- Totties get a win and race up to 16th, but are still a very long way behind Arsenal
- Arsenal continue to develop their own secret code
By Tony Attwood
And so we approach just about the biggest game of them all – Bayern Munich away tomorrow at 8pm. A win would stop even the most rabid journalist from knocking Arsenal – at least until they found some excuses about Bayern missing several top players because someone has been poisoning their pre-match soup.
But they are still right up the top – or almost right up the top, having played six won four and drawn two. Or perhaps even more frightening, they have scored 22 goals and conceded five.
Of course they will be slightly distracted by events in the German league since Borussia Dortmund have the same number of points after six games as Bayern although with a much inferior goal difference. And those top two are only one point above Freiburg. But then again on 17th October, Bayern Munich did beat RB Leipzig 6-1.
But on the other hand if we just focus on the European games the table reads as below, and you might be interested to see who has the best defence and just how many goals have been let in. Curiously I have not heard anyone on the English media mention that – although perhaps I was making a cup of tea at the time.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1: Paris Saint-Germain
|
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 6 |
|
2: Barcelona
|
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 6 |
|
3: Aston Villa
|
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 6 |
|
4: Stuttgart
|
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
|
5: Liverpool
|
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
|
6: Sporting CP
|
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
|
7: Arsenal
|
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
This seventh position, of course, doesn’t mean that Arsenal are in danger of dropping out of the magical top eight – there are six more games to go and finishing in the top eight is all that matters – which position in the top eight is neither here nor there. And of course this table doesn’t show Bayern since they chaotically dropped two points by drawing 3-3 draw with Viking FK in the last round while we were busy knocking Lille around 3-0. (Bayern are currently 10th in the league – and rather amusingly Real Mad are eighth.)
So their results from the ludicrous international stoppage have been 2-2 away to Augsburg, 3-3 away to Viking FK and then a 6-1 defeat of Leipzig at home last saturday in the league.
And really they have been a bit erratic this year as for example just managing a 2-1 away win against Elversberg, but then following that up with a 7-0 home victory over Union Berlin. It’s all a bit up and down with no one quite sure which Bayern is going to turn up at the next game!
But although there are little snippets of problems emerging, the fact is that Bayern haven’t been beaten this season and have scored 25 goals in their last six matches including scoring at least one in each of the last 23 Champions League games. And even more daunting, they are on a run of 39 unbeaten in the Champions League home games in the group stage. The only thing one can say is that all such runs come to an end sometime.
Of course Arsenal do have the perfect Champions League defence this season and that is causing a bit of head scratching among potential opposition teams. And the fact is that there is nothing wrong with Arsenal’s attack nor its midfield, it is just that they not seeing an end product. But that is going to end soon, and this game would be a perfect time and place.
So here is the comparison of the two clubs encounters in the league so far…
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Bayern Munich
|
6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 5 | 17 | 14 |
|
Arsenal
|
7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 18 |
This is where we can see that, indeed, Arsenal are outperforming other teams. Bayern do of course have the benefit of being able to knock in multiple goals against rather moderate teams in the German league, but Arsenal have the benefit of playing tough opposition almost every match. Thus we do come much better prepared for the Champions League games than those clubs in leagues where the same two or three clubs win the cups and league title every season.
Indeed nowhere is more prone to this problem than the German league where Bayern have won the league 13 times in the last 14 seasons. That may give their fans plenty to shout about but they get far less practice than Arsenal do at playing teams that can match them move for move, goal for goal.
Following this match Arsenal have a home game against Everton on Saturday 24 October at 3pm which will give a chance to swap the team around a bit. Of the four players out only Kepa is showing any signs of being ready to play again. Tzolis, Reyna and Saliba are still out, although it is said that Saliba continues to make excellent progress.
Next weekend’s league game is against Everton who are sitting eighth in the league table after two wins, four draws and one defeat, so although that suggests they will put up quite a fight and possibly aim for a draw, they should be beatable.
Hence Arsenal will go into this match much more prepared to take on opposition of this quality that Bayern will.
