By Tony Attwood
As you may know I’m a season ticket holder at Arsenal, but live in the Midlands, so each home game is about a 175 miles round trip, so in later life the temptation to go to away games is not there.
But home games I enjoy, and the rest I watch on TV, and although it would be going too far to say I was actually supporting Tottenham against Manchester United, my companions did suggest that a slight chuckle emerged from my throat when their final goal went in.
Of course no matter what the result was Arsenal were going to stay top, but that draw, so vibrantly celebrated by Radio 5 and Tottenham supporters generally, means Arsenal are in a better position, without Tottenham climbing back into those pesky Champions League places.
And of course again if you built a league table based on goals scored Arsenal would be a lowly sixth in the league, but then again if the table was based on goals conceded we’d be top. On goals difference we’d be second just two behind Manchester City.
We are in fact two points above Liverpool, three above Manchester City, six above the mighty Tottenham Hotspur who the media have be raving about (no mention of the fact that Arsenal beat them) and looking down a way we are 14 points above Chelsea. It is all rather fun.
And yes of course we must congratulate Tottenham at having got themselves into the position of being just six points behind Arsenal. A Europa place beckons.
But what of the other tables, like for example those pesky yellow cards that ultimately mean suspensions? Here’s the WhoScored latest
| Team | Fouls | Yellow Cards | Percentage of arsenal cards | Red Cards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Chelsea | 176 | 47 | 261% | 3 |
| 5. Newcastle United | 155 | 38 | 211% | 0 |
| 6. Tottenham Hots | 165 | 38 | 211% | 3 |
| 7. Aston Villa | 153 | 35 | 194% | 0 |
| 12. Manchester United | 148 | 28 | 155% | 0 |
| 14. Manchester City | 130 | 27 | 150% | 2 |
| 18. Liverpool | 162 | 23 | 127% | 4 |
| 20. Arsenal | 133 | 18 | 100% | 2 |
Those cards are starting to come home to roost for some of these teams as players are starting to miss games. and indeed in all those figures the only challengers for Arsenal is Manchester city on the single issue of fouls – they have 130 against them to Arsenal 133.
But even so (and this is the extraordinary thing for a Manchester City side), they have 55% more yellow cards than Arsenal!!!
So anyway, here’s the league table which we don’t normally publish on a Sunday evening, but I thought maybe just for a change we should…. at least just for the top half. Of course it is ludicrously too early to talk about winning the league, but I think it is helpful to have the league table on line, just for statistical purposes, you understand. And to make sure none of those pesky journalists nip in try and change it.
Or indeed in case any of those pesky clubs start trying to nick any of our points…. I wouldn’t put it past them.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 14 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 29 | 11 | 18 | 33 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 14 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 32 | 14 | 18 | 31 |
| 3 | Manchester City | 14 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 36 | 16 | 20 | 30 |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 14 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 33 | 20 | 13 | 29 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 14 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 28 | 20 | 8 | 27 |
| 6 | Newcastle United | 14 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 32 | 14 | 18 | 26 |
| 7 | Manchester United | 14 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 16 | 17 | -1 | 24 |
| 8 | Brighton and Hove Albion | 14 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 30 | 26 | 4 | 22 |
| 9 | West Ham United | 14 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 24 | 24 | 0 | 21 |
| 10 | Chelsea | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 25 | 22 | 3 | 19 |
Hope you had a good weekend.
I wonder what the outcome will be regarding the MC v Sp##s game , the surrounding of the referee , the referees performance , the micky taking of Mikel Arteta by Pep “ I’m not going to do a MA “ and lastly Haalands media outburst , an interesting few days in the media , I don’t expect much to happen .
Arsenal FC are to face an FA charge of failing to control Manchester City players on3.12.23
Mick , what you say has more 5han a few elements of truth in there. Always a negative to find in Arsenal being top and winning yet again . I think it won’t be long before teams are awarded points for artistic merit or any team seen in a red shirt with white sleeves will be carded according to the recommendations of the Pgmo fashion police.