By Tony Attwood
We now have a week before the next game – at home to West Ham on Saturday, at the rather curious time of 3pm. And it looks like it’s a week without much Arsenal news but we can at least start with some details of what’s going on.
The injury table shows Arsenal now down to five men out: Jesus, Havertz, Saka, Martinelli and Tomiyasu, a list which of course means that mere numbers in injuries isn’t the only thing to count – the problem arises when one has the entire front line all out at the same time.
But it is worth noticing that quite a few teams have more players out than Arsenal. In fact 12 clubs have more players out than Arsenal…
- Tottenham Hots: 11
- Wolverhampton Wanderers: 11
- Chelsea: 9
- Everton: 9
- Ipswich Town: 9
- Manchester United: 8
- Aston Villa: 7
- Bournemouth: 7
- Brighton and Hove: 7
- Brentford: 6
- Manchester City: 6
- Southampton: 6
… which shows that counting numbers isn’t really the best way to assess injuries; it is the coincidence of injuries in one position that counts as well.
Anyway, let’s do a comparison of Arsenal now and Arsenal at this point in recent seasons since we have been told that the squad is particularly weak up front.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Arsenal 2025 | 25 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 51 | 22 | 29 | 53 |
| 3 | Arsenal 2024 | 25 | 17 | 4 | 4 | 58 | 22 | 36 | 55 |
| 1 | Arsenal 2023 | 25 | 19 | 3 | 3 | 56 | 23 | 33 | 60 |
| 4 | Arsenal 2022 | 25 | 15 | 3 | 7 | 41 | 29 | 12 | 48 |
Yes Arsenal have scored fewer than at the same point in recent years, but only five fewer than 2023, which is not a major disaster that means tearing up the whole squad, surely.
It is interesting also to plot another club’s figures over this period and to note the speed of decline that can occur. Here for example is Manchester United over the same period. And it is interesting to note that while Arsenal’s points total after 25 games has varied by 12 points across those four years, as the table below shows Manchester United’s points total has varied by 20 points – their collapse (especially in goals scored) has been dramatic and fast.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | Manchester United 2025 | 25 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 28 | 35 | -7 | 29 |
| 6 | Manchester United 2024 | 25 | 14 | 2 | 9 | 35 | 34 | 1 | 44 |
| 3 | Manchester United 2023 | 25 | 15 | 4 | 6 | 41 | 35 | 6 | 49 |
| 4 | Manchester United 2022 | 25 | 12 | 7 | 6 | 40 | 32 | 8 | 43 |
Which of course does raise the issue of Tottenham – and looking at their tally after 25 games across the last four years we can see how dramatic has been the collapse this season. But the interesting thing for Tottenham is that the issue of goals doesn’t relate to the points. Their goal difference at the 25-game marker this season is +12 which is around the level of the previous two seasons, but their points tally is way down.
And we can’t say it is because of a worse attack (three down on last season, three above the season before) or a worse defence (one better than last season, two worse than two years ago). It is simply that they keep losing games (seven more defeats than this point last season).
Worse than that, while the number of defeats for Tottenham went down year by year from the 2021/22 season to last season, this campaign sees the number of defeats more than double from last year. But perhaps since the media doesn’t cover this, the club itself hasn’t noticed.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Tottenham Hot 2025 | 25 | 9 | 3 | 13 | 49 | 37 | 12 | 30 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hot 2024 | 25 | 14 | 5 | 6 | 52 | 38 | 14 | 47 |
| 4 | Tottenham Hot 2023 | 25 | 14 | 3 | 8 | 46 | 35 | 11 | 45 |
| 7 | Tottenham Hot 2022 | 25 | 13 | 3 | 9 | 35 | 32 | 3 | 42 |
Meanwhile as I write this the big stories on the NewsNow Tottenham feed are “National press goes crazy over one Spurs player in win v Man Utd” (SportsView), and “Tottenham have already completed transfer to benefit them for years to come” (Postecoglou knows what he needs at Tottenham but will not get it” (
So Tottenham are doing really really well and the future is bright.
Of course we all know that the main Arsenal news is the injuries. As The Standard, helpful as ever tells us that “Mikel Arteta desperately needs some key players back.”
However even the media can’t have missed the women’s game as the Guardian tells us that Tottenham’s women’s team – like the men’s – seems based on hanging in there until the big money starts rolling in.
Although when it comes to headlines I must say the one I really like is that from the Telegraph which speaks of the donkey derby between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. It reads…
“The beleaguered managers of both sides seem to be functioning as little more than well-remunerated human shields for their respective owners at the moment, but that did not stop Gary carving off a piece or two of poor old Ruben.”
Or as the Neville character who often has an opinion said, “The structure of the team is awful… you wouldn’t see this in under-nines football… Amorim” [apparently he is the ManU manager] “is really angry. He is going mad at his bench. He is shouting at people. I’m not sure what he is angry about.”
Ah well. Maybe it was the way his team were playing.
The bloke who is criticising Amorim and telling him how it should be done……I take it he’s the same Gary Neville who holds the unique accolade of being the worst manager in La Liga living memory?!!!
How on earth anybody pays good money for the opinions of such an abject failure is truly beyond me.
Tony
“Yes Arsenal have scored fewer than at the same point in recent years, but only five fewer than 2023, which is not a major disaster that means tearing up the whole squad, surely.”
And lets not forget Tony, as indicative as these numbers are, there is another comparison to be made which is arguably even more indicative as to how this season compares, and that is the direct comparison on a team to team, match by match basis. In that matrix, as I showed a couple of weeks ago following our demolition of Manchester City, we compare even more favourably.
The following is what I posted then, and as we have only played a promoted team since, effectively nothing has changed in regards to this comparison:
“That is indeed true of the season so far up to this stage. But it is also true that on a direct ‘game to game’ comparison (excluding the promoted teams of course), whilst we are also the same 2 points behind last season, as far as goals scored are concerned, against the same opponents, in the same Home or Away fixtures, we have actually scored 3 goals more than last season. The GD is identical. And as you say, given not only the injuries, but the amount of time we’ve had to play with 10 men, that is remarkable:
23/24
P 21 W 13 D 4 L 4 F 38 A 16 GD +22 Pts 43
24/25
P 21 W 11 D 8 L 2 F 41 A 19 GD +22 Pts 41
So on a direct, match by match comparison we have scored 3 goals more than last season.
The 4 missing matches against the promoted sides went as follows:
Arsenal 4-2 Leicester City
Arsenal 3-1 Southampton
Arsenal 1-0 Ipswich
Leicester City 0-2 Arsenal
F 10
A 3
GD + 7
Which actually makes things better as those 4 games have been won by an average score line of 2.5 to 0.75 compared to the 21 game average of 1.9 to 0.9
So, even if you take into account those 4 matches that are not directly comparable, it is arguable that we are still outscoring last season.
Of course having 4 forwards out at the same time is going to put a heavy burden on those that remain, but who’s to say they cant cope with that?
Nobody knows. Time will tell.
Also. let’s not forget the 10 (at a conservative estimate) points denied by referee / VAR decisions.
Apparantly:
“Gary Neville reveals why he has no sympathy for Gunners amid fitness crisis”
We don’t want your sympathy you half wit, we just want you to shut the f*** up.
As does everyone else I would of thought.
Rubbish player. Diabolical manager. idiotic, ignorant biased punter.
If ever a man has stolen a living, this is him.
@Nitram love the last line of your comment. Could not have put it better myself. Thanks
I certainly second your comment about him shutting the f**k up.
Seeing as we have a quiet week, it will be interesting to see how many different mouthpieces, and ways can be conjured up to have a popat us for not signing a number nine.
The weekend it was Deeney accusing Arteta of being ‘scared’ to sign a number 9.
Today it is Neville and his lack of sympathy.
I have absolutely no doubt they will manage to find someone to have a pop at us everyday.
Plus, I see we get fined for surrounding the pathetic excuse for a referee whilst Liverpool rioting after a match is celebrated as merely passion.
Lets see what happens to them.
The actual pathetic officiating both on and off the field is fast becoming untenable. How can the FA fine Arsenal after they admitted that the referee got it wrong?
Maybe I missed something here!
The two journalists on Talk Sport on Sunday morning described the Everton/Liverpool post match riot as a playground skirmish and the sort of passion is what we love to see.
Les Williams
I know, beyond laughable. As I say, it will be interesting to see what happens to Liverpool following their ‘disgraceful’, oops! Sorry, ‘passionate’ post match shenanigans the other night?
Plus, regarding the endless media negativity, I see the latest thing is to highlight every ex academy player we’ve ever had that scores a goal.
Apparently we should of kept the lot of ’em because it was so obvious that 3/4’s of our forwards would get injured.
We should of known Merino scoring those 2 goals was going to put a few noses out of joint.
Wow I see the ref in Milan Feyenord have a yellow card for simulation.
That is a rarity but of course he had already booked Hernandez – how convenient..
Sorry gave a yellow card