Which club has the best record over the last 100 Premier League games?

 

 

• Promotion to and relegation from the Premier League has changed beyond recognition
• A recognition of the effect of injuries and Arsenal’s brilliant response

By Tony Attwood

The headline is typical: Leandro Trossard double secures victory for Arsenal at 10-man Ipswich    It makes it sound as if the fact that Ipswich were playing with ten men was the reason Arsenal won, whereas in fact Arsenal were 2-0 up when the Ipswich player was sent off.   Plus the point that should have been made is that Ipswich were already heading for an obvious defeat, and so there was not even the slightest excuse for the foul that led to the sending off.  But for journos such points are mere details, so that wasn’t said.

Now I particularly mention this because it is this sort of constant negativity about Arsenal that we see all the time as it inevitably encourages those who support other teams to see Arsenal as some sort of ceaselessly cheating club, with endlessly whining supporters.  A club that only gets anywhere through being unfair.

This then suggests that actually Arsenal are not very good and urgently need to bring in new players – a notion that then leads to criticism of the manager for not buying them, and indeed the players we have for not being good enough.

Such views can of course be overcome by facts but the media generally don’t give us the facts, so here are one or two that might help in case you are challenged by anyone over such issues.    For example in answering a challenge about Arsenal not really being that good.

To answer that you could consider not just the last one or two seasons but the last 100 games played by teams that have been in the Premier League.  Now that is not something you normally see but it is a table that is available and here’s the top of that league, plus a few more for interest.

For clarity, I should add that the table only includes Premier League games and not cup matches.  

 

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal	100	64	23	13	216	91	+125	215
2	Manchester C	100	66	17	17	221	100	+121	215
3	Liverpool	100	64	23	13	215	107	+108	215
4	Aston Villa	100	52	21	27	173	143	+30	177
7	Manchester U	100	46	19	35	140	132	+8	157
8	Tottenham Ho	100	44	14	42	185	163	+22	146
9	Chelsea	100	39	28	33	158	140	+18	145

 

What is interestinig is that we have three teams all on exactly the same number of pomts, but with Arsenal on top due to the goal difference.   Now it is of course quite true that over the last 100 games Manchester City have scored more goals than Arsenal – five more goals in fact – which raises the question, should Arsenal be disrupting the way the club has been playing just because one team has scored a grand total of five more goals than Arsenal in past two-and-two-thirds seasons?  It seems rather odd when such a move could in fact disrupt the whole set-up of the team.

Mind you we have also seen calls for Arteta to be sacked so maybe that is not so weird after all.

There is also another factor that is worth noting, in that in the last 100 games Arsenal have had the best defence in the Premier League – the only club in the league to have conceded under 100 goals in the last 100 games.

Of course, the table does hide some things as well – such as the poverty of Tottenham’s performance this season.   But then again it does go to emphasise just how much of a collapse Tottenham have had of late.

So to summarise this situation, Arsenal are within two goals of having scored the most league goals in the past 100 games, and have done this while having the best defence in the league in the last 100 games.  And that of course raises two questions, why then has Arsenal not won the league, and the aforementioned, do we need a new striker?

The answer of course is the vast array of injuries Arsenal have suffered to key players this season – not least to the two top goal-scorers in the side.  So perhaps one could also add, Arsenal have been the best team in the league over the last 100 games in spite of a) these injuries and b) the team in second place having spent more than anyone else, ever, in recent seasons. 

Which leads to one little PS – those legal cases against ManC have still not yet been settled.   The word I have heard (which of course cannot be verified so is not of the same stature as the list of who has scored the most goals) is that ManC have suggested that if they are found guilty of anything they will go to court and drain the Premier League of all its money.   Maybe so, maybe not.  But if not, then why is it taking so long to reach a conclusion on any of the offences of which ManC have been accused?