- Sporting Clube Portugal v Arsenal: how the clubs have been doing
- Why is so much blogging and journalism about Arsenal so appallingly negative?
By Tony Attwood
It seems that the notion that this, that and everything else is fixed is spreading rather rapidly, as today we hear that just as with the draw for the last round of the FA Cup, so today’s draw has again been fixed.
There are several points that emerge from this. Now that the media is regularly giving publicity to claims of fixing in every part of the game, does this help convince the average fan that everything IS fixed, or does it make those fans and newspapers who report such things seem ever more idiotic?
It seems to me an important issue because there is something singularly wrong with Premier League football and the way it is refereed as we keep reporting, but the focus on wild claims about fixing the draw in the FA Cup with absolutely no evidence obviously reduces the impact of more serious reports of soemthing be wrong with such issues as the delay in handling the Manchester City charges, and the way the same referees seee the same clubs over and over again during the season.
But we have a game coming up, so I must move on, not least as there is of course one very big link between Arsenal and Sporting and that is Viktor Gyökeres who in July last year moved to Arsenal for around 66 million Euros (around £57.5m). Since then in the league, he has played 29 games and scored 11 goals, picking up four yellow cards. He played four games in the League Cup with one goal, and has had eight Champions League games where he also also scored four goals.
So that is 16 goals so far in his first season in English football with English referees, which to me seems a very good return thus far for a player who is experiencing the vagaries of the English game for the first time.
Much has been made of the fact that this leaves him only sixth in the Premier League, having put away only half the number of goals Haaland has scored, and indeed below the 12 that Danny Welbeck has knocked in for Brighton.
But the reality is that League places are based on all the goals scored by a club, not the goals of one player, and if we look at the league in terms of goals scored, Arsenal are top. Yes, only by one goal, but still top, because part of the Arsenal approach is not to let the opposition clubs know where the goals are going to come from
| 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 | 31 | 15 | 10 | 6 | 56 | 43 | 13 | 55 |
| 6 | Chelsea | 31 | 13 | 9 | 9 | 53 | 38 | 15 | 48 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 31 | 14 | 7 | 10 | 50 | 42 | 8 | 49 |
Furthermore, there is no doubt that each league has its own foibles, and I have no doubt that Gyökeres’ goal tally will increase as he gets ever more used to English football, English referees, and the rest of the team.
So moving on to tomorrow’s game, Sporting are currently second in their league, and we can compare their results after 27 games with Arsenal’s at the same point in the English season…
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 27 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 52 | 20 | 32 | 58 |
| 2 | Sporting | 27 | 21 | 5 | 1 | 72 | 17 | 55 | 68 |
That does make it look as if they are outshining Arsenal, but as we have noticed, the Portuguese league is somewhat weaker in depth than the Premier League. And the fact that, despite recent rumours to the contrary, there is still no end to the ManC dispute over their finances, does suggest that the League clubs are resolute in their willingness to resign en masse from the league and then set up a new league specifically without ManC in it. That threat remains, and ManC are still offering no other solution.
But back to Sporting – they have a good set of results in their league this season, but generally are playing weaker teams, and that lack of experience against tougher opposition could be part of their undoing.
In the first part of the Champions League season, Sporting, like Arsenal, finished in the elite top eight group, which meant they did not have to play in the extra knockout round. That final table was
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 4 | +19 | 24 |
| 2 | Bayern Munich | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 8 | +14 | 21 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 20 | 8 | +12 | 18 |
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 7 | +10 | 17 |
| 5 | Barcelona | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 22 | 14 | +8 | 16 |
| 6 | Chelsea | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 10 | +7 | 16 |
| 7 | Sporting CP | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 11 | +6 | 16 |
| 8 | Manchester City | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 9 | +6 | 16 |
The club’s current stadium was built for the 2004 Uefa final, and alongside the ground itself, it includes a shopping area, offices, apartments, and the like. It hosted the 2005 UEFA Cup Final and can hold 50,095 spectators. There is a multi-sport arena next to the stadium as well, and it has been used for the Women’s Champions L:eague final.
More news shortly….
