By Bulldog Drummond
Arsenal find themselves playing Newcastle with inevitably another bit of bad injury news: Ethan Nwaneri who came off at half-time in the Brighton game after scoring, will be out for a few weeks.
Of course we can see this rush of injuries as just the luck of the draw – sometimes a club gets lots sometimes virtually none, or it can be seen as a deliberate targeting of increasingly inexperienced Arsenal players by the opposition, or a reluctance of referees to protect Arsenal players. Whichever way you call it, it is another player out.
Although to be fair, the seven players listed on the EPL Injury Table is, as before, not a number utterly out of keeping with other clubs. The lowest number is two for Liverpool, which helps explain their success this season, and the highest is 11 for Tottenham, which gives them something to ponder. Arsenal’s seven injuries puts them the sixth most injured club at present – equal with five other clubs.
But it is unfortunate to have this many men down when facing a club like Newcastle who are on a very good run (although to be fair they have eight men out according to the table.).
Yet the fact is that since 14 December Newcastle have played six and won six games in the League and League Cup….. but then again we might note that these are against such clubs as Leicester (currently 19th), Brentford (11th), Ipswich (18th), Aston Villa (8th), Manchester United (13th), and Tottingham Hots (12th). So only one of those games against a top-ten club, and that against Villa whose total goal difference in their last six games is minus one.
This outbreak of winning followed a rather different run of four Premier League games without a win – which was quite interesting for a club looking to be associated with the top clubs. For in the four games between 25 November and 7 December, there were two draws and two defeats.
But since then they have been averaging three goals a game, with only two conceded, which is good going in anyone’s estimation.
However, this alternation between a problematic streak and a winning streak reminds us yet again that almost all clubs have blips and late November and early December was exactly that for Newcastle.
In fact in the league, top of the table for the last six game is none other than Newcastle United with Arsenal sitting in fourth place.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nottingham Forest | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 3 | +10 | 18 |
| 2 | Newcastle | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 5 | +12 | 15 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 21 | 11 | +10 | 12 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 12 |
So this shows Newcastle doing somewhat better than Arsrsenal of late.
But as ever as we pointed out above, it is interesting to see who Newcastle have been playing of late in order to do so well and it is this imbalance in their opposition that could be making their results look so good at the moment. And yet what is particularly notable therefore is Newcastle’s scoring of 17 goals in their last six. Only Liverpool has exceeded this with 21 goals.
Of course, Newcasle do have the benefit this year of not playing in Europe, which obviously takes a strain on clubs like Arsenal, no matter how developed the squad.
And we must admit that Newcastle have indeed won a number of trophies although some of these were a while ago. The last of their league titles will have its centenary in a couple of years time, their fourth and final win being in 1926/27. I imagine they’ll do a special programme for the campaign. But to be fair they did come runners up two seasons running – a bit like Arsenal Although theirs was sin 1996 and 1997.
However, they have won the Championship (second division) four times, the most recent in 2017.
Their run of FA Cup triumphs ended in 1955 with their sixth win although they have been beaten finalists seven times. But the most recent almost triumph was 2023 with the League Cup where they lost in the final. They are to some degree financed by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund.
