ARSENAL'S great form since the opening day home defeat by Aston Villa should not really have come as any great surprise. History shows that defeat in their opening home match of the season is usually the sign of a trophy-winning campaign for the Gunners.
Lets look at the facts. Since losing 2-1 at home to Liverpool on the opening day of the 1987-88 season, Arsenal have lost their first home match on four occasions and each time the club has gone on to lift a trophy.
In 1988-89, it was again Aston Villa who left Highbury with all three points in the first home match with a 3-2 success. But the season would see Arsenal crowned champions after the now infamous 2-0 last day win at Anfield.
The next time Arsenal would lose their opening home match was on the day first day of the Premier League in August 1992. Despite leading 2-0 at half time against Norwich City, Arsenal was on the wrong end of a 4-2 defeat in front of the mural, but the season ended with George Graham's side lifting both the League Cup and FA Cup - the first club ever to win that particular double.
The following 1993-94 season again began with a home defeat as a Mickey Quinn hat-trick gave Coventry a 3-0 success on the day the new North Bank stand opened. But the campaign ended in glory as Arsenal won the European Cup Winners Cup with victory over Parma in Copenhagen.
It would be another eight years before Arsenal would lose their opening home match again - Leeds United winning 2-1 at Highbury in August 2001. However, the season would end with the Gunners winning their third double after victories over Manchester United and Chelsea in the space of four days.
Since then, Arsenal have only once lost their opening home league match - Liverpool leaving the Emirates with a 2-0 victory in 2011. However, that was not the opening home match that season as Arsenal had beaten Udinese 1-0 in a Champions League qualifier four days earlier.
So if history is to repeat itself, Arsenal will be celebrating a long-awaited trophy success next May.
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