By Bulldog Drummond
- Is Mr Gillett unconsciously biased in any way, or does he treat teams equally
- How referees are now penalising Arsenal for tackles, but letting other clubs run free
The last ten Arsenal v Tottenham games have all been in the League and they take in the period from 1 September 2019 to 28 April 2024.
Five wins to Arsenal, two draws (both at Arsenal) and three wins to Tottenham (all down the Lane). Arsenal have scored 18 and Tottenham have scored 17. However, looked at slightly differently Tottenham have only won one of the last seven.
In fact going all the way back to 1896 Arsenal have won 87, Tottenham have won 67 and 55 have been drawn. These results however include the very early matches which took place in the Southern and District Combination League, the United League and the London League, rather than the Football League or Premier League.
They are included because they were first team games, but take out those 14 games played before the two clubs were both in the Football League, and matters change a bit, since in those early days Arsenal struggled and only won five out of the 14 matches played in these early leagues. In the Football League and Premier League Arsenal have won 82, Tottenham 61, and 52 have been draws. (It’s an odd number because these figures include cup matches as well as league matches).
Arsenal have also won the league 13 times and the FA Cup 14 times. Tottenham have won the league twice, the second division twice and the FA Cup eight times.
But what about recent times – how do the teams compare? In the past ten years, Arsenal have finished above Tottenham four times, while Tottenham have finished above Arsenal six times – this giving some Tottenham supporters a sense of undeserved superiority.
“Undeserved” because beneath that grand total there is the fact that while Arsenal finished above Tottenham by 23 and 24 points in the last two seasons, and in the past ten years Tottenham have achieved nothing remotely like that. Their average points above Arsenal, when they have finished higher, has been 5.6 – a rather paltry total by comparison. In fact their biggest gap ever was 11, which Arsenal obviously exceeded in the last two seasons.
Thus for Tottenham (although hardly mentioned in the media) the issue is not so much overtaking Arsenal but rather trying to find some way of closing the enormous gap between the clubs.
Indeed if we look at the table for the last two seasons we can see just how enormous a gap that has emerged between the clubs.
2023/24
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Arsenal | 38 | 28 | 5 | 5 | 91 | 29 | 62 | 89 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 20 | 6 | 12 | 74 | 61 | 13 | 66 |
| Arsena superiority | +8 | +17 | +49 | +23 |
2022/23
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Arsenal | 38 | 26 | 6 | 6 | 88 | 43 | 45 | 84 |
| 8 | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 18 | 6 | 14 | 70 | 63 | 7 | 60 |
| Arsenal superiority | +8 | +18 | +38 | +24 |
Obviously such tables don’t mean that Tottenham cannot catch Arsenal up, but they do show what much of the media reporting fails to show, that Arsenal are a very long way ahead of Tottenham. Indeed the gap in the last two seasons has been bigger than the gap between the clubs the last time Tottenham were relegated, that being in 1977.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Arsenal | 42 | 16 | 11 | 15 | 64 | 59 | 5 | 43 |
| 22 | Tottenham Hotspur | 42 | 12 | 9 | 21 | 48 | 72 | -24 | 33 |
| Arsennal superiority | +4 | +16 | +29 | +10 |
Hardly Arsenal’s greatest moment, but the club certainly was no relegated. (And of course only two points for a win in those days).
Inevitably however such historic matters are of no concern of the media who won’t ever do heritage issues where Arsenal are concerned. Instead the media tell us that Arteta finished “behind Tottenham in each of his first three seasons,” and that at this moment “Arsenal attempt to finally emerge from the shadows of Arsène Wenger’s Invincibles and rekindle supporters’ dreams.”
Would you agree that Arsenal are today living in the shadow of Arsene Wenger? I can’t see that at all. Wenger himself has kept a respectful distance from the club, returning for the unveiling of his statue (a monument that Untold suggested to the Chief Executive of the day, Ivan Gazidis, at a meeting between members of the Arsenal Independent Supporters Assn and Gazidis at the stadium – it was in fact Untold Arsenal that put the idea forward).
But the fact is that over the past five years Tottenham have racked up between 60 and 71 points., never getting remotely close to Arsenal’s totals of 84 and 89.
Of course the injuries to Arsenal players will help them a bit – all Tottenham have missing are Richarlison de Andrade who injured himself in training in some undefined way (which usually means a punch up with a fellow player although I have no information to confirm that) and Richarlison de Andrade who will have a late fitness test after what is described on Premier Injuries as a “Groin/Hip/Pelvic Injury”
