- Two defeats in two games: what can Arsenal learn from this?
- Arsenal’s Premier League Saga So Far: Peaks and Valleys
By Bulldog Drummond
This will be game number 211 between Arsenal and Tottenham. Of the 210 already played 42% have gone Arsenal’s way 32% have gone Tottenham’s and 26% have been draws. Of the last eight games – all of which have been Premier League matches, Arsenal have won six, Tottenham have won one, and one was a draw.
This sequence of results has been a huge change from the period from December 2018 to December 2020 in which Tottenham won three and two were draws.
And these two runs – the most recent obviously in Arsenal’s favour and the previous shorter run going Tottenham’s way, shows just how things ebb and flow, although in recent times things have been flowing mostly in the direction Arsenal would want.
For example from 2000 to 2007 the clubs played each other 20 times in the League and the two domestic cups.
12 of those 20 gamees were won by Arsenal, eight were draws and oh, I just had to check this twice, none were won by Tottenham. So just to be clear, 20 matches (17 in the league and three in the cups) were played between the two, and Tottenham did not win a single one.
But to focus more on the present rather than the dim and distant, we can get a picture of how things are going at the moment by looking at the last six games table.
Now given the constant, remorseless and unending barrage of demands for Arteta to go, or at the very least for him to be spending whatever it takes on a new centre forward, you might expect that Arsenal are pretty much near the foot of that table. And given the silence about Tottenham we might expect them to be in a good position near the top. But strangely this is not the case. And so in order to give the full impact of the table, I will put the complete “Last Six Games” table below, rather than the normal extracts from the table.
And yes as we can see, across the last six games Arsenal are not maintaining their position in the top two, through the last four league games. But still the club is in the top four, even when doing so badly there is talk of major changes being needed.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nottingham Forest | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 3 | +10 | 18 |
| 2 | Newcastle United | 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 |
| 5 | AFC Bournemouth | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 12 |
| 6 | Aston Villa | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 9 | -1 | 10 |
| 7 | Crystal Palace | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 10 | -1 | 9 |
| 8 | Manchester City | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 8 | +3 | 8 |
| 9 | Fulham | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 8 |
| 10 | Chelsea | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 9 | -1 | 8 |
| 11 | West Ham United | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 12 | -6 | 8 |
| 12 | Brentford | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 9 | +2 | 7 |
| 13 | Wolverhampton Wand | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 7 |
| 14 | Ipswich Town | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 10 | -3 | 7 |
| 15 | Everton | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 6 |
| 16 | Brighton & Hove | 6 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 9 | -2 | 5 |
| 17 | Tottenham Hots | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 15 | -1 | 4 |
| 18 | Manchester Utd | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 13 | -7 | 4 |
| 19 | Leicester City | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 16 | -12 | 1 |
| 20 | Southampton | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 14 | -13 | 1 |
As for the Tiny Totts, while Arsenal are fourth from the top they are fourth from the foot of the table. just above Manchester U, and the might of Leicester and Southampton. Of course, this does raise questions about the home defeat to ManU in the FA Cup, but as so often happens, the cups are different. Arsenal lost on penalties and there is nothing we can do about that, except look forward.
But we do also need to compare Tottenham away with Arsenal at home and here we can see, even over recent times when Arsenal are said to have been so awful they should go out and buy players and probably replace the manager too, Arsenal are a long way ahead of the noisy neighbours.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Arsenal home | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 6 | 12 | 21 |
| 11 | Tottenham Hotspur away | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 10 |
So whichever way things are spun it is generally looking quite hopeful.
But let’s finish this round with a look at the injury charts, and here we find a fairly good explanation for the way the last six games table looks. Arsenal are sitting on seven injuries and Tottenham have nine. Worst hit are Brighton and Hove with 12, while the least impacted is Nottingham Forest with one – which again explains things.
So if we want to have a reason for Forest’s rise and Arsenal’s slippage in recent games there you have it. We’ll take a deeper look at Arsenal’s injuries in the next piece.
