Yet another reminder of the BBC Radio 5 (and BBC Sounds) programme about “North London Forever” on the radio today, is at the end of this article….
Meanwhiule….
There is an interesting note in the Independent that says that ManC “see Arsenal as one of the clubs most actively in opposition to their ownership and worked hard to try and stop Nicolas Jover, moving to Arsenal.” It is also widely said within football and the media that ManC work with their media friends to push up the price of any player Arsenal is looking to buy as Arsenal are seen as a prime mover against ManC’s financial model. As in our own way, is Untold Arsenal.
Arsenal’s position of course was set out by Arsene Wenger who used the phrase “financial doping” to signify the methodology that the Arab nations were employing in relation to football. Indeed ManC have been trying to undermine Arsenal by saying that Arsenal spend as much as they do on transfers. Certainly ManC have reduced their purchasing costs somewhat in recent years as they have been able to nurture youngsters brought in, including those that come from the 12 other members of the “City Group” of clubs.
So to compete, yes Arsenal have had to spend more on transfers, but the money spent on wages by Arsenal is getting on for £100m less a year than that spent by ManC. Arsenal subsequently found extreme resistance to Arteta’s attempt to bring over two staff members from ManC, including of course Nicolas Jover.
And so with Tottenham going into one of their regular declines while still claiming to be chasing something or other, to focus has of course been on Arsenal and ManC.
Manc have been aided by the media of course, as they always are, with the media doing their part to knock Arsenal. Thus in the Independent article we find them saying, “a series of factors have combined to ensure Arteta’s team are off where they were last season,” which of course gives a false impression. We’ve already done the work and published the figures so there is no excuse for the Independent to say such a thing, when they could look at the data without having to do any work at all. But still they keep on hammering away. The table we published a few days back was…
| Pos | Season | Played | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2024/25 | 23 | 23 | 47 |
| 3 | 2023/24 | 23 | 25 | 49 |
And yes you could say “off where they were last season” is technically right, but really the truth is Arsenal have slipped by two points DESPITE all the injuries.
Thus the problem is not just that ManC have done all they can to stop Arsenal because they did not like Arsenal taking a couple of their staff, but that the media soaks up the ManC propaganda output and prints it as fact without even bothering to check it. The morality of Arsenal in not descending to the same depths is to be praised, in my view.
Anyway, onto the match. After a run of one win and 15 defeats in 16 games in the League and the domestic cup matches against ManC, the last four games have given us two wins (one in the Community Shield and one in the League, and then two draws in the League, both of these being in Manchester.
In the League, as we have noted before, Arsenal are ahead of the Manc by six goals in the GD chart and six points as well. I include the tiny totts as table for comparison. And a laugh.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 23 | 17 | 5 | 1 | 56 | 21 | 35 | 56 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 23 | 13 | 8 | 2 | 44 | 21 | 23 | 47 |
| 3 | Nottingham Forest | 24 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 40 | 27 | 13 | 47 |
| 4 | Manchester City | 23 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 47 | 30 | 17 | 41 |
| 16 | Tottenham Hotspur | 23 | 7 | 3 | 13 | 46 | 37 | 9 | 24 |
As for the team today, the Metro suggest
Raya
Timber Saliba Gabriel Calafiori
Odegaard Partey Rice
Martinelli Havertz Trossard
The Standard tells us there are doubts about Raya’s injury but they still go with almost but not exactly the same team.
Raya;
Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly;
Odegaard, Partey, Rice;
Martinelli, Havertz, Trossard
90 Min have the same team as the Standard while Sports Mole give us
Raya;
Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly;
Odegaard, Partey, Rice;
Nwaneri, Havertz, Martinelli
So it is probably going to be one of those.
But before anything else, you might care to listen to Radio 5 Live after the 10.30 news to hear a discussion on “North London Forever” in which I took part earlier this week. Of course I might be edited out, but I am hoping one or two chirpy north London comments of mine might remain. But if you miss it, it will then be on the BBC Sounds.
Have a good day.
Wonderful piece Tony, you’re now officially a star! Brings tears to my eyes every time I hear the song. My wife always stops to listen to it and she hates football.
Great interview Tony.
Man City W 3 – 4 Arsenal W
Well done ladies. Fingers crossed it’s a good omen. Fingers crossed the ref giving a penalty against us for a challenge a yard outside the box isn’t a bad omen.
Tony,
BBC Sounds is not available to stream in the US. Is there a way it could be uploaded to UA so those of us living in the States can hear it?
What a win!!!!! What a performance!!!! MIles Lewis-Skelly… only 18 years old… I think Haaland will now know who he is…. what a way to celebrate his goal. LOL. And then Ethan…. what a talent… what a goal…. a wonderful performance from the whole team.
Wonderful. It was Raya and Partey for me today.
Agree Gooner72, Partey was immense… Raya with an important stop right at the end of the first half also….
Walter.
Indeed. Wow, just wow!!!
Gooner72
Have to agree.
We were by far the better team in the end, but late in the first half we started to concede too much possession and when we did Man City created a couple of big opportunities but Raya produced two of great saves, the first of which was a ‘Worldy’.
Without those saves it would of been a completely different game They were absolutely crucial.
Well done Arsenal – noticed on a commentary that Martin Ødegaard’s yellow card was soft – Plus ça change
Les Williams
Odegaard got booked because he reacted angrily when an obvious foul on him wasn’t given by the p***t of a referee. It wasn’t the first foul against Odegaard either. Martin was completely wiped out and dumped on the grass in a heap midway through the first half and incredibly neither the ref nor the linesman batted an eyelid.
Luckily none of our goals had the slightest hint of there being a possibility of PGMOL finding an excuse to disallow any of them.
Brilliant performance. We frustrated them for an hour and then broke into top gear and ripped them to shreds.
Wow!!!!!
One more thing; 5 goals from open play.
Gooner 72, I am sorry I don’t know how to upload the BBC programme onto this site, as you asked. I’m just back home in the Mdilands so fairly knackered from the day out, but I will see what I can find out tomorrow. Tony
And another thing This from Opta:
Ethan Nwaneri’s goal ended a passing sequence of 36 uninterrupted passes in a move that lasted one minute & 54 seconds and involved every Arsenal outfield player.
It was the longest passing move leading to a Premier League goal since September 2023.
Although the refereeing this weekend was not on the basement level of the Oliver/England combo, the Bankes/Taylor team were either inept or biased, showing a pronounced over-eagerness to give yellow cards to Timber and Ødegaard, whilst ignoring the card-waving antics of City players and the disgraceful behaviour of Silva.
Add this to a disgraceful penalty award to Man. City in the WSL match.
Refereeing needs a complete overhaul.
@ Tony
Loved your appearance on Radio 5 yesterday…..not quite as much as the game though!! Seriously, the radio piece was brilliant.
This is all from Arsenal.com so I really hope they don’t mind. I would usually post a link but I cant get them to work. But thisis all so wonderful to read I thought it was worth reproducing. It’s quite long so I hope Tony doesn’t mind either.
Statistics
RECORDS BROKEN AND GREAT STATS FROM OUR CITY WIN
All Gooners will still be on cloud nine after witnessing our incredible 5-1 win against Manchester City on Sunday afternoon, and it was a victory that will live long in the memory as one of our greatest-ever in the Premier League.
The result will also be immortalised in many records books, with a host of milestones being hit as the goals continued to fly in at Emirates Stadium.
Here are some of the best numbers from the game:
-The victory was our biggest-ever recorded against the reigning champions in the Premier League era. It was the first time we had scored four times against the holders since we beat Aston Villa 4-3 in the First Division back in 1982.
-It was also City’s heaviest in a Premier League away game in eight years, when they lost 4-0 to Everton in January 2017. It was our biggest win against the blue half of Manchester since we matched the scoreline in February 2003 at Maine Road. In 213 encounters between the teams stretching back to 1893, it is just the sixth time we netted five or more against City – our biggest margin of victory came in October 2000 when we won 5-0, while we scored seven in a 7-3 win in 1956.
-It was a remarkable afternoon for the two youngest players on the pitch, as 18-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly grabbed his first-ever senior goal before 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri wrapped up the victory with a fine strike.
-It was the first time we have had two teenagers score in the same league game for us since September 1986, when a fresh-faced Tony Adams and Niall Quinn grabbed our goals to beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-0.
-Ethan and Myles also became the youngest players to score in the Premier League against the reigning champions since Wayne Rooney netted for Everton against Arsenal in March 2003 aged 17 years and 150 days.
-It was only the fourth time that two players aged 18 or younger had scored for the same team in a Premier League game, and first since Everton against Fulham in April 2007 when James Vaughan and Victor Anichebe got on the scoresheet. Incredibly, those goals were assisted by Mikel Arteta, meaning that only he and Declan Rice have provided assists for two different teenagers in a single Premier League match, after our midfielder’s starring role yesterday.
-Arsenal have had a different left back score in consecutive league games for the first time since September 2000 – Sylvinho vs Chelsea, Ashley Cole vs Bradford
-Ethan’s superb strike was the final kick of the game, and ended a passing sequence of 36 uninterrupted passes in a move that lasted one minute and 54 seconds and involved EVERY one of our players. It was the longest passing move leading to a Premier League goal since September 2023.
-It was the midfielder’s seventh goal in our colours this term, and only Rooney and Michael Owen have scored more goals for a Premier League side while aged 17 or younger than him. The duo netted nine goals for Liverpool and Everton respectively before turning 18.
-Ethan is also one behind John Radford who holds our club record for most competitive goals scored before his 18th birthday, and with his birthday on March 21, Ethan has around six weeks until his 18th birthday to try and make more history.
-As for Mikel, he joined an exclusive club of three who have enjoyed a five-game unbeaten run against Pep Guardiola’s teams. Our manager has now guided us to two Premier League wins, two draws and our 2023 Community Shield success against his former boss in our last five games against the Citizens, and only Thomas Tuchel and Jurgen Klopp have managed to do that against the legendary Spanish coach.
-Meanwhile, countryman David Raya is unbeaten in his last six Premier League games against City, which is the longest-ever unbeaten league run by a goalkeeper against a Guardiola side.
-Thomas Partey’s crucial goal came just 105 seconds after Erling Haaland had pulled City level, and the Ghanian midfielder also completed a strange statistical quirk:
-Thomas Partey made his 150th appearance for Arsenal today against Man City, having also made his debut against Man City (17 Oct 2020), his 50th appearance against Man City (1 Jan 2022) and his 100th appearance (6 Aug 2023) against Man City.
-Looking beyond Sunday’s game, the win saw us stretch our unbeaten run to 14 Premier League games for the first time under Mikel, and it is our longest streak since December 2018 when we recorded the same number under Unai Emery.
What a day with a few things to celebrate don’t you think Mr White!!! What a prat.