From the archives: Arsenal’s last Old Trafford clash on opening day

This Sunday’s match is the first time the Premier League has scheduled Arsenal to face Old Trafford on the opening day. The last time Arsenal fans made the trip up there to kick off the season was way back on Saturday, August 19th, 1989. Things were very different back then.

In 1989, nearly all weekend football matches kicked-off on a Saturday afternoon at 3pm and live matches were hardly ever shown on terrestrial television.

BSkyB's (British Sky Broadcasting) deal with the Premier League to broadcast live football was still a few years away, so to watch the match you either had to travel, or wait until the evening to watch the highlights on Match of the Day.

English football had been hurtling eyes-wide-shut into a black-hole of despair throughout the decade. After a concerning drop in football attendances throughout the 1980's, a well-documented rise in unemployment, and a decline in safety standards inside football grounds, English football was heading for disaster. It got two.

First in May 1985, a fire at Bradford City's Valley Parade claimed the lives of 56 fans and then in April 1989 the world watched on in horror as 96 people were killed at Hillsbrough in a fatal crowd crush. The number would rise to 97 in 2021 when a further victim succombed to injuries sustained in the disaster.

For Arsenal, the 1980's had yielded just two major trophies. In 1986/87, George Graham's men won the League Cup (EFL League Trophy), when Charlie Nicholas' deflected effort sealed a 2-1 victory over Liverpool at Wembley. Then in May 1989, they won the First Division in dramatic style at Anfield.