Why Arsenal are doing so well, and Tottenham are doing so badly.

 

 

By Tony Attwood

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Last season, Arsenal had the second-best away form in the league, gaining just three points fewer than Liverpool away from home… with just two defeats in the whole campaign.   

And now we might compare that previous campaign with where we have got to so far in this season. Arsenal got 35 points last season away from home, and looking at the table below, we can see we are already on 32 away points with three away games to go.   The defence away from home is looking better too, but the number of goals scored is down by nine.  But we seem to be quite able to win games without scoring many goals, and in the end, it is the points that count.

But whatever happens with the scoring, the chance of Arsenal outdoing last season’s away form remains a possibility – and that is rather pleasing given just how far we are above the away form of Chelsea.

2025/26 away form.

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal	16	9	5	2	26	13	13	32
2	Chelsea	16	7	4	5	30	21	9	25
3	Manchester City	15	7	4	4	24	17	7	25
4	Everton	15	7	3	5	16	16	0	24

 

Now, all this seems quite reasonable.   But mention of Chelsea takes me on to a different point, and one that I find rather interesting.  Chelsea are second in the league in terms of away form, although quite a distance away from Arsenal.   Which leads me to wonder about the difference between home and away form for various clubs.   For there are a couple of clubs whose form is the reverse of what we would normally expect.   And you may have guessed I am going to start with Tottenham.

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
9	Tottenham Hotspur away	15	5	5	5	22	22	0	20
20	Tottenham Hotspur home	16	2	4	10	18	28	-10	10

 

This really is rather extraordinary – to have HALF the number of points at home compared with points away from home – and that after playing one more home game than away game this season!   Chelsea are not that bad, but they too are doing BETTER away from home than at home…

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
2	Chelsea away	16	7	4	5	30	21	9	25
12	Chelsea home	15	6	5	4	23	17	6	23

Chelsea away are not gaining that many more points than Chelsea at home but even so the fact is that they are getting a slightly better points total away, and they are scoring more goals away from home.  And I wonder why that is.

For this, of course, is rather unusual – for the fact is that there are, for most teams, more home wins in a season than there are away wins.  There are many reasons for this – the lack of travel disruptions, the home club’s familiarity with the changing rooms and the ground, the volume of the home support, and so on.

So what might turn this normal benefit to the home team upside down, and give the away team an extra advantage?  (And of course, I do know that in Chelsea’s case, there is no real difference between home and away, but even that is very unusual.  But they are not doing as well at home as we might expect, so I think they are worth considering here.)  

I think the answer is pretty obvious – the home support have in each case have turned on their club owners, and perhaps even to some degree on their team.   Instead of supporting their team, the home support is more interested in telling the board what they think of them – and to some degree what they think of the team as well.

So it is a viable notion to suggest that the decline in Tottenham’s performance this season and the growing chance that they might actually get relegated is down to the decline in their home form, which in turn is caused in part at least, by the way the fans are reacting to their team.

Of course, being an Arsenal supporter, I am quite happy to see this happen, and I feel safe making this suggestion here because I doubt any Tottenham fans, and certainly none of the Totty hierarchy read my words of wisdom.

But this does raise an important point for Arsenal, and indeed for all clubs.   The clubs need the home support, and if they lose that, slippage down the table can happen.  The media (especially with Arsenal) are always keen to point out what is going wrong, and we are the only ones who can stand up against the press.

Yet I would also say it is quite reasonable for home supporters to expect something back in return.   We demand quality transfers to bring in new players, and for all players to give 100% in every game.   After all, they are paid infinitely more than we are.   They are indeed paid to be there, while we have to pay for the privilege of getting into the ground.

Now I have no absolute proof that Tottenham’s decline in home form is down to the treatment they get from their own fans – and indeed I would say the prime blame lies with the owners of Tottenham H, with their ceaseless policy of changing managers every month, that has caused their demise.   But we do have an impact, in terms of what happens at the game, and maybe even a little bit in terms of what is written in blogs.

So yes, I am quite happy with the response of Tottenham supporters to the current situation – although really you should find some way to get at the owners rather than the players.