So now we know how the Arsenal story will run from here on in. Time to hold our nerve.

 

 

• How the media are repeating last year’s transfer rumours as this year’s news
• Gyökeres goal tally may be exaggerated by the media but he looks a good buy

By Tony Attwood

The media united is an awful sight, normally because the media unite around a story which has at least two sides to it but of which they only print one.  We are about to witness a season of Arsenal-knocking from start to finish.

For the point is that there are not just two ways of reporting each story but three – the third (so rarely seen in the media) being the one that acknowledges there are two sides to the story.

But what we have in all the print media is that Arsenal are supportive of a rapist, and no acknowledgement of the fact that Patey has not had a trial – nor even why, if the case is so open and shut,, his trial was not announced three years ago, nor indeed of Arsenal’s obigations unde the Employment Rights Bill

But who cares for facts or details when the anti-Arsenal anti-Partey story is now in full swing, for this has all the hallmarks of something that the media will run and run.  It costs them nothing, there is nothing new to find, and all they have to do is go and find the occasional Arsenal supporter who will support the media’s approach and generalise out from that.

It is more than likely that ultimately the media will feel that the rape allegations have been played out, but having had such success in knocking Arsenal in a one-sided story without evidence, they will search for new angles in order to keep up the attacks.  Every victory will be lucky, run-of-the-mill games will be seen as tedious and dull, a regular crowd will be portrayed as silent and sullen, and every goal will be down to “a slice of luck”.  It is going to be a tough season both for Arsenal supporters and for the players.

Indeed, we already have the stories about why signing Viktor Gyökeres is going to be a disaster.  For example, take this:   “…despite his incredible goalscoring record in Portugal, there are a host of concerns about his suitability for both his new team and the Premier League itself.”   That’s from a You Tube piece “Why Everybody’s WRONG About Arsenal Signing Viktor …”

Now, there is tucked away in that report the admission that “even if he doesn’t look like a perfect fit, he has all the raw ingredients to revolutionise the way Arsenal score goals,” which is something.  But of course, it is the headline that sows the uncertainty.

Meanwhile, away from the football (and who needs football when we can have page after page of moral outrage), what we do get are endless stories about Arsenal’s moral failings, and very little about, for example, Arsenal’s goal scoring.  Arsenal have been in the Premier League playing 38 games a season for some 30 years.  During that time, their goal-scoring achievements (and these are all in 38 match seasons) have ranged from 49 goals in 1995/96 to seasons in which they have scored 80+ goals.   

There have been five of those high-scoring seasons with 80+ goals.  Top of them all was 2023/24 and the second was 2022/23, both, you might note, being rather recent.  Here’s the table of top goal-scoring seasons for Arsenal

 

sEASON	P	W	D	L	F	A
2002–03	38	23	9	6	85	42
2004–05	38	25	8	5	87	36
2009–10	38	23	6	9	83	41
2022–23	38	26	6	6	88	43
2023–24	38	28	5	5	91	29

.

Now of course, we all know why the number dropped down from that incredible 91 goal tally in the least last season – it was injuries.   But what all the expressions of anger about Partey allow the media to do is ignore these sorts of facts, and the story has come for them just at the time when the public at large was starting to wonder why the media were so anti-Arsenal.

I think it is clear that Arteta knows that in 2025/6 he will be fighting on multiple fronts – against the clubs Arsenal are playing, against the referees who will be primed weekly by the media about what a dirty team Arsenal are, and against the directors who are supporting Arteta and the team.  In particular, Arsenal seem to be building up more cover for injuries so that if the opposition do, as expected, use the media’s encouragement and refereeing largesse to kick Arsenal to bits on the pitch, Arsenal have backup players ready.

Indeed, it is interesting that Statmuse have presented a league table of the 25 players who committed the most fouls last season. There are three Liverpool players, two Chelsea players, two Newcastle players… but no Arsenal players in the list.. 

In fact, going further, Arsenal were in fact 18th in the yellow card list last season.  However, in terms of the mysterious yellow cards for “other reasons” meaning other than fouls or unprofessional conduct Arsenal were second in the list.  In terms of fouls, 

We’ve spent months trying to find out what these “other” reasons are – these offences Arsenal keep committing but no one else does (at least not at that level) but there is no information to be found, and our requests to PGMOL for more information have been met with silence.

This, I fear, is just the start.  With the campaign against Arsenal now ramping up, we are heading for a season of unmitigated assaults on Arsenal in the media.   It will be a time for the club, the players and us supporters to hold our nerves.