- You can never rely on Liverpool but today they did Arsenal proud
- As for the injured – all we need to do is keep winning without them
By Tony Attwood
So we now have a situation in which across the last eight games in all competitions Arsenal have won seven and drawn one. 13 goals have been scored and one has been conceded. And rather curiously, I am not sure I have seen that statistic in any of the media. If it is Arsenal being sensational, then they’d sooner talk up ManC and Haaland.
So I wondered what the results have been like for our opponents in the next European match, which will, of course, be happening tomorrow. Arsenal in fact, are the top English side in the league, sitting in fifth, and one of only two teams in the whole 36 club table not to have conceded a goal yet.
This game is againsts Atletico de Madrid, who currently have three points and are tenth, having (rather obviously) won one and lost one.
Meanwhile in the Spanish league, they are fourth, sitting below Barcelona and Real Madrid, because I think the constitution says those two have to be at the top, as well as sitting behind Villareal. Atletico have won four drawn four and lost one.
The Champions League table is of course, very young at present, but for what it is worth, Arsenal are in the top group of clubs that have won both their matches. Atletico are tenth, having won one and drawn one. They lost to Liverpool and beat Eintracht Frankfurt in the two previous rounds.
This month in the league, as far as I can tell, they have only played two games It was Atletico Madrid 1 Osasuna 0 in the most recent game and Celta Vigo 1 Atletico Madrid 1 in the previous match.
This leaves them lying fourth in the league. Top, of course, ar Barcelona with seven wins, one draw and one defeeat. Second is Real Madrid on 22 points, then it is Villareal and then Atletico Madrid on four wins, four draws and one defeat. So no chance of them winning the league since that would require a collapse by both Barcelona and Real Mad.
Their one big win was a 5-0 over Girona, otherwise it has been mostly by a single goal. On 16 September, Tottenham beat them 1-0 at White Hart Lane. Tottenham who you might recall lost this weekend to Aston Villa beat them 1-0 down the Lane. Tottenham are now sixth.
But back to the Champions League, because there are only eight games to play in this round, goal difference can be helpful. The top goal difference is +6, Arsenal are on +4. So it is not just a case of winning, but also knocking in a few goals, as the top eight avoid the next knockout round and go straight into the final runj of knockout matches. You might recall we got to the semi-final last season, and although it was very disappointing to go out then, the finances from that run certainly helped to provide for the purchases this past summer.
Arsenal currently have a goal difference of +4, the top in that range are Bayern and Real Mad with +6. Of the other English clubs, Manchester City are eighth and thus on the cusp of automatic qualification, Tottenham Hotspur are ninth (four points and a goal difference of +1). Elsewhere, Newcastle are 11th, Liverpool 17th and Chelsea 18th.
And I do think that the performance of Chelsea here and in the Premier League is interesting in that they have changed the entire model of being a Premier League club in that their prime activity does seem to be playing trading at a profit rather than winning things. After eight Premier League games this season they are nine points behind Arsenal.
More anon…..
