September 21: A tense top of the table clash with fierce rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford ends in ugly scenes involving a group of Arsenal players and United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy. The Dutchman had been involved in a fracas with Arsenal's Patrick Vieira which results in the midfielder being sent off and the aggrieved Gunners feeling Van Nistelrooy had play-acted. Van Nistelrooy misses a last-second penalty and, at the final whistle, he is surrounded and jostled by a group of Arsenal players, notably defender Martin Keown (above). Four players - Lauren, Keown, Vieira and Ray Parlour - earn bans and the club is heavily fined by the FA.
October 19: A shocking blunder by Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini gifts Thierry Henry a 75th-minute goal and hands Arsenal a 2-1 win at Highbury, sending them back to the top of the Premier League. It is Chelsea's first loss of the season. Cudicini fails to gather a routine low cross - diving over the ball instead.
January 18: Arsenal go top of the table to stay after Henry fires in a bold free-kick and a routine penalty in a 2-0 victory at Aston Villa. Henry's quickly taken free-kick from the edge of the area caught out the home defence and led to furious Villa protests that they weren't ready. 'I just asked [the referee] if I could take the free-kick quick and he said, 'Yes, you can'. So I did,' Henry said.
January 28: The club smashes its transfer record by capturing exciting young Spaniard Jose Antonio Reyes from Sevilla in a deal worth up to #20 million, having had an #8 million offer for the 20-year-old rejected by the Andalucian side last July. He quickly makes an impression, and scores his first (and second) goal for the club in the 2-1 defeat of Chelsea in the FA Cup fifth round.
February 24: Wenger pledges to extend his contract after the club announces it has finally secured the GBP260 million loan for a new stadium at Ashburton Grove. With the GBP357 million project due to be completed in 2006, Wenger will be expected to sign at least a two-year extension to take his tenure at Arsenal to 12 years. 'I think I have pushed the board into the situation,' he said. 'So for me to run away would not be very fair. It's a gamble but it shows that the club are willing to go for it.'
March 20: Arsenal battle past Bolton and into the record books, their 2-1 win at Highbury leaving them nine points clear of Chelsea with nine games left, and extending their unbeaten start to the league season to a record-equalling 29 matches. Leeds United (1973-74) and Liverpool (1987-88) are the other sides to achieve the feat. The Gunners break the record by a 1-1 draw with Manchester United eight days later.