By Tony Attwood
Given Villareal’s record in recent years, it may come as a surprise to realise that Arsenal have only beaten Villareal twice in six competitive matches. However, if we just look at the Champions League, the results are not quite so bad with two wins and two draws, giving a goal aggregate of 5-1 in Arsenal’s favour. On the other hand the last two games, in April 2021, were disappointing in the extreme however: an away defeat 2-1 and a home goalless draw, meaning that Arsenal dropped out of the Europa League.
Arsenal did then recover, and went on and win their last four leage matches that season, to finish eigth in the League. And it is interesting as ever to look back just those four years between 2020/21 and compare with last season, in order to see where the teams in the top eight then, finished in the League season just recently concluded… The declines over this short period of Leicester City, Tottenham Hots and Manchester Un are something to behold.
| 2020/21 | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | 2024/5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 38 | 27 | 5 | 6 | 83 | 32 | 86 | 3 |
| 2 | Manchester United | 38 | 21 | 11 | 6 | 73 | 44 | 74 | 15 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 38 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 68 | 42 | 69 | 1 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 38 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 58 | 36 | 67 | 4 |
| 5 | Leicester City | 38 | 20 | 6 | 12 | 68 | 50 | 66 | 18 |
| 6 | West Ham United | 38 | 19 | 8 | 11 | 62 | 47 | 65 | 14 |
| 7 | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 18 | 8 | 12 | 68 | 45 | 62 | 17 |
| 8 | Arsenal | 38 | 18 | 7 | 13 | 55 | 39 | 61 | 2 |
This table, as we have often seen before, shows that although there is a normal focus on the “now” in football, it is worth having an occasional look at clubs over a period of a few years. Leicester City, for example, won the league in 2016 and the FA Cup in 2021, but have since been relegated twice. Furthermore, Leicester City have been charged by the Premier League over alleged breaches of the EFL’s financial rules for the 2023/24 season when they won promotion. If guilty, Leicester will probably start with a points deduction.
And there is a point in this – for although their chaotic activities are not quite the same one might think of Leicester as something akin to an English version of Villareal when it comes to finances.
Today’s game kicks off at 6pm and the match is, as with previous games in this pre-season, being shown on Arsenal’s own channel which can be watched via computers. If this game is anything like the previous ones, there will be a very annoying ten second loop of “music” (I use the word lightly) until about three minutes before kick off when we go into the line ups and the game.
However the previous games were all overseas and with this one being at home we might get a few minutes extra to check that the system really is working.
It is, of course, quite possible that I am misreading things on the Arsenal site, but as far as I can see they are stating at this moment (7.30am on the day of the game) that ticket sales start tomorrow. Of course I might be reading the wrong web page (although I have just checked and it does say
Ticket info: Arsenal v Villarreal CF
at the top which seems to be a statement about today’s game. I leave that one with you – but I would say that for myself, having bought a subscription for the series to watch it online, that system has worked perfectly so far, and the picture quality cannot be faulted. So I live in hope that will continue and Arsenal will one day manage to get their website sorted. (I have offered, but had no reply). If they do get things going I suspect prices will range from £38 to £60. If they don’t and the TV reveals lots of empty spaces, then the cock up with the web site could be to blame.
Arsenal.com tell us that the club they are playing is, “Nicknamed the Yellow Submarine because of their kit” although looking at their kit there seems to be no submarine connection that I can see, and nicknaming a club after a song from a popular singing group that existed in another country, and who split 55 years ago, seems a bit quaint. But each to their own of course.
After this game Arsenal’s next outing is, I think, August 9: Athletic Club for the annual Emirates Cup, kick-off 5pm. That is actually against the club that we generally know as Athletic Bilbao but Arsenal are now calling them just Athletic club. Following that there is a long wait until 17 August when it is Manchester United away. We’ll be having a good look at that match, after the pre-season has finished.
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