Arsenal back at the top and have a clear plan for the future

 

 

By Sir Hardly Anyone

• The great Premier League refereeing scandal – revealed
• This is the complete Arsenal team and the stats prove it

What a truly wonderful game that was against Brighton and Hove.   A measured performance in which everyone knew their role and executed it perfectly.

And how wonderful to do it against the team that managed to create the downturn of Arsenal’s valiant charge for the title at the end of last season.

But it is also worth looking at the table not just to celebrate that Arsenal are again top (although that might end by the end of today) but also to note just how the upper reaches of the table has now broken into three groups.

We have known about the top three for a long time but now there really is a “next two” of Aston Villa and Tottenham Ho. who are fighting for fourth, and then a staggering gap of nine points from Tottenham to Manchester United and the group wanting to get into the Europa next season.  Even Chelsea could make it!

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal	31	22	5	4	75	24	51	71
2	Liverpool	30	21	7	2	70	28	42	70
3	Manchester City	31	21	7	3	71	31	40	70
4	Aston Villa	32	18	6	8	66	49	17	60
5	Tottenham Hotspur	30	17	6	7	62	44	18	57
6	Manchester United	30	15	3	12	43	44	-1	48

 

And do not forget that in 2020/21 there were journalists, bloggers and mutterers demanding that Arteta be sacked because he was clearly not good enough.

But let us also consider once more last season where after 31 games Arsenal were also top but had three points more.

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal 2023	31	23	5	3	74	31	43	74
1	Arsenal 2024	31	22	5	4	75	24	51	71

 

But look at the goals.  More scored this season despite the three fewer points.  Far fewer conceded this season, also

And of course in all this I know that the next match could be the one where it all goes wrong – that is the essence of football.  But for the moment, the momentum is still with Arsenal.  And even if anything goes wrong, the progress will still be astounding, for these are players and management who know how to rebound.

For let us not forget the depth built into this Arsenal team.   The team that is outscoring everyone else also has more goalscorers.   Arsenal has seven players who have scored five or more in the league and all told 15 league goalscorers.

Manchester City has five players who have scored five or more and 13 players who have scored at least one in the league.  Liverpool also have five players who have scored five goals or more and 14 who have scored at least once in the league.

And my point here is that Arsenal are building that strength in depth which we have not had for quite a while.

According to Transfermarkt the average age of the Arsenal team in the Premier League this season has been 25 years.  For Liverpool the average age is 25.6 years and for Manchester City it is 26.2 years.

Only two PL clubs have an average age of players used in the league this season that is younger than Arsenal’s: Burnley and Chelsea.

Arsenal also have the second smallest squad that has been used in the league this season – 25 players, the same as Manchester City.  Compare this with clubs such as Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Chelsea and Manchester United who have all used 30+ players this season.

These are all very positive factors.  Indeed it is interesting to look at Chelsea, who on Sunday morning are lurking about in ninth place in the league, 28 points behind Arsenal.   They are shown as having a squad of no less than 30 players (some of whom are presumably under 21 in order to be able to be in the 25 man squad).

Given these factors then it is quite possible Arsenal might sell one or two fringe members of the 25 man squad this summer and bring in one or two new players, but I suspect the main development of the Arsenal squad will not be concerned with buying multi-million pound players as the popular media suggests every day, but bringing through the youngsters who have been so carefully nurtured in the past few years.

Look at the Transfermarkt under 21 players and there are 19 young Arsenal men in that group  The chances are that we might well start to see one or two of them play a part with the first team next season.

Indeed it is possible that the number of major transfers that the media rave about each day could decline to maybe nothing or just one player each summer, which would then make his integration into the squad much easier.  For consider just how long it has taken Havertz to make his mark.

Zirkzee, Isaac, Gyokeres, Isak, Toney, Douglas Luiz….   the reasons against any of these players who are mentioned almost every day, actually coming in are, a) Arsenal are at the edge of their FFP allowance, b) it would mean replacing a player in the squad, c) it would send a message to the youth team that there is no real way into the first team for them.

Of course those rumours will go on and on.  And on.   Meanwhile we can revel in ten wins and one draw in the past 11 league games scoring 48 goals.  That’s 4.36 goals a game.

Which is quite good really.