- Arsenal v Olympiacos F.C. Champions League and an unexpected stat
- How PSR is continuing to affect clubs in the Premier League
By Tony Attwood
So far, just three teams have won their opening two games in the Champions League table: Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Real Madrid.
Of the teams who have yet to play their second game but won their first,t we have PSG, Sporting CP, Royal Union SaintGilloise (known as Union) of Belgium, Arsenal, Manchester City, Qarabag and Barcelona. So after tonight’s game, we can start to get a little bit more information about who might be making the elite eight, which will go through automatically to the knockout rounds and avoid that rather annoying play off round.
So far, the most interesting surprise is that Liverpool lost to Galatasaray. – a team Arsenal have played three times but never lost to. We can certainly say that Liverpool have entered the “wobble” stage, if not downright collapse.
Tonight it is Arsenal v Olympiacos – a team that we have beaten six times and been beaten six times by. Most curiously, the three most recent victories have all been away from home: 3-1 in 2015, 1-0 in 2020 and 3-1 again in 2021. At home, the last three games against the club have all been defeats for Arsenal. 2-3 in 2015, 1-2 in 2020 and 0-1 in 2021. So nothing can be taken for granted.
The games in 2020 and 2021 were of course, in the Europa League, while the 2015 matches were in the Champions League. The opposition are, as ever, top of their domestic league, having played five, won four and drawn one.
And because this is Arsenal, we have an outpouring of negativity from the media, such as “Viktor Gyokeres is Arsenal’s only fit centre-forward at present” from the Standard. But they do make the reasonable point that with Arsenal playing twice a week (they do at least manage to avoid the note about games coming “thick and fast”), Arsenal might well change the team around. (Although the report doesn’t note the run of home defeats to this club by Arsenal, when doing so).
So the idea is that Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly were deliberately left out of the starting XI for the league game at the weekend, in order to play in this match (although Lewis Skelly did come on as a substitute). Nwaneri was left out of the squad completely, which again does suggest a bit of swapping around for this home game..
Their other team suggestions are that “Ben White may come into the defence in place of Jurrien Timber at right-back, while summer signing Cristhian Mosquera could get another start.
There is also some talk of resting Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi, although looking at Oli’s record against Arsenal in London, that might be a risk too far.
In relation to the captain, there are suggestions that Martin Odegaard will play the whole game, as will William Saliba, thus pursuing a policy of reducing the pressure on as many players as possible by not having them play two full games in a week. Olympiacos are said to have two injuries of note: Roman Yaremchuk, and Lorenzo Scipioni, out with a knee issue.
Today’s opposition’s big triumph, however, was winning the Conference League in 2024, an achievement that puts them alongside such luminaries as Roma, West Ham United, and Chelsea in winning that competition. Olympiacos also won the UEFA Youth League at the same time.
So we can have a look at the comparative league tables of the two clubs. Both have collected 13 points, but Olympiacos have managed this while playing one fewer game. It is also noticeable that they have managed to score one more goal than Arsenal.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Olympiacos | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 3 | 10 | 13 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 3 | 9 | 13 |
But we might also note that there are three unbeaten teams in the league with AEK Athens and PAOK also having that record. In the Premier League, only Crystal Palace remain unbeaten.
I should add a word, however, concerning league tables for Greek clubs. They actually have several rounds of the competition, unlike the one straightforward 38-game competition in England. This is to account for the limited number of senior clubs that can play at the top level.
Thus, they play the Regular season, the Championship round, the Conference League Play-off Group and the Relegation round, which makes direct comparisons with many other leagues difficult to undertake.
But I still reckon Arsenal will win.
It’s worth noting that in this season’s Champions League Olympiacos only managed a 0-0 home draw against Paphos of Cyprus who themselves were competing in the competition for the first time and are only ranked 91 by UEFA.
Transfermarkt also have the whole Paphos squad valued at around £10m….the equivalent of Bukayo’s right ear!
Indeed the whole Olympiacos squad is valued at less than Declan Rice so it’s pretty understandable that we are seen as red hot favourites tonight. However, like your goodself, I never believe counting chickens is wise….but this seems far from the biggest test we’ll have this season!
I believe that the value of the player isn’t the criterion, it’s the performance as a team. Often seen in cup matches!
One has to wonder if UEFA are starting to get infected by PGMOL….. Arsenal 12 fouls, 3 yellows, Olypiacos 17 fouls one yellow….with Arsenal having 61% of possession…
That being said, Gyokeres is a real monster up there, our squad is finally large enough for all the competitions and we know now that they can put in another gear or two in the second half
@ Chris
It’s the type of fouls , Rice late and high , Zubermendi a pull back , can’t remember the third but those 2 are always yellow cards .
Giving my age away , Gyokeres = Malcom MacDonald what do you reckon very similar in my opinion. .
@ Reg
I fully accept what you’re saying…sum of the parts and all that. But I don’t think it’s possible to ignore the value of the players altogether particularly when the differences are so vast.
@Steve,
well so rotational fouling seems to be all the rage then. Because 17 fouls means some players repeatedly fouled… anyway. This is not new
As for your comparison, I can see it. Frankly I love the way he just relishes the ‘close combat’ and has this tank like physicality Arsenal has been missing, maybe since Giroud. He is settling in into the team and once Havertz and Jesus are back in shape, imagine what happens when Mr Arteta plays with his center forward line mid-game… Having to confront a tank and then being faced with either Havertz or Jesus looks daunting to me, the other way around is not any better for a defence.
The third yellow card was for time wasting. In a way Gabriel paid the price for Lewis Skelly taking too much time to take a free kick, then MLS left it for Gabriel. If he would have taken it there would have been no card. But instead he also left it for Raya to take a long kick. Should have taken the free kick earlier. And certainly after the ref signalled against MLS to get on with it, so he was made looking a bit stupid and you don’t do that with a ref in Europe…
Chris my comment was not ment as a slight on you just my observations . I thought there right back ( Costinho ? ) was deserving of a yellow card just by the type of cynical fouls he was giving away , he knew what he was doing , I wonder if last nights referee is/was aware of rotational fouling , no excuse for him though .
@Steve,
I never took it as a slight ! All is fine. I don’t know where the referee comes from.
And I did not really register the fouls during the game. Just the stats that surprised after the game.
I have got to the point that UEFA matches in general I avoid because referees are so biased as to making watching the matches impossible without causing heart problems..
All I ask for is some consistency – they cannot even do that. The only way to defeat the cheating b****rds is to avoid the games completely. I see Oliver (the worlds best referee according to the cheat Webb) once again did not send off a player for a second yellow card. What a surprise!
In the Arsenal Olympiakos systematic fouling is not punished – Please just apply the laws even handed – is that too much to ask?
I find that it is really easy to predict results by looking at the referees involved. It really should not be this way!
BTW thanks to Arsenal to take the result out of the refs hands by winning the game against 15 players in 2 consecutive matches. How the hell did the penalty in ARS – NEW get overturned. I say this as a neutral fan! I so want Arsenal to win the EPL.