- The media starts to catch up: yes Arsenal’s fixture list was biased against the club
- Destroyed by injuries? How does Arsenal really compare to the rest of the PL this campaign?
By Tony Attwood
It was, I must admit, a very enjoyable day out in north London yesterday. Finsbury Park station was its usual chaos as that picture shows on the way out of the game, and why London Transport think that having its employees shout at us in an incomprehensible way is helpful, I really don’t know. But it does seem as if dealing with the post-match crowds is just something to be endured not something to be sorted for everyone’s benefit. Here’s the video.
Nothing can take away the fun of the occasion, and the beauty of the goals, including of course the utter brilliance of Saka and the emerging wonder of Ethan Nwaneri.
When can we have both in the team from the start? For surely now we are moving from endless worries about missing players to the problem of trying to fit everyone into the team (eg Martinelli, Saka, Nwaneri…).
So our view that Arsenal’s struggles were due to a fixture list, just as Nottingham Forest’s success was a result of a beneficial fixture list for them, seems about right. Although of course we didn’t manage to predict the collapse of ManC. Have referees finally woken up or is something else afoot?
For who could ever have believed that Tottenham would work so hard to do us such a favour, starting the run of ManC defeats with a 2-1 victory in the League Cup, then encouraging the mighty Bournemouth to beat not just Arsenal but also ManC, followed by Sporting, Brighton and Hove and now extraordinarily, Tottenham Hots.
I very much doubt if before this run of game any bookmaker would have accepted a bet on such a run of defeats. Rather they might have called for medics to take away anyone offering a pound on five successive losses to a safer environment. (Well perhaps not, but you know what I mean).
But we can’t knock it because the ManC collapse has coincided with the Arsenal success run, and we are now, like Chelsea but one point behind them. Next in the league for ManC is Liverpool away, a match for which any result is going to be beneficial for Arsenal.
Meanwhile, next for Arsenal in the league is WHAM away on Saturday night.. Here’s the table…
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 11 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 6 | 15 | 28 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 22 | 17 | 5 | 23 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 23 | 14 | 9 | 22 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 21 | 12 | 9 | 22 |
| 5 | Brighton and Hove Albion | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 21 | 16 | 5 | 22 |
| 6 | Tottenham Hotspur | 12 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 27 | 13 | 14 | 19 |
| 14 | West Ham United | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 13 | 19 | -6 | 12 |
Before the next WHAM game, they have to play Newcastle (who are sitting in ninth) away. That game is tomorrow at 8pm.
Of course, not all the gloom and doom is removed by one fine win over a club that the media had been rather stupidly talking up after they managed to buy Edu and beat Crystal Palace, Leicester City and West Ham. But there is another point to make…
For better still, Arsenal won the game without Rice, showing that he is not indispensable after all. But Odegaard is different for with him firing on all cylinders Arsenal are very much a lesser team. Mind you with Odegaard, Saka, Partey and Nwaneri all firing at this level Arsenal are beyond even what we saw for the last two seasons, for Odegarrd somehow seems to manage and control the game even if he is not touching the ball. As Arteta said, “To manage the tempo of the game, to know when to accelerate it, to slow it down… He’s been missed.”
This upturn has come not a moment too soon because if we were to look at the last six games table, even after such a fine win, we’d need a stiff drink (which at this time of the morning must mean coffee). But in having such a look, one thing is interesting for even after yesterday’s game Arsenal are still showing only two wins in the last six league games, placing them in ninth, behind Wolverhampton!
That shows just how much of a dip this has been, caused by that lack of players which led to defeats and draws against Bournemouth, Liverpool, Newcastle and Chelsea. Now at last the road is clearer and this last six games table is most certainly going to develop in our favour in the coming weeks.
Last six games…
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 16 |
| 2 | Brighton | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 8 | +3 | 13 |
| 3 | Brentford | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 12 | +2 | 10 |
| 4 | Nottingham Forest | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 10 |
| 5 | Tottenham Ho | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 8 | +7 | 9 |
| 6 | Chelsea | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 9 |
| 7 | ManC | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 11 | -3 | 9 |
| 8 | Wolverhampton | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 12 | +2 | 8 |
| 9 | Arsenal | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 8 |
Our upcoming League matches are against West Ham United, Manchester United, Fulham and Everton.
It is a well-worn cliche, but there are no easy fixtures in this league.
This is especially true for Arsenal, because PGMOL influence is always a factor. Even yesterday, which turned out to be a comfortable win don’t forget the strange VAR offside to deny Timber’s goal, 3 very dubious yelllow cards in the first half given to Arsenal, Forest allowed to kick the ball away at free kicks, free kicks given against us but not for us and a dangerous foul on Saliba at the end ignored after a supposed VAR check
This is not new, but is clearly being reinforced this season. Now that 115 City are dropping points, referees will have to work even harder on their behalf.