1000th game on the bench.

    WENGER’S YOUNG GUNS SWEEP TO SIDE

    Wenger fielded a young squad at Old Trafford that day, using seven players aged 21 and under, something Arsenal have not repeated since in a Premier League match.

    Those seven players were Armand Traore, Henri Lansbury, Aaron Ramsey, Francis Coquelin, Wojciech Szczesny, Carl Jenkinson, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

    Only on two occasions have the Gunners fielded more players aged 21 and under in the competition, eight against Manchester City and Portsmouth in 2008-09.

    ROONEY AND YOUNG THE KEY ARCHITECTS

    Wayne Rooney made headlines by scoring three of United’s goals, with one of eight hat-tricks he scored for the club and his last of three at Old Trafford.

    Ashley Young has been on the scoresheet twice and has also provided three assists, making it one of only five occasions a player has achieved such a feat in Premier League history.

    The only player to repeat that result – two goals and three assists in a single game – since Young ten years ago is Jack Grealish for Aston Villa in a 7-2 win over Liverpool in October 2020.

    THE GREAT ENTERTAINERS OF FERGIE

    Legendary United boss Ferguson was no stranger to seeing his team rack up goals in matches, with this match being one of 44 times the Red Devils have scored five or more in a single match under the Scot.

    Only Wenger comes close to that figure among Premier League managers, with Arsenal scoring five or more goals 41 times during his 22-year reign.

    Despite being alone in English football for five years, Guardiola could very well overtake both coaches one day as Manchester City have looted at least five goals in 25 games since taking over.

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