Brighton vs Arsenal: The unlikely Goldstone link that forever bonds Albion with the Gunners

Former Arsenal striker Ted Drake enjoyed playing against the Albion

Last season saw two wins for the Gunners but our recent record against them has been good, with three wins and two draws in the eight Premier League meetings.

The first time the teams met was way back in January 1935, when Albion were in Division Three (South) and Arsenal were riding high at the top of the First Division.

Despite winning four of our first five games that season, we failed to make a real challenge and looked to the FA Cup for a chance of glory.

Cliff Bastin was a prolific striker for the Gunners

The first round at the end of November 1934 paired us with Southern League Folkestone. Three years previously, we had beaten them 5-2 at the same stage of the competition and a crowd of 9,400 saw us repeat the result, if not the score.

Our 3-1 victory set up a second round tie with Queens Park Rangers and goals from Buster Brown and Bobby Farrell delivered a 2-1 win, in front of 14,738 at The Goldstone.

The draw for the third round took place and we were drawn at home, against the mighty Arsenal.

At the time, they were lying second in Division One, just one point behind Sunderland. They had scored 72 goals in their 24 games, conceding just 32. Their team was packed with international players, including seven of the England team that had recently beaten Italy in the infamous ‘Battle of Highbury’.

Arsenal and Brighton have enjoyed epic clashes over the years

At the time, Arsenal trained in Brighton before all their cup games and we gave them special permission to continue this.

In fact, the teams trained together on the Goldstone pitch, which created a fantastic rapport between the two clubs.

A huge crowd was expected and one local magazine, ‘The Brighton Illustrated Sporting Mail’ provided a handy map of The Goldstone to help fans looking to attend. Perhaps because of this advance publicity, many people avoided the match and just 22,343 saw the game.

Three of the most famous internationals of the time were in the Arsenal front line.

Brighton will go into the match against Arsenal this Saturday on a high thanks to Neal Maupay's late leveller at Palace on Monday night

Cliff Bastin, Ray Bowden and Ted Drake were expected to wreak havoc in the Albion defence but we held firm, with Paul Mooney and Len Darling outstanding.

Arsenal did go ahead on the stroke of half-time, through Joe Hulme, and most of the crowd feared a rout in the second half. This was not to be and Albion had some excellent chances.

Despite valiant efforts from Albion’s Buster Brown, we couldn’t break through at the other end. Arsenal scored again two minutes from time with Ted Drake getting the decisive touch and that was it.

Arsenal went on to reach the sixth round before being knocked out by Sheffield Wednesday, the eventual winners. They did win the league for the third year in a row, scoring a total of 115 goals in their 42 games.

Albion continued to stutter for the rest of the season and eventually finished in 9th place in Division Three (South), eighteen points behind champions Charlton Athletic.

Thirty-eight years on and both clubs have a seat at the top table of English football.

Arsenal come into this weekend’s game on the back of a fine win in the North London derby and Albion, despite missing the chance to go top on Monday night, will be buoyed by Neal Maupay’s last-gasp equaliser at Selhurst Park. It promises to be an exciting encounter.