- Fulham v Arsenal: the political fall out and the teams
- Fulham v Arsenal: tackles, fouls and yellow cards: surprising statitics indeed
By Tony Attwood
We don’t have the opportunity to do a detailed write-up on this afternoon’s win, which adds something to everyone else’s commentaries, but we do have a few bits and pieces of statistics.
Such as goalscorers. The media rave about Haaland and yes he is remarkable with 28 goals this season. But if we look at goals scored across the team, we can see that three of the Premier League scorers in double figures (as of 4pm Sunday) are Arsenal men.
| 1. | Erling Haaland | 28 | |
| 2. | Harry Kane | 20 | |
| 3. | Ivan Toney | 15 | |
| 4. | Marcus Rashford | 14 | |
| 5. | Gabriel Martinelli | 12 | |
| 6. | Aleksandar Mitrovic | 11 | |
| 6. | Mohamed Salah | 11 | |
| 8. | Miguel Almirón | 10 | |
| 8. | Rodrigo | 10 | |
| 8. | Bukayo Saka | 10 | |
| 8. | Martin Ødegaard | 10 |
No other club has more than one player in the top 11.
And not only are we the top-performing team away from home in the Premier League, we are just so far above everyone else.
Away matches only
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 14 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 28 | 9 | 19 | 34 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 14 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 24 | 12 | 12 | 27 |
| 3 | Manchester United | 13 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 17 | 27 | -10 | 20 |
But what of the future? Well, in the last couple of seasons we have shown that the run that the club is on is important – something that is only noted by the media when the run for Arsenal is a negative one.
And writing immediately after the Arsenal game we can see the current form of the top clubs reveals that just two of the top four places are held by teams conventionally thought of as the big six or seven.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 22 | 9 | 13 | 22 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 22 | 11 | 11 | 22 |
| 3 | Brentford | 10 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 17 | 8 | 9 | 19 |
| 4 | Brighton & Hove | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 22 | 12 | 10 | 18 |
As for the rest, Tottenham are fifth in the “last 10” table which is one of the best indicators of form that we have, Manchester United are sixth, Liverpool eighth, Newcastle ninth, Chelsea 13th.
Of course this is all likely to be changed again with the later kick offs, by which time we’ll be in the car travelling, but we’ll be back tomorrow morning with updated thoughts on just where this leaves Arsenal in terms of winning the title (apart from obviously being top at the end of this weekend)
I can only hope you enjoyed the game today as much we I did
Tony.
Oh yes I am Tony.
Heart wrenching, pulse racing, nerve shredding, last second wins are one thing, and it has to be said, an experience to behold.
Feet up, Cigar on walks in the park, are another thing altogether.
At the end of the day, both are a fine way to spend a Saturday, or indeed a Sunday afternoon.
Just think how much bigger the lead at the top of he table would be but for the numerous VAR injustices which have cost us points.
Yes John L, we are sure of at least 2 points of the Brentford match…. so we should have been 7 points clear by now…
Wonder how many games of suspension Ten Hag will get for criticizing the referee…
Casemiro sure looks like the next Xhaka… who suddenly rarely gets booked again…wonder why ?
PGMOL is breaking at the seams. It is funny to see Manure now feeling robbed by their incompetence.
The issue is not going away. And it is not an Arsenal issue anymore.
The shit is starting to hit the fan.
Never has Arsène-inspired Untold’s ‘Football should be an art” banner seemed as relevant as it is at the moment
At times you end up being under the weird impression that some of the opponents are feeling like just downing tools so as to better enjoy the show
And this squad is the youngest in the league, and lads like Norton-Cuffy, Patino, Balogun (who scored a winner again today) are about to come home where they belong, and some of the U18s (Walters, Sousa, Lewis-Skelly, Cozier-Duberry, Rosiak, Nwaneri …) are outstanding prospects, and etc, etc …
What a time to be an Arsenal fan
Walter, yes – Then the numerous not-given penalties at Southampton and against Newcastle, as well as Bournemouth. Definitely more goals if not points.
LE GALL
“At times you end up being under the weird impression that some of the opponents are feeling like just downing tools so as to better enjoy the show”
I know what you mean, although not so much ‘downing tools’ as being bedazzled. Maybe that’s what chasing shadows does to a man.
Either way I hope they’re enjoying the show as much as we are, though some somehow I doubt it.
@Le Gall,
Absolutely, everybody ought to just sit back and enjoy the ride. We are blessed to witness this dawning of a new Arsenal age/team – this is how I see it.
And Mr Arteta is a really worthy successor to Mr Wenger. I hope he stays here for years and years to come.
to add that was Arteta’s 100th win and his win rate is at like 59%!!!
Only three Arsenal players have managed to score ten goals or more in the Premier League this season.
Arsenal are the only club in the Premier League fielding three players who have scored ten goals or more this season.
Both statements are true, but only one is honest.
Still haven’t beaten any team above them in the table in ages.
One highlight was late in the game with Partey making a mug of 2 Fulham players with a wonderful dummy.
Coote ,in the first few minutes, made us move a yard back to take a throw in from “the correct place” but late in the game the ball went out near the corner.
Fulham took the throw about level with the penalty area. On Saturday evening I watched Manchester City gain yards taking throw ins. The usual
inconsistency.
Also, ref took no action over first predictable first foul on Saka in the opening minutes – I thought it a definite yellow or a possible red, Then, just so he could issue a yellow card, he decided to give it to Odegaard for a simple foul, near the Fulham penalty area which seemed neither “cynical” nor dangerous to an opponent.
John L
I thought that too regarding that early foul on Saka. As you say, 100% a yellow, a possible red although personally a think those sort of reds should be reserved for Xhaka or else we may see a shift in the Earths orbit.
Again personally I thought Saka had his poorest game for a while. I Just thought he couldn’t make his mark.
Maybe that early assault did the trick? Maybe he’s getting in the back of his head, ‘here we go again’?
I hope not. I doubt it in fact. But you never know when someone just gets kicked once too often.
With players coming back maybe a well deserved rest is due?
@Nitram,
Xhaka seems to have been replaced by Casemiro. No idea if he deserved it or not, but 2 straight reds in 25 or so games…that is Xhakaesque.
I think Nothingham raised an official complaint with PGMOL
https://www.espn.com/soccer/nottingham-forest-engnottm_forest/story/4898820/premier-league-referees-body-at-odds-with-nottingham-forest-over-complaints-sources?utm_source=artifact
Slowly the way they display their incompetence game after game is starting to be shown. Official steps are being taken, coaches start to criticise poor and inconsistent decisions openly.
We may be witnessing the unraveling of that incompetent and moronic organisation.
Chris
Regarding Xhakas fall in cards, that could be down to the fact he’s pretty much given up tackling altogether and thereby significantly reduced his fouls and card numbers.
These are his PL tackles and fouls per game stats since joining Arsenal:
Season – Tackles – fouls
17 / 18 – 2.1 – 1.5
18 / 19 – 1.8 – 1.6
19 / 20 – 1.5 – 1.8
20 / 21 – 1.6 – 1.3
21 / 22 – 1.2 – 1.1
22 / 23 – 0.8 – 0.7
As you can see, baring a couple of tiny glitch’s, both are decreasing every season. It seems if you don’t tackle they cannot accuse you of fouling or indeed issue a card on the back of it.
These are Casemiros PL tackle/foul stats for this season
3.1 Tackles per match
1.8 fouls per match
As you can see that is way beyond Xhakas numbers, in fact exceeding his highest ever tackle rate by some margin, and matching his worst ever foul number.
It seems he’s ‘pushing his luck’ so to speak, especially when so many of his tackles can be put in the ‘desperate’ category at the very least. Basically he’s asking for trouble.
I see that PGMOL are back onside with the PIF project. Pope should have received a red card for bringing down Jiminez, and the first Newcastle goal came from a free-kick wrongly awarded against Jiminez.
I watched Dermot Gallagher trying to justify Pope’s continued presence on the pitch and was not surprised. Merely incredulous.
Newcastle will have to work on their stamina levels for next season, because Collina will expect them to play for more than 60 minutes.
@seismic,
don’t hold your breadth…you can be sure the new time wasting rules will be ruthlessly used according to referee bias, like VAR has turnoud out to be. PGMOL will always find a reason to adapt rules and tweak them.
That being said, when managers like Mr Arteta decide to change the way their team plays and cut the grass under PGMOL feet like was doen with tackling/yellow cards, the results are affected.
@Nitram,
the ‘desperate’ category seems an important element to me. Xhaka’s role has changed. And the level at which Arsenal play is not the same anymore. And Xhaka had quite a few of these ‘deperate’ tacles in the past, yet not that many anymore because he doesn’t need to.
Casemiro, IMHO, is the canary in the coal mine signalling all and sundry that United are having trouble.
I think Casemiro has been a great buy for United overall, but you can see that he is having some problems adjusting to the pace of the Premier League. I wouldn’t be surprised if he receives another red before the end of the season after his return from suspension.
Patrick Vieira received 0 red cards in his first season for Arsenal (31 games).