- Arsenal v Bournemouth. Arsenal’s amazing 44 goals in 13 games, and a desire for a refund
- Is 2023/4 this Arsenal’s last chance of a Premier League title?
By Bulldog Drummond
An advert within the article “Trevoh Chalobah and Nicolas Jackson head Chelsea to win against Tottenham” when it first appeared was headlined “Support a donkey” although that seems to have changed now. Perhaps the publishers through that putting that headline within an article about Tottenham Hots seemed a bit unfair on donkeys. But it does include the comment that “a certain inevitability about how Spurs were unhinged.” Indeed.
But we cannot spend all our time dallying around the misfortuned of Tottenham Ho, although I might come back to it, but first, what have we learned of late?
Arsenal are still the top-scoring team, and the best defensive team, although a 4-0 defeat for Arsenal and a 3-0 victory for Abu Dhabi City could put the latter club on an equal goal difference, with equal goals scored and equal defensive record.
I suppose that if that were the case at the end of the season the clubs would be separated on the basis of number of cases being considered against each club, and Manchester City would win 110-0.
But meanwhile, what we also know is that Tottenham have just lost three in a row, scoring two and conceding nine. And this must be a little bit of a worry for the owners, although seemingly not the fans, who appear to be utterly convinced that the new stadium is going to mean mega money for transfers. I’m more of the view that other clubs might be more worried about Tottenham’s ability to pay their debts.
For it already seems likely that Tottenham won’t make the Champions League next season, which I rather thnk was part of their financial targets. But worse they might not even make the Europa League if the current form continues.
And even if they did make it, is there not some punishment still lurking in the background concerning the way they failed to complete their fixture list the last time they were in that august competition?
Of course not getting sixth spot is unlikely – it would mean Tottenham losing their remaining four games and Manchester United and Newcastle United each getting two wins and a draw out of their four games remaining. So the Tinies are probably ok.
And for Tottenham not to make Europe would mean a run of good results for Chelsea, leaving them knocking on the door in the final game, but that seems rather unlikely.
So back to the league table…
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 35 | 25 | 5 | 5 | 85 | 28 | 57 | 80 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 34 | 24 | 7 | 3 | 82 | 32 | 50 | 79 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 35 | 22 | 9 | 4 | 77 | 36 | 41 | 75 |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 35 | 20 | 7 | 8 | 73 | 52 | 21 | 67 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 34 | 18 | 6 | 10 | 67 | 54 | 13 | 60 |
| 6 | Manchester United | 34 | 16 | 6 | 12 | 52 | 51 | 1 | 54 |
| 7 | Newcastle United | 34 | 16 | 5 | 13 | 74 | 55 | 19 | 53 |
| 8 | Chelsea | 34 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 65 | 59 | 6 | 51 |
And if you have one more moment do have a look at the range of goal differences in this group of eight clubs. It runs between +1 for Manchester United (of whom it has oft been said) up to +57 for Arsenal. I am sure there have been bigger gaps before but I am not quite sure when.
Anyway, back to Bournemouth tomorrow (although not literally since the game is at Arsenal Stadium). We touched on the last six games a couple of articles back, but not with a comparison of Arsenal and their opposition this weekend. So…
Bournemouth are eighth in the last six games table and Arsenal second…
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 4 | +15 | 16 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 4 | +11 | 15 |
| 3 | Newcastle | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 7 | +8 | 13 |
| 4 | Everton | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 13 |
| 5 | Chelsea | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 12 | +4 | 11 |
| 6 | Aston Villa | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 10 | +3 | 11 |
| 7 | Crystal Palace | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 8 | +3 | 10 |
| 8 | Bournemouth | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 10 |
So that puts us on a good footing to begin with. But let us compare, as we normally do, the two clubs on home and away, according to the fixture details.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal home | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 5 | +11 | 15 |
| 9 | Bournemouth away | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 10 | -2 | 7 |
So on that basis with Arsenal knocking up getting on for three goals a home game and Bournemouth conceding towards two goals an away game, we could have another high scoring match. Although as we have seen in the past Bournemouth do have some pesky tricks up their sleeves. As the Guardian put it at the time
“…Bournemouth feinting to send the ball towards five players who had lined up to the left of the centre circle but instead clipping it to the right side and an open Dango Ouattara.”
Given the nuances Arsenal have been slipping into their game of late I am not sure we are going to be caught out by that one again. And indeed that is the problem with little duplicities like that. They are legal and they can work – but only once (unless the opposition truly is a bunch of dodos).
More later
Ben White & Saliba’s antics at corners are now being highlighted by all and sundry , newspapers , Sky and of course social media . I have seen Jover’s part getting attention too . I think that we can look forward to excess scrutiny from VAR if we score from a corner or set piece.
I can understand the media looking for a story but for so called Arsenal fans spreading it all over their facebook pages , have they no concern for the consequences.
Entirely agree Porter, but many of these fans are more concerned to big themselves up with such a story than to support the club.
Can you stop making stuff up regarding Spurs and their finances. Utter rubbish. Spurs have delivered 3 of the top 10 profit making seasons in football ever, 2 of which were before the new stadium. They have the 7th highest wage bill, so expenditure is relatively low. They have traditionally a low net spend, and haven’t spent the Kane monies yet. All before the highest grossing match day receipts at the new stadium and major externally generated stadium rentals from NFL and Beyoncé etc. The ENIC model is to sweat the asset to generate revenue, which Spurs are very good at, no point denying this. Their problem isnt paying the debt on transfer fees, it’s more likely that Levy won’t actually spend anything……stop guessing mate.
I will be following Ben White’s antics very closely . So much fun at corners and freekicks . But being from the old school whose only concern is to get at the ball first , I still wonder at how players are being manipulated into facing away from the in coming ball . That they grapple and push with impunity and run the risk of giving away a penalty or two .
Am hoping for us to keep a clean sheet , and score a few to boost our goal for tally.
Up the Gunners !
I think we’ll all be watching very closely!
I am not sure your comment actually addresses the question of who is paying for the stadiium and how. But as for the question of “making up” since you give no sources for what you say, how do we know about the veracity of your comments?