It’s been a while since Arsenal last faced Preston North End. The North London club has recently been drawn to face the EFL Championship Club in the fourth round of the 2024-25 Carabao Cup.

Arsenal are coming off a 5-1 hammering of Bolton Wanderers at the Emirates in the third round, after starting a rather very young team, which included a certain 16-year-old goalkeeper in their lineup. Preston, on the other hand, are coming off a monumentally long match against Fulham, which went to penalties, after 1-1 on regular time. It took them a score of 16 in the penalties to beat Fulham (15).

Things looked very different when Arsenal and Preston North End faced off last. It was the 7th of January, 2017, the third round of the FA Cup and Arsene Wenger was at the helm at Arsenal.

Arsenal had to grind out a win against Preston North End

Third-round fixtures in the FA Cup are usually a breeze for EPL teams, especially for teams like Arsenal, who have won the FA Cup the most number of times. However, this was not the case at Deepdale Stadium that evening.

Wenger’s men, who had missed out on a three-peat of the FA Cup in the 2015-16 edition, after having the 2013/14 and 14/15 ones back-to-back, were determined to get their hands on the trophy once again. Barring a few key men (Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil), Wenger fielded a rather strong side with Olivier Giroud upfront.

However, it was Preston North End who came out all guns blazing, when they took a very early lead through Callum Robinson in the 7th minute of the match. The EFL Championship team continued to pose a threat in the attack, coming close to scoring multiple times after going 1-0 up. But Arsenal saw out the first half, deciding to probably go all out in the second.

They, in fact, came rejuvenated in the second half as Aaron Ramsey struck hardly a minute into the latter 45. However, there was no goal from the sides for almost the entirety of the half, until hitman Olivier Giroud found the back of the net in the 89th minute, breaking Preston fans’ hearts.

That season Arsenal would go on to beat Manchester City in the semi-finals and see off Chelsea in the final to lift the FA Cup, in an otherwise dull campaign. However, to think that it was Preston who gave them a mighty scare of all the big teams, is quite surprising.

This time around, in the 2024-25 Carabao Cup, Preston North End will be up against a well-oiled Arsenal. Although the 2017 version of the team was strong on paper, they were never dominant and rampant. Mikel Arteta has transformed the Gunners into quite a force in Europe, and will be looking forward to getting Arsenal their first Carabao (EFL Cup) in several years.