Max on the rise as the neighbours sink down and down

 

 

• Are English clubs really exhausted before they take on Europe?

By Tony Attwood

There was a comment from Walter yesterday that, to me summed everything up, along the lines of, “What will they have to moan about now?”

And yes for football journalists and their ultra negative editors, that must be the problem.  For they are all so used to saying how awful Arsenal are, now they find themselves stuck with one of the biggest positive news stories in years.

And that is before we even start to contemplate the league table…

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal	31	21	7	3	61	22	39	70
2	Manchester City	30	18	7	5	60	28	32	61
3	Manchester United	29	14	9	6	51	40	11	51
4	Aston Villa	29	15	6	8	39	34	5	51

 

Still, the ManCs do have a game in hand, which could reduce our lead to just six points. but their draw with WHAM was pretty unimpressive.  And of course our celebrations over Max’s goal were so great we forgot to celebrate the Tottenham score … a 1-3 home defeat to the mighty Palace.

Of course we have to feel sorry for the journaliss (a bit like one might feel sorry for a dog with an injured leg) but the Telegraph headline on such a day, “The reasons behind Bukayo Saka’s performance dip for Arsenal” really is pushing it a bit.

So we have the most points (obviously), the best defence  (six goals fewer conceded than ManC and they have a game more to play), the best goals difference (unless ManC win their next game 8-0) and nine more points than ManC, although that could reduce to six if they win their game in hand.

But I wondered how we compared with Liverpool at this point last season.   We might recall that by the 31 game mark Liverpool were being lauded constantly as the team of the age (whatever happened to that claim?), and they were indeed top of the league.    And yes, we must admit it, after 31 games last season Liverpool were doing better than Arsenal this season…. but not by that much.as the table below shows.

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Liverpool 2025	31	22	7	2	72	30	42	73
1	Arsenal 2026	31	21	7	3	61	22	39	70

 

So yes Arsenal still have a way to go – three points in fact and a goal difference of three as well – to match the Liverpool of this season.   But let us also not forget how that was something of a one-off, because if we compare Arsenal and Liverpool this season, we can see just how far Liverpool have slipped.   Oh, and I will throw in Tottenham as well, because it is always good to start the day with a bit of a smile.

 

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal	31	21	7	3	61	22	39	70
6	Liverpool	29	14	6	9	48	39	9	48
16	Tottenham Hotspur	29	7	8	14	39	46	-7	29

 

Still Tottenham do have two games in hand on Arsenal – just as Liverpool do.

But the fact remains that being good one season is really never enough.   We are all surely enjoying Arsenal this season, but in five months’ time we will all be demanding that Arsenal do it all again.    But then again, Max will be that little bit older by then and so presumably be getting more games.

However, with our match done and dusted and maybe the sore throats will have allowed a little bit of coherent conversation by then, we should not forget that in the early evening we now have Liverpool v Tottenham.

Now it is a game that I never quite know how to approach.  Perhaps I want a boring goalless draw with five players sent off from each side…

Though the point about Tottenham (if one can ever say that there is a point about Tottenham) is that they have one point more than Nottingham Forest, who are 18th, both clubs having played the same number of games.   And Tottenham have just lost six games in a row in League and Champions League, conceding 18 goals and scoring six.

In their last six games (during the course of which, you may recall, Arsenal have suffered quite a lot of criticism in the media because of their alleged style of play), the Gunners have knocked in 12 goals and conceded four.    So, just to pull that together, 6-18 for Tottenham and 12-4 for Arsenal.   That seems to be quite a difference to me.

Here’s the detail from the lower reaches, remembering the 18th club goes down.

 

But let’s go back to Max – the youngest scorer in the history of the Premier League.  Mind you, he has achieved that by playing a few games for the top scoring team in the Premier League.   We shouldn’t forget that either.