By Sir Hardly Anyone
- Porto v Arsenal: the recent form and what it tells us about the game
- Porto v Arsenal: could Arsenal possibly continue the goalscoring form of the last 3 games?
- Arsenal in the Champions League. How are our rivals doing at the moment?
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There is of course a good reason why tonight’s game is going to have quite a focus on Kai Havertz, since he scored at the Estadio do Dragao to win Chelsea the Champions League final, as the Telegraph reminds us in no uncertain terms today.
But there are still some Arsenal fans who cannot stand having him in the Arsenal team and is utterly aggrieved that Havertz has made 17 starts this season in the league, come on seven times as a sub and scored five goals.
Havertz has also picked up six yellow cards – more than anyone else. But he is also the third-highest goalscorer in the league for Arsenal which might come as a surprise. For this season Arsenal have nine players who have scored four or more in the league – a factor that has made Arsenal the second highest scoring side in the league – just one goal behind Liverpool, and equal with Manchester City.
Most clubs approach goal scoring in a different way of course. Liverpool for example, have only five players who have scored four or more. Now of course one of those Liverpool men has scored a lot more, but when he can’t play for whatever reason, that really does disjoint the team. If one of Arsenal’s scorers can’t play there are plenty of others who can nip in with a goal.
What Kai Havertz also has is more yellow cards in the league than other Arsenal players – six all told. His nearest rival is Gabriel Jesus with five. So I imagine Havertz will play tonight, and there will be some gnashing of the teeth, but I think we will see a continuing side to his development. We might even see another goal – after all he knocked one in at the weekend.
Meanwhile, in their last game, Porto beat Sintra Football, also known as Sport União Sintrense. The opposition sounds like a typical Portuguese club and not a match we might otherwise notice, what with Porto winning 2-0, but what you might not know is that Sintra is in the fourth division of Portuguese football!
The game before that for tonight’s opponents, was against Arouca and there Porto lost 3-2. Now that was quite something because as I understand it Arouca is also based in Porto and was founded in 1951 as a subsidiary of Porto, playing until the turn of the century in the regional leagues. Then after a series of promotions that reads like a boys’ comic book (four promotions in the last seven years), it reached the Primeira League in 2012/13.
So in their last two games the club that Arsenal play tonight and which will be heralded as the third biggest team in Portugal, has beaten the smallest and least esteemed team in the Portuguese league and a fourth division team 2-0.
I wonder if they know that Arsenal has just won five games in a row in the Premier League, scoring 21 goals in the process and conceding two.
| Date | Match | Result | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Jan 2024 | Arsenal v Crystal Palace | W | 5-0 |
| 30 Jan 2024 | Nottingham Forest v Arsenal | W | 1-2 |
| 04 Feb 2024 | Arsenal v Liverpool | W | 3-1 |
| 11 Feb 2024 | West Ham United v Arsenal | W | 0-6 |
| 17 Feb 2024 | Burnley v Arsenal | W | 0-5 |
Of course, we also know and recognise that Manchester City is on a longer winning streak than Arsenal, and has won four of its last five matches in the league but the scoring record there is not quite as exciting as Arsenal’s. They have scored 10 and conceded three. It has been a while since Arsenal outscored Manchester City over a five-match run quite so comprehensively.
All in all we might hope for a goal or two tonight.
We shall get our goals.