By Tony Attwood
- Arsenal fixture list may push clubs into battle with countries
- Are Arsenal on track to reach the all-time record number of points?
In 1998/9 Manchester United beat Arrsenal to the trophy by one point and a goal difference of one goal. But the way the two clubs got their goal difference couldn’t have been much different. Arsenal let in 20 goals fewer but scored 21 goals fewer.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | GA | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester United | 38 | 22 | 13 | 3 | 80 | 37 | 43 | 79 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 38 | 22 | 12 | 4 | 59 | 17 | 42 | 78 |
This season however, with ManC and Arsenal having played, like all the other clubs except two, the same number of games, there’s a real difference in the goal scoring departments.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 3 | 15 | 25 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 20 | 8 | 12 | 19 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 10 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 18 | 14 | 4 | 18 |
| 4 | AFC Bournemouth | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 14 | 3 | 18 |
Now Arsenal have scored only two goals scored behind ManC (who apparently have a robot scoring) and although they do seemingly have, (we must admit), an amazing machine scoring eight times as many goals as his nearest rival in Man City team, Arsenal have nine players who have scored either as many as or more goals than ManC’s second highest scorer. True, Man city have scored two more goals than Arsenal in the league, all told, but lurking in there is that weakness. If something happens to Haaland they could well be caught out.
But of course, it is not just a defensive matter. Although, as the Telegraph says today, “Arsenal’s defence is so good their goalkeeper is football’s best-paid spectator,” which is rather droll. And just to add to a smile on my face this morning, there is another headline from that paper: “Thomas Frank was publicly blanked on the pitch by both Djed Spence and Micky van de Ven when the Tottenham Hotspur manager asked both of them to turn around and applaud the home support after a dismal 1-0 home defeat to rivals Chelsea.” Such prima donas.
Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the League Cup games, Arsenal have let it be known that they object to the notion from the Palace that the League Cup quarter final between the two clubs should be played on 23 December, rather than 16 December.
Arsenal have voiced strong opposition to Crystal Palace’s request that their Carabao Cup quarter-final be played on 23 December, with Mikel Arteta insisting it would not be fair to make both teams play two matches in little more than 48 hours.
The tie is scheduled for Tuesday, 16 December as part of a run of three matches in five days for Crystal Palace, who have a Premier League game at home to Manchester City two days earlier and a Conference League fixture against KuPS on 18 December. (The Conference League is the League Palace were demoted to because of joint ownership arguments).
But we should remember also that Arsenal themselves have eight games in the books to be played between the 3rd and 30th December. Palace offered to play the game on Christmas Eve but the Met police said they would not have enough officers on duty to prevent trouble (these Palace fans can be a rowdy bunch at times), and Transport for London said they would not have enough station staff and train drivers, or come to that, bus drivers who are deemed to be fairly important for such occasions.
Arsenal have particularly made the point that all competitors and the League itself knew what the situation would be like if a Champions League club made it this far in the League Cup (and such an eventuality was hardly unlikely), and so made their decision. For Palace to object now, just because it doesn’t suit them, is, Arsenal say, totally unreasonable. They could have made their objections known when the fixture list was proposed in the first place. Their lack of faith in their own ability to get this far should not be a reasonable excuse for them to be able to object at the last minute.
The Palacial manager claimed that the current arrangements were “dangerous” and “irresponsible”, although apparently not as dangerous as playing without security teams and police.
But in a radical move, Mikel Arteta is reported as saying that Arsenal and Palace could consider refusing to play if the League could not give them a date with which they both could agree.
However, of course, all this is for the future; for now, we have the Brentford game on Wednesday. Early news is that Martinelli and Saliba will still be out, along with Ødegaard, Kai Havertz and Noni Madueke. The earliest these players could return is for the Tottenham game on 23 November.
“Brentford game on Wednesday”???