Arsenal FC have wrongly claimed that their former player Gilberto Silva scored the first ever league goal at the Emirates Stadium.
On this day in 2006, Arsenal played their first Premier League match at their ground after moving from Highbury that summer.
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However, while Gilberto scored Arsenal’s first league goal at the Emirates, it was actually Aston Villa defender Olof Mellberg who opened the scoring that day.
![[FILE] Liverpool’s Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Salah (L) runs with the ball as Arsenal’s Brazilian defender Gabriel closes in during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium in London. (Photo by Catherine Ivill / POOL / AFP)](https://www.afriupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/000_97B779-scaled-e1703231851386-120x86.jpg "Liverpool host Arsenal in battle for Premier League Christmas No. 1 2")
Gilberto equalised later on, and while Arsenal presumably meant to point out that he was their first scorer in the league at the Emirates, many fans are taking them up on the inaccuracy of their tweet.
To be fair, if you were Mellberg, or even just a Villa fan, you probably wouldn’t be too pleased to be robbed of this little piece of history.
That game finished 1-1 as Arsenal took some time to get going after moving into their new stadium that season.
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They didn’t win there in the league until the 23rd of September that season, beating Sheffield United 3-0 in what was their third home league game of the campaign.
Olof Mellberg scored the first goal, not Gilberto Silva. pic.twitter.com/LDBvemKx7n
— Ty Bracey (@TyBracey) August 19, 2019
Pretty sure that Olof Mellberg would disagree with that… https://t.co/Q6yr6loF8B
— Ian DW (@sportdw) August 19, 2019
Liessssss. Olof Mellberg from Aston Villa scored the first Premier League goal at the Emirates. https://t.co/XEO79Dugtc
— Lisan al-Gallagher (@TheUmaK2) August 19, 2019
Sorry Arsenal your rewriting history. Mellberg scored the 1st goal in your new ground.
— paul murray (@muza82) August 19, 2019
https://twitter.com/AVFCTransTweet/status/1163369776711983104
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