For Arsenal we might say that so far this is looking rather good

 

b y Tony Attwood

• The issue of the referee who is against a specific club
• Where has all the money gone? Now we know.

It is being reported that Eze telephoned the Arsenal manager last week to ask about a potential move after he found himself getting a bit fed up with the way the transfer arrangements were being made.   Apparently, although actual transfer discussions must be held club to club, there is nothing in the rule book to stop a player calling the manager of another club.   If he has his number.   

And the fact that Tottenham had been dragging their feet in negotiations with the player even though they had agreed a fee with Crystal Palace was, it seems, a major point in helping the player decide where to go.  Along, of course, with the fact that last season Arsenal came 15 places above Tottenham, and were just two points short of getting double the number of points of the very noisy neighbours.

As things stand, this season of those clubs that have played two games we  have just three unbeaten sides – of those who have played just one game, only one is unbeaten.   Wolverhampton and West Ham are the two that have played two and lost two.   Here’s the top of the table which you will know anyway but still, it looks nice….

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal	2	2	0	0	6	0	6	6
2	Tottenham Hotspur	2	2	0	0	5	0	5	6
3	Chelsea	2	1	1	0	5	1	4	4
4	Liverpool	1	1	0	0	4	2	2	3

 

Compare that with a year ago, and actually, it is not too different.   ManC, Brighton, Arsenal and Liverpool were unbeaten after two games.   But perhaps what is also interesting is that in fifth and sixth places after two games were Tottenham, who ended up 17th and Manchester United (15th).

So maybe we can’t read too much into the top three places being held by London clubs, although Tottenham’s 0-2 away win over ManC was something I could never have predicted.   The Guardian’s verdict on that game is interesting: “City were… a discordant bunch who kept finding a Spurs player rushing up to undermine their composure.”

Manchester City, “A discordant bunch”.  Whoever would have imagined that?

Last season Manc won seven and drew two of their first nine games, before in their next nine, winning one, drawing two and losing six.   Maybe they have just decided to get into their negative run early. 

Indeed, it is hard to know if Tottenham are doing well, ManC doing badly or both.   But carry on like this and we could see Manchester City sacking their manager before he finally does decide he’s had enough.

But for Arsenal the news is about injuries yet again, with both Saka and Ødegaard taken off,.  Last season, Arsenal got 27 major injuries, five more than any other club.  Now the Premier League injury table is showing five: Gabriel Jesus, Christian Norgaard, Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka all out.  Only Tottenham, Crystal Palace and Sunderland have more with six.   Manchester City also have five.

Although we should also note that West Ham United just have Luis Guilherme injured and they sit in the group of clubs with no points.  Everton play Brighton today and Manchester Un are away to Fulham.

Overall, we have to agree that two games do not tell us how the season will end, but it does give a clue as to the overall pattern of events.   Last season, after two games, the three relegated clubs were in the bottom six.  and the top three were in the top three.

But the fact that we can quite probably predict how things are going to turn out in general terms shouldn’t make us not enjoy the rest of the reason, especially if Arsenal continue to be the club that scores the most goals and concedes the least.    But quite probably after the rest of the second round of fixtures we should be able to make some slightly generalised but nonetheless fairly accurate predictions of which clubs will qualify for Europe in nine months’ time and which will go down.  And really, that is a bit of a shame because it does take a lot of the fun out of football while also disproving the old adage that English football is the best because it is so unpredictable.

However, we should also remember Arsenal’s own trajectory in recent years.   If we look back, we can see that starting in 2016/17, Arsenal had a run of  six seasons in which the club finished fifth three times, sixth once and eighth twice.   Now we have just seen a run of second place, three times running.   And some fans are dissatisfied!

Compare that with, for example, Manchester United.   While Arsenal have come second three times running, ManU have ended up 3rd, 8th and 15th.   Such comparisons are, I think, worth keeping in mind.