- Arsenal v Everton: just how much influence will the referee have?
- Arsenal v Everton: how the use of tackles does Everton and Tottenham no favours
- Arsenal v Everton: the home and away review
By Sir Hardly Anyone
It is quite remarkable that Arsenal have won more points away from home this season (42) than Everton have won home and away all season (40).
Of course, part of the problem here is that Everton were deducted 10 points last November for breaching the Profitability and Sustainability Rules. Then it all got a bit confusing because they were given four of those points back again. But then on 8 April had two more points taken away for another breach of the rules. So in the end they were eight points down. Give or take.
As we know from previous exchanges a lot of Everton fans believed that the deduction of points was due to a conspiracy by the league against Everton, although when we trie to push for further details from Everton fans who wrote to Untold on the subject we were not able to understand why the League would conspiratorily be targeting Everton, of all clubs.
But there were banners and proclamations galore, although these now seem to have died away – at least from the general public arena. And it did always strike me as odd that the Premier League, which is owned by the clubs in it, should be focussed on getting at Everton, who seemed to be no threat to anyone. The league table rather proves this point.
| Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 37 | 27 | 7 | 3 | 93 | 33 | 60 | 88 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 37 | 27 | 5 | 5 | 89 | 28 | 61 | 86 |
| 15 | Everton | 37 | 13 | 9 | 15 | 39 | 49 | -10 | 40 |
| 16 | Brentford | 37 | 10 | 9 | 18 | 54 | 61 | -7 | 39 |
| 17 | Nottingham Forest | 37 | 8 | 9 | 20 | 47 | 66 | -19 | 29 |
| 18 | Luton Town | 37 | 6 | 8 | 23 | 50 | 81 | -31 | 26 |
Without any deduction, they would have 48 points and take them to 11th instead of 15th – which looks a bit better but would still leave them 38 points behind the top two, and 22 above relegation.
So yes quite a bit of fuss, but really nothing compared to the fuss that is going to explode when the Manchester City enquiry finishes, and we’ll be coming to that after tomorrow’s game is over, and the Untold team has managed to make its final journey back from north London to the east Midlands.
In December last year Everton announced that it would delay its move to their new ground on the Mersey until August 2025 after which Goodison will be redeveloped.
But on the pitch what appeared to rescue them this season (and obviously I say this as an outsider in terms of Everton since I spend my time watching Arsenal) was their defence which has been the fourth best in the league. What let them down was their attack – the second worst in the league (only Sheffield United scored fewer goals.)
Indeed in terms of league games the top two Everton scorers this season each got seven goals after which they are shown as having five players with three goals each.
This compares with Arsenal’s situation – in relation to which the media has been telling us all season that Arsenal desperately needs a new striker. Arsenal have five players on seven and above.
In fact I think it is worth a moment of looking at the goalscorers to see just how varied they are. These figures are for league games only
- Saka: 16
- Havertz: 12
- Trossard: 12
- Odegaard: 8
- Rice: 7
- Martinelli: 6
- Nketiah: 6
- Gabriel: 4
- Jesus: 4
- White: 4
I’ve talked before about the benefit of this sort of approach but going further, I can imagine Havertz and Martinelli scoring many more next season, irrespective of anything else. Havertz because it took him quite a while to get going and Martinelli because I anticipate a return to last season’s form. And add to this the fact that Rice could also get double figures next season.
Meanwhile, our results against Everton have not been of the best of late. The last ten games have seen Arsenal win four, draw one and lose five. The goal total is 15 for Arsenal and 10 for Everton in the ten games going back to April 2019.
However in the last ten games this season Arsenal have scored 21 and conceded five. Everton have scored 10 and conceded 12, which suggests by itself maybe a 2-1 to Arsenal.
And that’s it until tomorrow, but I can’t really stop without making reference to the issue of the mighty Tottenham Hots of whom it has been said. But leaving that aside, iIf we were at this moment to take a look at the league table based on the last six games, and cast one’s eyes away from the top to the bottom three, we would see…
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | Luton Town | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 17 | -10 | 4 |
| 19 | Tottenham | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 16 | -10 | 3 |
| 20 | Sheffield Utd | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 19 | -14 | 0 |
Of course this is not a matter for the media to discuss because of the Tottenham Protocol which says that the real goings-on in that club should not be considered other than in positive and glowing terms. But still, we can notice. Tottenham are doing almost as well as Luton of late, and that I think gives us a bit of perspective.
