Arsenal v Everton comparative player ratings and the transfer value and injury league tables

By Bulldog Drummond

Continuing from the earlier piece, previewing today’s game, the biggest threat we can see is that Everton are unbeaten away this season.  Against that we have won five of the last six in all competitions, scoring 17 goals along the way.  Not bad considering that the last six included Man U and Bayern.

Arsene Wenger’s view in his press conference was, “Overall we are in a good run and that can help the level of confidence and belief going into the next game.

“You gain credibility through consistency… when people think this could be a game where we could slip a bit and you respond in a positive way.

“It shows that our consistency is questioned by many people which is not based on mathematics and statistics, but more on preconceived ideas and it is down to us to change people’s minds.  The longer we last (at the top), the more people will give us credit for it.”

And here’s one other stat doing the rounds: Petr Cech has the best “save ratio” in the Premier League – 82.1%.

So, let’s now go back and take a look at the recent games between the two sides…

Asia Trophy 18 July 2015 Everton 1 : 3 Arsenal Won
EPL 1 March 2015 Arsenal 2 : 0 Everton Won
EPL 23 August 2014 Everton 2 : 2 Arsenal Draw
EPL 6 April 2014 Everton 3 : 0 Arsenal Lost
EFC 8 March 2014 Arsenal 4 : 1 Everton Won
EPL 8 December 2013 Arsenal 1 : 1 Everton Draw

So overall three wins, one draw one defeat, we’ve scored 12 and let in 8.   Here are our last six:

  • Tottenham 1 Arsenal 2
  • Leicester 2 Arsenal 5
  • Arsenal 2 Olympiakos 3
  • Arsenal 3 Man U 0
  • Watford 0 Arsenal 3
  • Arsenal 2 Bayern 0

which as noted earlier doesn’t look too bad.    17 goals for six against, and eight for and none against in the last three.

Everton’s run is less impressive but it does have its moments…

  • Everton 3 Chelsea 1
  • Swansea 0 Everton 1
  • Reading 1 Everton 2
  • WBA 2 Everton 3
  • Everton 1 Liverpool 1
  • Everton 0 Man U 3
 So let’s not get too carried away with the inevitability of a win here.  There were four straight wins in a row in that list including one against an (admittedly mindless) Chelsea side.  And they are doing well away.

Moving on here’s the latest WhoScored.com analysis of Arsenal’s greatest strengths

  • Creating long shot opportunities
  • Creating chances using through balls
  • Creating scoring chances
  • Defending set pieces

And our other strengths

  • Counter attacks
  • Attacking down the wings
  • Protecting the lead
  • Stealing the ball from the opposition

Everton’s greatest strengths are said to be

  • Coming back from losing positions
  • Protecting a lead

While other strengths are said to be

  • Counter attacks
  • Attacking down the wings
  • Creating chances using through balls

We are supposedly bad at defending against long shot, avoiding individual errors, stopping opponents from creating chances, while we are very bad at avoiding offside.

Mind you I’ve always argued that offside is a tactic.  Henry used it sublimely, being caught offside several times deliberately and then timing the run perfectly while the dumbo defenders stood doing bad Tony Adams imitations.

There is also the regular analysis of cumulative player scores.  Here is a summary of the Whoscored.com table.  Y = yellow, R = red.

Everton on the other hand have only let in two away goals this season – the joint lowest total in the PL and they have let in no goals at all in three games – compared with two such games in the whole of last season.

So now moving on – the league table with extras…

The first of the two extra columns on the right (followed by a position indicator) is from Transfer League and is a record of the amount of money spent in transfer fees by the current Premier League clubs over the last five seasons.

The second column is a net spend this summer from Sky Sports.  All figures are of course rounded and must be somewhat approximate as different sources vary.  They are in millions of pounds.

P W D L F A GD Pts 5 yr cost Pos Net summer Pos
1 Manchester City 9 7 0 2 24 8 16 21 £322m 1 £124m 1
2 Arsenal 9 6 1 2 16 7 9 19 £99m 5 £8m 15
3 Manchester United 9 6 1 2 15 8 7 19 £300m 2 £33m 3
4 State Aid United 9 5 2 2 20 12 8 17 £93m 6 £27m 5=
5 Leicester City 9 4 4 1 19 17 2 16 £46m 12= £20m 12
6 Crystal Palace 9 5 0 4 12 10 2 15 £51m 9= £21m 10=
7 Tiny Totts 9 3 5 1 11 7 4 14 £-36m 20 £5m 18
8 Southampton 9 3 4 2 15 12 3 13 £32m 15 -£1m 20
9 Everton 9 3 4 2 12 11 1 13 £20m 17 £13m 13
10 Liverpool 9 3 4 2 8 10 -2 13 £163m 4 £10m 14=
11 Stoke City 9 3 3 3 9 10 -1 12 £46m 12= £3m 19
12 PGMO 9 3 2 4 14 17 -3 11 £224m 3 £32m 4
13 West Bromwich Albion 9 3 2 4 7 11 -4 11 £51m 9= £27m 5=
14 Swansea City 9 2 4 3 10 11 -1 10 £13m 18 £9m 16=
15 Watford 9 2 4 3 6 10 -4 10 £7m 19 £23m 7
16 Norwich City 9 2 3 4 14 20 -6 9 £43m 11 £10m 14=
17 Bournemouth 9 2 2 5 11 17 -6 8 £27m 16 £21m 10=
18 Newcastle United 9 1 3 5 12 19 -7 6 £68m 7 £46m 2
19 Aston Villa 9 1 1 7 8 15 -7 4 £33m 14 £9m 16=
20 Sunderland 9 0 3 6 8 19 -11 3 £59m 8 £22m 8
 So what does this show?
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Looking at the five year spend, Liverpool and Chelsea (the PGMO’s favourite team), Newcastle and Sunderland are doing particularly badly, while Tottenham, Leicester, Southampton, Everton are all overachieving.   Overall the table confirms that buying players either in the latest transfer window or in spread across five years can be helpful but is certainly not a guarantee of success.  It is the quality of the buying and the quality of the management that determines success with purchases, not the simplistic buying of players.
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There is one other point.  Although the increase in income from the new TV deal reduces the worry about FFP qualification, the fact is it is still better to be high up the league without having spent so much, than being high up the league having nearly reached the FFP limit (as per Man City).  Man Utd of course do earn their money legitimately through world-wide marketing, but Man City have little leeway.
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The fact that State Aid United (previously WHU) have not had to buy their stadium or kit it out, or pay for the gatekeepers etc etc, explains why they have been able to pour so much money into transfers of late.

And thus to the teams – a fairly obvious selection…

Cech

Bellerin Mertesacker Koscielny Monreal

Coquelin Cazorla

Oxlade-Chamberlain Ozil Alexis

Walcott

Plus of course Theo being replaced by Giroud with 20 minutes to go.   Sitting with him on the beach in the October gloom we will presumably have some of

Macey, Debuchy, Gibbs, Chambers, Gabriel, Arteta, Flamini, Campbell

Last of all in the previews, the injury chart…

And that by and large is it – all the facts and figures I can find.
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Today is one of those days when everyone from the Untold team is at the match, so as Walter pointed out earlier there won’t be an immediate post match review.   Tony says he is not dancing tonight (still recovering from the wild holiday on Crete) so might get back to the Midlands in time to sketch some evening post-match thoughts.  If not, it will happen tomorrow.
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However you are following the match, have a great time.  Meanwhile here are two more anniversaries (as always the full list is on the home page)
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24 October 2004. The 49 match run ends.  After years of silence  Wenger finally spoke out and accused ref Riley of bias.  He was fined £15k, but the silence could never be restored.  Someone, we know not who, hit Man U’s Ferguson with a pizza

24 October 2010: Arsenal beat Manchester City away 3-0 to move up to second.  Nasri, Song and Bendtner scored.  City’s Boyata was sent off on five minutes.

 

Publishers’ note: because we are all off to London now, I am sorry to say we won’t be able to clear any comments that are held in moderation until late this evening when we return.

56 Replies to “Arsenal v Everton comparative player ratings and the transfer value and injury league tables”

  1. #WHUCHE
    50′ Chelsea one goal down, one man down. Matic sent off at the tail end of the 1st half and Mourinho sent to the stands.
    I AM LOVING IT.

    Arsenal just needs to win. I will take even an own goal.

  2. Seems like Mertesacker has picked up something, since he was not even listed on the bench and Giroud also replacing Walcott in the starting lineup.

    Arsenal – Cech, Bellerin, Gabriel,Koscielny, Monreal,Coquelin, Cazorla,Ox, Ozil, Alexis, and Giroud

  3. Forgot to mention the bench- Macey, Debuchy, Gibbs, Walcott, Flamini, Chambers, and Campbell

  4. Coq booked for nothing. The shit that are the pgmol are out for revenge Wenger will have to be careful with Coq today

  5. ooooo to be ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh g,g,g,gooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnerrrrrrr!! Few more please lads!!

  6. Apparently Everton players can dive right in front of Mason, no yellow.
    Arsenal really must be careful with him. Get another goal and maybe consider getting Coq substituted

  7. What is up with own goals this season?
    Really unlucky! Lets finish this game by the third.
    Ozil and Sanchez are brilliant today.

  8. Top O’ league! Good ol Walter was the lucky mascot again! I hope he had a good time. Cech was on outstanding form.
    COYG!

  9. Stones….

    Reads the game so well. Very Mertesackeresque. Should we place an offer for him..

  10. Excellent game. TOP OF THE LEAGUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Just for the record: the linesman gave us three chances in the second half when he should have called offside. Winds of change?

  11. Robbed at Chelsea and Liverpool…. We could’ve been top with at least 26 points now.

  12. Well done boys. There were some tired players out there at the end, after mid week heroics, but they came through, and with no help from the ref from most of the game, how was Delofeu not booked? How many fouls on Coq went unpunished, yet Coq and Giroud booked for virtually first tackles.
    Still, we are where we are.and that’s in a good place
    Cech is a very important player for us, we could easily have unjustly dropped points there without his vital save, and Gabs vital defensive work. But all thinfpgs considered, a very good team performance, a mature performance, rather than a spectacular one.
    Do enjoy those pgmol goal busting salvos this team are capable of.
    A bad day for the aaa, and their team , manager , and Central MF of choice.

  13. Well played the team in a difficult match – our guys must surely have been tired after the superb match against Bayern, but they kept at it the whole game against a fresh Everton – and achieved a well deserved win.

    Some poor refereeing by Mason made it more difficult – but we were good enough to get there.

    Well done the team! A very impressive three points banked!

  14. Ozil was brilliant, Cech awesome. But Gabriel is the man of the match. Brave tackles, great aerial clearances, smart player… This player will be a legend if he stays with us for long enough!

  15. When Bolton got relegated…. Wasn’t Cahill playing for them?? Just asking. Not suggesting…

  16. I was really, really impressed with Gabriel today. He won almost all his duels, made some crucial tackles, and his passing was excellent and even opened up space for his teammates. His attitude is top notch too. As for Özil, what superlatives do his vision and touch deserve, at this point? That assist for Giroud´s goal was completely magnificent, as were a few of his other passes (that crossbar from Olivier happened thanks to one, for instance, and what a goal that would have been). Important win.

  17. I’m not going to make myself popular here but I thought Mason had the easiest game of his career so far . Cards issued were fair: Coquelin was studs up even though he didn’t make contact, but he was lenient on the three dives, two by Everton and one by us.
    Good win by us, and nothing controversial to debate.

  18. Lovely stuff.

    Thought our man Mason was weirdly normal and decent in first period of game, then got the impression he was just saving himself for the ones that count. Coq’s booking tremendously harsh, handful of other things of that nature, yet I don’t think he got that near to going the full Riley

    Speaking of Coquelin, before booking he was amazing me by once more surpassing my expectations (that shouldn’t really be possible at this point, but he keeps doing it). He played differently afterwards, and in a way that’s even more encouraging : shows there’s a real good brain and temperament in there.

    Misses out on my motm, though. Giroud eclipsed him, and Ozil eclipsed even him. Thought it was the performance of a superstar near the peak of his game. Spellbinding.

    Is Match of the day on yet? Wouldn’t mind seeing that again and it’ll also be a chance to find out the Chelsea result.

  19. The ref also called it wrong on Giroud when the ball then dropped to Ozil who missed (OK, it was saved).

    It’s such a shame that Barkleys such a dirty player. Non-stop little niggly fouls. It just means he may become a top PL player but he’ll never be considered as world class even if his apparent talent proves genuine. A bit like Rooney, who none of my European (non PL watching) mates rate much at all.

  20. Wow,like i told you earlier on’ you may check the archives this site is going to be so peaceful,smoke free and every soul would love it,@ARSENAL13 ha ha ha ha so you had a vision when cahill was relegating another garbage,wish your vision will come to pass you might have Wegerian visionary as he had his of THE untouchables,remember.

  21. The BBC report says Mourinho was sent to the stands after speaking to referee Jon Moss at half time. Interesting!

  22. @Arsenal13 – good one 🙂 but Cahill had been sold to Chavs in January transfer window – before Bolton got relegated.

  23. WOW!! Great win! ARSENAL BELGIUM lucky charm again!! On our way home. Tired but oh so happy! COYG!!

  24. Think the ex special one already has a suspended stadium ban hanging over him, for what that’s worth.
    Personally, think he is still fuming RA let Cech come our way, that and the fact he is increasingly paranoid

  25. I am not an expert on refereeing but from what I saw today at the Emirates, the referee was one of the most appalling, awful, misguided, inept, stupid, error-strewn, erratic, ludicrous, incompetent, biased, and disruptive referees I have ever seen.

    I was hoping to write an article but I am having technical problems at my house. I suspect the referee is responsible for these as well.

  26. Looks like those in the media are starting to grudgingly give Ozil the credit he deserves. Sky pulled up a stat showing Ozil is second only to Messi in the assists charts in Europe since 2008. Seen another link on metro saying he has the best assist to game ratio in premier league history.

  27. Will be very interesting to see what the refs on here make of that, I certainly was not impressed either.
    Just get the feeling today was a triumph against a fairly decent team, against fatigue, and against a ref who was in trouble after the last time we met him, and tried ,in some not quite as drastic mike Dean ways to make amends.
    And to think, we still have Atkinson to come at least five times this season. Joy.
    But for now, will just raise a glass to this team after the week they have had.

  28. I have read it several times out there tonite, but hats off to Chelsea, never realised they could actually entertain!
    Sorry Mike T!

  29. Delofeu & Barkley got away with clear bookings. There were the usual pseudo fouls & selective vision. Coquelin got booked for a slide in the wet…. I suppose that is not allowed.

    Mason was not as bad as I expected. He was up to PGMO standard. Sloped the pitch but found that water keeps a level.

    Arsenal was excellent but missed too many chances. 3 points is what matters.

    The best news was that Maureen has problems with her numbers.

  30. Good morning Walter (From Lagos, Nigeria),

    During the Westham/Chelsea game yesterday, I sensed Chelsea were getting done in by the Referee. Can there be a ref review of that match? Maybe they also need to start getting used to what Arsenal has always endured from the men in black.

    Thank you

  31. We have problems in defense, we didn’t sigh a Giant DM, we have no strikers…but we are top of the league. How does that work?? 🙂

  32. I am sure we can help Chelsea but will they ever offer to replay a game in which they won because of pure unadulterated cheating?

    The suffering that is now part of Chelsea is due to an ignorant stubborn fool who has manipulated his position in wealthy scenarios but has eventually been found wanting. He does not have a plan B (LOL). His speciality has got him into trouble. Time to become the humble one (there’s a title for you Tony).

    While we fail at the top of the league we enjoy specialists squirm.

  33. Not really sure what Jose is moaning about. Whilst I have some sympathies with him on the non story of him shoving those teenagers, I do not think so many decisions are actually going against him. Take yesterday, two clear bookings for matic, then most of them lost their discipline because of Jose’s pathetic siege mentality. With Chelsea, they just done seem to be getting away with as much as they used to,wraps in part due to Wengers words after the game of Dean.

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