Before we go too much further, though, let’s offer a moment of silence for the ill-fated 2012-13 away-kit. I rather liked it and will be sad to see it go. It made very few appearances, especially during the final run-in. Ironically, the final time it was worn was during the famous 2-0 victory over Bayern at Allianz Arena. That was March 13. You’d have to reach all the way back to January 6’s 2-2 draw with Swansea in the FA Cup 3rd round to see the away-kit. Too bad. That said, I like the throw-back appeal of the 2013-14 kit (except the socks), and I like the fact that the 1979 away-kit is the last of them to not feature a sponsor emblazoned across the chest. Call me old-fashioned if you will.

It was a glorious game, as Arsenal went up on the 12th minute after a brilliant exchange. Stapleton worked his way down the right flank and threaded a pass into the box to Brady, who drew out Man United’s keeper before putting the back across the goal for Talbot to finish. The second was just as exquisite, as Brady, who eviscerated the Man United defense all day, dribbled past two or three defenders, shrugging off several fouls in the process, and lofted a lovely little cross towards Stapleton just outside the six yard box, who coolly nodded it home. This might have been an era dominated by hoof-and-hope football, but we can almost see the genesis of Arsenal soccer in these goals—intelligent movement, insightful passing, befuddled defenses. If only that were it.

Man United managed to pull two back, and I don’t think I’m too churlish in suggesting that each was the product of a bit of blind luck—the first involved a set-piece received outside the opposite side of the box, blindly sent back in and poked home, and the second involved a blindly lofted ball (kicked forward without looking to see who’s making a run) and some sloppy defending. At any rate, a match that looked all but decided since before halftime was knotted up, and all of the momentum was going Man United’s way: two goals in two minutes, both in the last five minutes of regulation. Even if Arsenal could hold onto the draw and force extra time, it seemed like all of the confidence on the Arsenal side was fading while, on the Man United side, it was surging. As the announcer called it, Arsenal was “gobstruck.”

The ensuing kick-off, however, put things right again.

Even as Man United’s fans continued to cheer and the announcers continued to extol the goal, Arsenal reloaded. While the announcer commented on ‘The despair on the face of Don Howard, Terry Neill…”, he had to shift gears abruptly as Brady collected the ball and pressed through the middle, finding Graham Rix on the left-flank, and Rix floated a beauty of a cross to the far-post, beating Gary Bailey, who had come off his line, and finding at the back-post Sunderland waiting to send it home. Mere seconds after commenting on Neill’s despair, the announcer followed by saying, “but wait a moment! It’s there by Sunderland!” 3-2 Arsenal. Pandemonium ensued. The 89th-minute goal stood, and seconds later, it was over.

Sadly, I missed it. ESPN, the station on which I first discovered Arsenal, didn’t come into existence until September 1979, four months after this moment of glory. The choice of an away-kit that so closely resembles the 1979 away-kit, though, thrills me. It connects me to the club’s past, extending beyond what was available to me in my youth. It reconnects us all to a moment of glory—but it does so without saddling the current squad with yet another comparison to the Invincibles. It also serves to remind us that the moments of glory are sometimes, by necessity, placed like oases, surrounded by seemingly endless stretches of harsh, barren desert. It would be 14 years before we won another FA Cup, and it would be 10 years before we would win a league title.

Now, as we prepare to enter the 2013-14 season, there are a lot of reasons for optimism. The design of this away-kit, I’d submit, is one of them. I won’t go so far as to say that we’re going to win the FA Cup. The tea-leaves I’m reading, however, all suggest that it’s going to be a banner-year for the Gunners. Right. Let’s make it happen: Sign Higuain. See about Rooney and Cesar. Make room for Walcotts’s breakthrough season. All of the pieces are coming together, slowly but surely, and 2013-14 could be the year that sees an end to the trophy-drought. I’m sure of it — come on, you Gunners!

If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read, you can read more of Jon’s writing at woolwich1886.blogspot.com and follow @woolwich_1886.

Each day that passes seems to bring yet another report that Gonzalo Higuain has taken one more step closer towards signing for Arsenal.

Some of the media coverage has focused on the idea that, at a potential value of £22m, Higuain’s transfer-fee would smash Arsenal’s biggest-ever transfer, that of £15million for Andrei Arshavin in 2009. Some have even warned Arsenal against splashing the cash for Higuain given how Arshavin is a good example of a footballer’s dramatic decline and the sad fact that they couldn’t find any club willing to take him until his contract ended on 1 June, thus letting him leave for free.

However, it might be more fitting to keep in mind what is arguably Arsenal’s most significant transfer signing: Dennis Bergkamp. At the risk of kicking a man when he’s already down, Arshavin was making a leap from a minnow of a team to join Arsenal. Bergkamp, however, came to Arsenal from Inter Milan in 1995, which was a time when Serie A commanded more respect than it does now.

Similar to Bergkamp, Higuain would be leaving one of the world’s biggest clubs in one of the world’s most-powerful leagues. Say what you will about La Liga being a two- or three-team league; the same could easily be said of the Premier League. The larger point here is that, unlike Arshavin, Higuain’s achievements while playing for Real Madrid since 2006 signify a potential break from Arsene Wenger’s preferred method of finding obscure or unknown young players and developing them. Higuain, like Bergkamp, is a well-known and highly coveted player. The only way that Higuain could be said to fit Wenger’s transfer-policy is that he was born in France. More seriously, Higuain might just fit Wenger’s transfer-policy by being a bargain.

This might sound odd when we’re talking about a sum of £22million until you consider what Higuain has achieved and how much he’s been overshadowed in the last year. Since joining Real Madrid from River Plate in 2006, he’s La Liga’s third-highest scorer with 107 league goals, behind only Ronaldo (146) and Messi (215). Even sharing time with Ronaldo (and, let’s admit it, “sharing” might flatter Ronaldo’s propensities) and having to compete with Karim Benzema, Higuain has shown what he’s capable of.

Similarly, playing with Messi for Argentina’s national team, Higuain has scored 20 goals in just 32 appearances while Messi has 35 in 82. His 26 goals in 2011-12 would have been good for third-best in the Premier League, just one behind Rooney and four behind Van Persie’s stunning 30. Should he come to Arsenal, he would almost certainly claim the starting center-forward role from Olivier Giroud, and we might see him return to the form he has shown so much of in past years. The idea that Arsenal might sign him for “only” £22m is remarkable; set aside 2012-13 and we might be looking at a signing of closer to £30m, if not higher. In fact, even during a frustrating season for him, the 25-year-old Higuain still scored more goals per minute than Luis Suarez or Robin van Persie.

While he may lack the verve or panache of Bergkamp, one area where he might remind Arsenal fans of the Dutch legend is his finishing. Simply put, Higuain knows how to put the ball in the back of the net. Left-footed, right-footed, on the run, from a set-piece, Higuain can score. He would be Arsenal’s most-clinical finisher by a country mile. Indeed, if Higuain does end up petting pen to paper, we just might be talking about him not as Arsenal’s most-expensive signing ever, but as Arsenal’s most-significant signing. These are some big words, I know, and it would take time for Higuain to back them up. Given his performance and his potential, though, I’m not terribly worried about having to eat these words.

If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read, you can read more of Jon’s writing at woolwich1886.blogspot.com and follow @woolwich_1886.