Similar to this season, their 27th game involved a trip to the West Midlands to face a side battling relegation in Alex McLeish’s Birmingham City.
After an awful injury to Arsenal striker Eduardo and a goal from 10-man Birmingham’s James McFadden, an 18-year-old Theo Walcott scored his first-ever goals in the Premier League to leave the leaders 2-1 up heading into injury-time.
But a foul by Gael Clichy saw the Gunners concede a penalty and allowed McFadden to score a 95th-minute equaliser – just a minute later than the one Tom Edozie scored for Wolves last night.
After drawing a game they had dominated, Arsenal defender William Gallas famously sat down on the pitch in what Match of the Day commentator Jonathan Pearce described as “a state of disbelief”.
And while Gabriel Jesus shoving Yerson Mosquera wasn’t anywhere near as dramatic, it shows that many Arsenal players were similarly stunned and frustrated after the final whistle in that game.
That 2-2 draw on 23 February 2008 saw their lead at the top cut to just three points after Manchester United won 5-1 at Newcastle, while last night’s result gives Manchester City the chance to close the gap to just two points if they win their game in hand.
This current Arsenal side will hope the similarities end there. The Gunners went on to win just one of their next seven Premier League games 18 years ago.
Such a poor run of results caused them to drop to third place, nine points behind new leaders Man Utd.
Despite winning their final four games, Arsenal finished the season in third place with 83 points, four behind champions Man Utd and two behind runners-up Chelsea.
