Arsenal v Watford, the teams, the beach, the injuries, the fair play league. Etc.

Posted on by Tony Attwood

By Bulldog Drummond

Per Mertesacker and Gabriel are fit, which is quite a relief.  Aaron Ramsey is out with a thigh problem that will keep him out for maybe a month.   Laurent Koscielny is not ready for this match, but might make Barcelona away, but failing that will be ready for Everton away.

Watford have an uncertainty about Craig Cathcart but Joel Ekstrand and Jose Manuel Juardo are still out.

Ahead of the game Mr W made all the right noises saying, “I don’t believe anyone in my side is thinking about Barcelona at the moment, or Everton, they are completely focused on Watford.”

Here’s all the things…   Watford is named after a very dangerous experiment that took place in Hertfordshire involving electricity and water.  The name combines the rate of consumption of energy in an electric circuit where the potential difference is one volt and the current one ampere, and the place where a river crosses a road without a bridge or tunnel.

Oh well, never mind.  Tony told me that so blame him.

We’ve won four of the last five FA Cup games with the electrical waders, in the first game of the 2002 run to win the cup.  But they did beat us once, in 1987, in George Graham’s first season.  It was at Highbury and we lost 3-1, Allinson scoring our goal.  43,276 were there.

This was an interesting moment was it coincided with a run of six games in the top division in which we didn’t score a single goal and a ten match run in which we drew two and lost the rest.  Can you imagine what the aaa and their friends in the newspapers would do with stats like that.

But moving on to life in the Premier League Watford haven’t actually beaten us.

But in what is for some reason known as the head to head but actually ought to be called the foot to foot we get mostly Arsenal wins, except the FA Cup 14 March 1987, and in the league 3-0 to Watford on all fools day 1986, and curiously 0-2 to Watford at Highbury the very day before.  (They used to do this home and away thing over Easter at that time). There was only 19595 in the ground that day.

Watford also beat us in 1984 and 1983.  These were in the days of Don Howe as manager.

We have scored four against Watford in 2002 (4-2) and 1984 (3-4).  Otherwise the scores have been lower, but there has never been a 0-0 draw.  And of course we did rather well in this season’s meeting at Vicarage Road.

For us of course it is trying to win the the Cup for the 13th time, which is of course the number of times we have won the League, and thus become the first team to win it three times running since before the club was born (Blackburn Rovers 1884/6).

We also hold the record for winning the most consecutive rounds, which was 2002/4 when we won the cup twice running for the first time, and then were knocked out in the semi final by Man U.   We came back and won it again the following season.  So a win today equals our own record.  Then we have to win the semi.

Now of course everyone is making a big thing about having lost a couple of home games in a row (forgetting that we have just scored six goals in our last two games, both away).  But we did lose four in a row under Mr Wenger in October 2002 (not November as much of the press have erroneously said, in copying each other in their normal manner).

  • 19 October lost to Everton 2-1
  • 22 October lost to Auxerre 1-2
  • 26 October lost to Blackburn 1-2
  • 30 October lost to Borussia Dortmund 2-1

What a total disaster.  That season we came second in the league and won the FA.  Useless!

What of Watford I metaphorically hear you cry.

They have won each of the FA Cup games this season 1-0, in the last round it was an own goal against Leeds, but have lost seven of their last 11 league games (one win, two draws 3 losses in the last six).

The league table gives us a bit of a clue as to where they are

POS CLUB P W D L F A GD PTS
1 Leicester City 29 17 9 3 52 31 21 60
2 Tottenham Hotspur 29 15 10 4 51 24 27 55
3 Arsenal 29 15 7 7 46 30 16 52
4 Manchester City 28 15 5 8 52 31 21 50
5 West Ham United 29 13 10 6 45 33 12 49
6 Manchester United 29 13 8 8 37 27 10 47
7 Liverpool 28 12 8 8 43 37 6 44
8 Stoke City 29 12 7 10 31 34 -3 43
9 Southampton 29 11 8 10 36 29 7 41
10 Chelsea 29 10 10 9 43 39 4 40
11 West Bromwich Albion 29 10 9 10 30 36 -6 39
12 Everton 28 9 11 8 51 39 12 38
13 Watford 29 10 7 12 29 30 -1 37

So they ain’t big scorers – confirming the 1-0s in the FA Cup, but their defence is much the same as ours.

Their away form is interesting however… they have won five – the same as at home, and scored 16 letting in 18.  In the cup they have beaten Newcastle, Nottm Forest and the aforementioned Leeds.

Thus our team…

Ospina

Bellerin Mert Gabriel Monreal

Coquelin Elneny

Walcott Ozil Alexis

Giroud

 

Mostly it is fairly obvious and a strong team as befits a game against a PL club not in danger of relegation and not challenging for a Euro spot.  I doubt there is any need to hold anyone back for the Barcelona game, so the best team available will play.

The subs on the beach will be Macey, Chambers, Gibbs, Flamini, Arteta, Welbeck, Campbell.

As for the injuries – we have gone up the table again, Watford as we can see are near the bottom.  Some copies of the table show us on 8 injuries, but there seems no doubt that Gabriel is fit.

# TEAM TOTAL INJURIES
1 Newcastle United 11
2 Arsenal 7
3 West Ham United 7
4 Crystal Palace 6
5 Everton 6
6 Liverpool 6
7 Manchester United 6
8 Stoke City 6
9 Aston Villa 5
10 Chelsea 5
11 Norwich City 5
12 West Bromwich Albion 5
13 Bournemouth 4
14 Manchester City 4
15 Southampton 4
16 Sunderland 4
17 Watford 4
18 Tottenham Hotspur 3
19 Leicester City 1
20 Swansea City 1
As for the fair play comparison, we have slipped there a bit as well.   WBA and Villa remain the dirtiest teams in the PL but third place, as we can see contains the FA Cup opponents Watford.  Remember the dirtier the team the higher up the league they are.
# TEAM GAMES CAUTIONS  DISMISSALS  POINTS
1 West Bromwich Albion 36 69 3 310
2 Aston Villa 35 67 1 280
3 Watford 33 60 3 276
4 Liverpool 38 61 2 264
5 Norwich City 33 57 3 260
6 Tottenham Hotspur 34 62 0 248
7 Newcastle United 31 51 4 246
8 Stoke City 37 50 5 244
9 Southampton 33 47 5 240
10 Manchester City 37 60 0 240
11 Crystal Palace 35 54 2 238
12 Sunderland AFC 32 52 2 228
13 Chelsea 34 48 3 222
14 AFC Bournemouth 35 53 1 222
15 West Ham United 34 45 5 214
16 Leicester City 34 51 1 214
17 Manchester United 34 51 1 214
18 Everton 37 44 3 208
19 Arsenal 35 43 4 202
20 Swansea City 32 50 1 200

As before the system gives points in the standardised way…

  • Caution 4 pts
  • Denial of a goal scoring opportunity or dismissal for 2 cautions 10 pts
  • Violent conduct, serious foul play, spitting or offensive and abusive language 12 pts

And that’s about that.

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From the anniversary files (full list for today on the home page)

  • 13 March 1957: George Allison, Arsenal manager from 1934 to 1947, and part of the great dynasty that included Chapman, Joe Shaw and Tom Whittaker, died of a heart attack.  He won the league twice, and the FA Cup – exactly the same as Chapman.   Tottenham suffered the backlash, beaten 3-1 at WHL. Dave Bowen claimed two of the goals – the only ones he ever scored for Arsenal.
  • 13 March 1993: Coventry 0 Arsenal 2.  After the 11 “Boring Boring” games with neither team scoring more than 1 goal, Arsenal finally get two, one each from Campbell and Wright.
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72 Replies to “Arsenal v Watford, the teams, the beach, the injuries, the fair play league. Etc.”

  1. I don’t know what school Tony attended but I was always led to believe that the Wat in Watford was in tribute to Wat Tyler who, in 1381, (or 21 minutes past 2)
    commanded a load of revolting peasants on a march from Canterbury (where dm/f Justin Welby plays)to London to complain about high ticket prices at football grounds.
    Of course I could be wrong. 😉

  2. Absolutely correct Nicky, but did you know that Wat Tylers son went on to become the well known football commentator Martin Tyler.

  3. @nicky, your version sounds quite realistic, tonys’ sounds like folktale.

  5. Mr Bulldog Drummond, happy Sunday to all of us at Untold Arsenal. A big Hi, to Mr Tony Attwood. Mr Drummond, you start all the currently available Gunner starters for this Watford FA Cup game, despite the fact that Arsenal are playing Barca in 3 days time at Camp Nou? Ofcourse I believe you know that.

    Maybe you have a better insight to which Gunners the Boss will preferred to starts for this FA Cup match against Watford today. And also believe the Boss has piriotised today’s FA Cup match against Watford above our Ucl game against Barca on Wed’ night. That’s should be the reason for your starting all the available 1st team Gunner starters for this match of today, I assume.

    Why should the Boss give-up on knocking out Barca in the 2nd leg of this Rd of 16 Ucl knockout games taking place at Camp Nou? Football is form, confidence, courageousness and audacity. And I believe Arsenal have these qualities. Then why the throwing-in the towel before the fight is over when Arsenal still have power to fight the fight and even have the adequate right arms and ammunition to fight the battle for a possible victory?

    In the light of my believe that Arsenal can knockout Barca on Wednesday night at Camp Nou in the 2nd leg of the Rd of 16 game, the Boss MUST do a Gunners team rotation to rest nearly all the Gunners 1st team starts for this FA Cup game against Watford. And start all the top young Gunners for the game imho.

    My starts for Watford:
    Macey.
    ChambersRhino’DeAbreuGibbs.
    ElnenyFlamini.
    CampbellIwobiAdelaide.
    Willock.
    My bench:
    OspinaBellerinMonrealWalcottCoquelinWalcottGiroud.
    I hope the Boss will agree with me.

  7. Watford this season in big matches:

    -playing well for 70-80 minutes,

    -scoring first,

    -failing to get another,

    -losing defensive focus and conceding,

    -completely dropping and conceding another one.

    In the game against Spuds Son scored a winner for the visitors from an obvious offside that wasn’t given.

    A rare thrashing of Watford was performed by Arsenal. We did it in 12 minutes midway of the second half with Alexis, Rambo and Giroud scoring. Then again, we won at Swansea 3:0 and lost at home.

    Players to watch: ex-Spud Gomes has had a decent campaign given his reputation, their right full-back Nyom is a beast and one of the best right full-backs in the league IMO, another ex-Spud Capoue is there to beat Ozil and get away with that but two real stars are Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo. They make “2” in that 4-4-2 formation of theirs consisted of a strong guy and a quick guy. Ighalo has been going through a dry spell but he is likely to leave Watford for a bigger club next summer. He is a ManU fan. Deeney has a son who is a Gooner which is a compliment for his educational and parental skills.

    They are nicknamed Hornets which means we must watch out for their stings.

    2:1, because we can’t have a stress-free match. Deeney to score from a penalty, Giroud and Walcott to restore the order and book our place for Wembley so it will be 17th FA Cup match without a defeat for us.

  8. I do hope we win this one and go on and lift the cup . That being done and said record firmly in the books , we’ll play the second stringers and/or the returning injured in future years.
    You know , treat it with the same contempt that the media have been doing the last two years .

  9. Ian Wright on Fletch and Sav.

    Regarding the banner he said:

    “I have spoken to the guy who unfurled the banner and he’s a nice enough lad…….I think the fans have the right to feel how they do, it’s just I thought the timing was wrong”.

    As I said the other day. The guy hates Wenger and has voiced his opinion that he should go many times. In the same way he has encouraged our players to leave.

    Yet the p**k will be dancing around the studio if we win.

    I detest the man.

  10. And talking of big dicks …..

    A man with a crippling stutter visits his doctor hoping for a cure. He walks into the doctor’s office and says:
    “D D D D Doctor, you’ve g g g g got to Help m m m me, I’ll dddo anyth th th th thing.”

    The doctor gives him a thorough physical examination, and sure enough discovers the problem….

    “Your genitals are massive, and it’s causing a great strain on your vocal chords, which is creating the stutter. I can, if you’d like, shorten your penis and relieve the great tension on your larynx. The effects will be instantaneous, and we can operate today.”

    “D D D D Do it!”

    So they prep for surgery and very quickly the operation is performed. It’s complete success, and the man leaves for home delighted to be cured. But that night his wife finds out what he did. She is very unhappy and urges him to reverse the surgery.

    The next day, the man returns to the doctor’s surgery. “Hello doctor, and thanks for seeing me again. I’m completely cured and most of all I’m very grateful, but unfortunately my wife is not, I want to reverse the surgery.”

    The doctor replies: “N N N N N N No Refunds!”

  11. The petty plundits are at it again. Clairvoyance, telepathy, telling us great unwashed what we think and what happens inside others’ minds too. With talent like that it’s no wonder they are professional hacks. Shame they never spend as much of their time discussing the actual footy on the pitch.

    “At times this season Arsène Wenger has worn the expression of a man tired by the overwrought expectations and perceptions that grip every game. Before Sunday’s FA Cup tie with Watford, the Arsenal manager was in a lighter mood…”

    That might be because the sun is it out? What d’ya all think? As fair a guess as any other gibberish?

    Come on the arsenal!

  12. These plundits we full of so much gibberish I think most football fans have stood up and applauded when the likes of LVG or Nigel Pearson spoke what most of humanity thinks of these screeching hacks.

    Given his comments last season i’d donate a penny for Nigel Pearson’s thoughts on the pgMOB.

  13. finsbury

    Why Wenger would wear:

    “….the expression of a man tired by the overwrought expectations and perceptions that grip every game”.

    when all he aspires to each season is a 4th place finish, I’ll never know? 🙂

  14. Finsbury

    Yep, I love it when a manager has the balls to hit back at the ignoramuses in the media.

    Alas it doesn’t usually get them very far as the media hold the ‘ace in the hole’ in the fact that it is them that report the incident, and as they did with Wenger the other day, they distort what was said, and the context in which it was said, to suit themselves, and can turn what was a rather reserved comment about finding pre match interviews boring into a ‘rage’.

    But still, I have enjoyed LVG’s obvious complete and utter contempt for the numpties asking the questions.

  22. How did Mariner miss that Gabriel red? He must have been all out at sea…

  23. According to both Daily Mail and Sports Mole, that Gabriel tackle is the only bad refereeing so far this game.

    COYG!

  26. Awesome skill by Ozil to create that chance in the first place though…

    Oooooo… Come on

    Campbell almost

  30. Not off side at all?
    Dean as linesman? he’s not going to let us score.

    Keep playing lads, don’t get weary.

    Looks like they want Watford to score first to “keep it interesting” for the dumb, (their own words) viewers.

    Come on Arsenal.

  31. Half time thoughts. The linesman on this side got two offsides wrong including Girouds “goal”, and Gabriel should”t have been sent off as Marriner was only a few feet away and could not have got that wrong could he! I mean could he!

  33. According to Sky Sports News, that Gabriel tackle could have broken the players leg and he should of been sent off.

    Also, one of the commentators of BT Sport had this to say, when Watford kicked the ball out for a goal kick “i know Wenger loves to complain a lot, but he has every right to complain this time”.

    AARRRRRRGGHHH!!!

  34. The sun in our faces i think is a major reason of why we are misplacing passes/tackles…. When we reach their end of the field, we become dangerous

  35. They openly critisized the ref? Oh, it’s only because it is an Arsenal player i’ll bet.

    But Gabriel be careful, on another day you would have been off.

  36. Gabriel was lucky, no doubt about it, but of course being us we’ll never hear the end of it.

  48. The Rusision stream I’m watching can’t stop showing the second goal It was good but it’s getting a bit boring now

  51. getting pushed all match is bound to piss ozil off when they don’t get any cards

  52. I don’t know about heros, but Guardian could hardly wait to start up their agenda, and print AAA crap after the second goal.

    COYG!

  62. the ref’s a cheat…there was almost 3 minutes of wasted time in the time added on and he gave us slightly over 1 min…not saying we did enough to win the match in the first 90 minutes but that was blatant

  64. When was the last time Arsenal lost three home matches in a row? Barcelona, Swansea, Watford. Add a draw against Hull and that makes it four in a row without a victory at home.

  65. Gord. I assume you never go to a match? What you call AAA on the Guardian is the mood of the real fans that do actually turn up at the ground.

  67. WARNING FROM THE EDITOR : THIS COMMENT IS ONLY PUBLISHED FOR EDUCATIONAL REASONS. TO SHOW WHAT THEY REALLY ARE. MORE ON THIS LATER.

    I know this will not get posted but YOU will see it 🙂
    Laughing at Wenger and the stupid useless ‘fans’ that put him ahead of the club
    You created Wenger FC and Arsenal are dead until that clown gets kicked out of the club for good.
    VERY pleased Wenger’s legacy is dead. Not only do I want him gone, I want him to remembered as the failure he is. He will be. Total clown 🙂

  68. I know we are going to get a torrent of shit but what can you do?

    We wasn’t anything like as bad as they where trying to make out on the commentary.

    A freak goal that the player will never score again.

    I felt we was on the verge of scoring the entire match. When they scored the second I said to Mrs J that we will still get this back and the truth is we still should of. Oh Danny boy. You had the chance to write your name in history.

    But it wasn’t to be.

    This Watford side know how to defend and they are dangerous on the break. A lethal combination which did for us, but we still could of, and probably should of won.

    Spurs are out.

    City are out.

    Chelsea are out.

    But it is only us who will have to put up with a Tsunami of abuse, not only from the media but from our own fans, and I think it is that more than anything that hurts me.

    I can live with losing. We have no divine right to win.

    Duck lads because here it comes.

  69. There’ll be 50 pages on Gabriel not getting sent off, a few thousand led by Piers Moron shouting Wenger out – Wenger’s Arsenal won the FA Cup twice in succession. Thank you.

    As for the game today, too little too late. Too much reliance on believing past results against Watford guaranteed a cushion.

    The shape of the future – frustrate, frustrate, score at the other end.

  70. According to Ian Wright and David James ‘Wenger shouldn’t take any blame for this’.

    In the last 14 matches Arsenal have managed 4 wins, of which 2 are against lower league opposition. Only the win against Leicester stands out as a great result, and arguably that had an element of luck. When exactly does a manager deserve to start getting blame? If Van Gaal or Pellegrini had those results they would be (quite rightly) criticised. I am not expecting Wenger to be ‘God’ but surely even he can see there is something deeply not right at the moment.

  71. jambug posts

    ”But it is only us who will have to put up with a Tsunami of abuse, not only from the media but from our own fans, and I think it is that more than anything that hurts me. ”

    The same fans who posted on here saying the FA Cup wasn’t even a trophy worth winning, good for a day out and that’s about it?

  72. Jambug.. don’t invite abuse.. No one should be personal on the site.. basically we have not played great for the last couple of months.. been a gooner since 1958… seen the good the bad and the downright ugly… it’s not good at the moment and blaming refs.. injuries.. the press.. the aaa whoever they are changes nothing.. other teams know how to play us.. we need to take our chances the earlier the better this is not happening. Pay the money and get Lukaku.. even Ingahlo Is more mobile than giroud.. Barca next then Everton away coyg

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