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It was that 1975/76 season when we were last in the same division, and in the two seasons prior to that we finished higher than them in the league.
But we went our separate ways and it was only January of last year when we finally met again in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. We followed that up with a 2-0 win in the Carling Cup in December and now here we are again against them.
This time it will be different in that we are the away team which means a first ever trip to the Emirates for Burnley, and should the ground be full it will be the first time we've played in front of 60,000 on a club ground since the 1961 FA Cup semi-final against their North London rivals Spurs.
This game is a reminder of the Chelsea game earlier in the season when we weren't expected to get anything but a defeat. I said then I wanted to come home with my held high and the same applies now. It really is a day to be enjoyed, and after witnessing Chelsea - who knows?
Apparently Arsenal have been having a crisis. Before the midweek trip to West Brom they had failed to score in any of their previous four league games. At the same time they hadn't conceded a goal either as they recorded 0-0 draws against West Ham, Sunderland and Fulham at the Emirates and against Spurs at White Hart Lane.
In between those games they did hit Cardiff for four having drawn the first game at Ninian Park, again 0-0.
Crisis or not, the magnitude of the task facing us will not have been missed by anyone. In domestic cup competitions this season they have played four home games. They've scored no fewer than sixteen goals in those games whilst Plymouth are the only side to have grabbed a goal against them.
They go into the game just three days before an important Champions League game away to Roma, but cup success might just prove important for Arsenal this season with no chance of winning the Premier League and with a fight on their hands to claim a Champions League place.
Arsène Wenger has insisted that this game will be taken very seriously indeed and his team will reflect that. He has already confirmed that Kieran Gibbs will play and that Lukasz Fabianski will be in goal.
William Gallas is expected to return for the injured Kolo Toure and there could be places for Theo Walcott and Eduardo. Walcott hasn't played since November but has now been passed fit and will definitely be in the squad.
Eduardo returned after almost a year out in their replayed fourth round tie against Cardiff, but he suffered a hamstring problem that has kept him out since. Again he's been declared fit and should play a part.
Other than that, Wenger has admitted that some players may be rested ahead of the Roma game but it could very well be close to a full strength Arsenal side, injuries apart.
Burnley have to rule two players out. Michael Duff picked up a fifth yellow card of the season in the home defeat against Sheffield Wednesday and misses out as he serves a one match suspension.
Rhys Williams must join him on the sidelines. His club Middlesbrough are still in the FA Cup, they play Everton later in the day, and so Gareth Southgate hasn't given us permission to play him.
The absence of Williams means Owen Coyle will have to make at least one change from the side that beat Blackpool on Tuesday, and I suspect it will be just the one change. Duff would have been the likely replacement at right back but with him ruled out it looks as though Graham Alexander will move back there and that will more than likely allow Joey Gudjonsson to come into the holding role for his first action in the first team in over a month.
We could line up: Brian Jensen, Graham Alexander, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Christian Kalvenes, Joey Gudjonsson, Chris Eagles, Kevin McDonald, Chris McCann, Robbie Blake, Martin Paterson. Subs from: Diego Penny, Stephen Jordan, Alan Mahon, Wade Elliott, Ade Akinbiyi, Alex MacDonald, Steven Thompson, Jay Rodriguez.
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But we'll look back at the previous season when we went there in September and came home with both points after a 1-0 win courtesy of a Peter Noble goal.
The away support that day was boosted by members of the Lancashire team who should have been contesting the Gillette Cup Final. The game was called off because of the weather and led by David 'Bumble' Lloyd and Farokh Engineer many of them turned up to support the Lancashire team.
We hadn't started the season well. We picked up just the one point from the first four games and that was in a sensational 3-3 draw at Chelsea after we trailed 3-0 at half time. But we'd won the week before against Coventry with Ray Hankin, Noble and Leighton James all scoring in a 3-0 win and we went to Highbury full of confidence to play an Arsenal side that had just one more point than us.
Just over 23,500 saw the game on a wet and windy day and it was the Clarets who came out on top with Noble scoring just twelve minutes from the end. It certainly boosted our confidence and the following week we beat Leeds 2-1 at the Turf on the day the Bob Lord Stand was officially opened.
The teams at Highbury in September 1974 were;
Arsenal: Jimmy Rimmer, Pat Rice (Peter Simpson), Sammy Nelson, Peter Storey, Jeff Blockley, John Matthews, George Armstrong, Liam Brady, John Radford, Charlie George, Brian Kidd.
Burnley: Alan Stevenson, Keith Newton, Ian Brennan, Billy Ingham, Colin Waldron, Billy Rodaway, Peter Noble, Ray Hankin, Paul Fletcher, Doug Collins, Leighton James.
Previous 20 Seasons | |||||
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
2007/08 | FA | h | 0-2 | 16,709 | . |
2008/09 | LC | h | 2-0 | 19,045 | McDonald(2) |