Game #3506
Saturday, 7 October 1978
Attendance: 34,537
Drew
Division One
10th= (+1)
Arsenal
DLLDD
Highbury
With Villa’s injury crisis not improving the club applied to the League to postpone their weekend fixture with Arsenal only for the League’s Alan Hardaker to refuse the request out of hand. To compound the insult Hardaker visited Highbury to watch a decimated Villa, forced to field players carrying injury and barely fit, face off against a full strength Arsenal side. Happily for Villa, Arsenal were awful and John Gregory’s late equaliser gave Villa a point to leave them 10th in the table.
Arsenal
1-1
Aston Villa
Assist(s) | Dennis Mortimer | 84' |
KEY MAN
RELATED MATCHES
MATCH TIMELINE
20’ Goal, 0-1, (Arsenal), Alan Sunderland
HT Arsenal 1-0 Aston Villa
84’ Goal, 1-1, John Gregory, Assist by Dennis Mortimer
FT Arsenal 1-1 Aston Villa
Cards
Booking, Ken McNaught
ON THIS DAY
Ron Saunders' Villa end a run of two league defeats to make it three wins, three draws and three defeats in nine division one games this season. Meanwhile, 18 year old midfielder Ian Hendry makes his first appearance in the Villa squad having joined from Eastercraigs.
Aston Villa
Arsenal
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: 1970–71
FIXTURE HISTORY
Previous 5 vs. Arsenal: | 🟨 | 🟩 | 🟥 | 🟩 | 🟩 |
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 1978-79 |
Matchday | #11 |
League Match | #9 |
Manager Game | #224 |
Saturday, 7 October 1978
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager | Ron Saunders |
Referee | Leslie Burden, Dorset |
FT Result | Drew |
FT Score | 1-1 |
Last 5 Games | DLLDD |
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Les Burden | 🏴 | Poole, 1975-1985
Previous 5:
Last Match: None
Cards: 🟨 🟨
CARDS
Villa
🟨
Arsenal
🟨
TEAM NEWS
Leighton Phillips replaces Gary Shelton.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 25.23 |
Oldest Player |
GK Jimmy Rimmer | 30.68 |
Youngest Player |
RB Gary Williams | 17.82 |
MANAGER
Ron Saunders
MANAGER
Aston Villa
GK Jimmy Rimmer |
RB Gary Williams |
CB Allan Evans |
CB Ken McNaught |
M John Gregory |
M Tommy Craig |
M Leighton Phillips |
M Dennis Mortimer |
W Frank Carrodus |
F Brian Little |
F John Deehan |
Arsenal
Jennings, O’Leary, Walford, Young, Rice, Nelson, Price, Brady, Rix, Sunderland (g), Stapleton. Manager: Terry Neill.
SUBSTITUTES
None
SUBSTITUTES
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
M Ian Hendry |
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
SQUAD STATS
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
MATCHDAY SQUAD
UNAVAILABLE
Injury | 6 |
Alex Cropley |
Gordon Smith |
John Gidman |
Andy Gray |
Gordon Cowans |
Gary Shelton |
UNAVAILABLE
Not Recorded
Player Abbreviations:
GK : Goalkeeper
LB, RB, FB : Left Back, Right Back, Full Back
CB, D : Centre Back, Defender
M, W : Midfielder. Winger
F, CF : Forward, Centre Forward
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game
Symbols:
⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution
🟨 | Booking
🟥 | Sending off
🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
DEBUT APPEARANCES
FINAL APPEARANCES
MATCH STATS
Not recorded
TABLE
PROGRAMME



MATCHDAY QUOTES
“I don't enjoy watching a spoiling game, but in the circumstances what else could we do?
“Normally Allan Evans, Brian Little and John Deehan wouldn't have been considered but they virtually had to play because of our injury situation."
Ron Saunders.
*Sunday Mirror*
Sunday, 8 October 1978