- Sunderland v Arsenal: ambition, injuries and form
- Sunderland v Arsenal and the curious behaviour of the referee
By Tony Attwood
Obviously, Premier League clubs don’t go around throwing games they could win, but the assumption that all clubs strive for a top four is probably a misunderstanding of current football economics. A good run in the Europa might be far less exciting than time in the Champions League next season, but in terms of supporter morale, missing the Champs League and having a long run in the Europa could be a real sign of progress, and could keep interest in the season alive. We might expect Arsenal to be in the Champions League and challenging for the trophy, but for some clubs, a longer run in the Europa is both financially more attractive and a good way of keeping fan interest alive to the end of the season.
The simple fact is that 12 clubs drop out after eight games from the Champions League, and last season, even 11 points from eight games was not enough to secure participation in the additional knockout round (which itself only guaranteed two more games)
Of course, such a lack of ambition is not something that clubs can discuss openly or which can be admitted by fans, but many clubs, on seeing the new regulations, acknowledge internally that gradual growth is far better than a rush up the table. Just consider Aston Villa and Newcastle, currently 11th and 13th in the League, after a lot of talk about them being part of the new elite. Given the choice, they would sooner be in the Europa League for the coming months than have had an eight-match run in the Champions League and then nothing more in terms of Europe.
Sunderland’s real problem this season is that they have raised expectations in terms of their league form, by having been given a run of fixtures in the early part of the season against clubs that are expected to end up in the lower part of the league. Not totally of course, but there is a certain lack of balance about the fixture lists this season.
Now we have had comments made on this site which criticise this point, suggesting that I am contending that the people who create the league fixture lists have deliberately given Arsenal tough games at the start and other teams easier games, earlier in the season.
I do think that might be a possibility, but I am not saying for sure that this has happened. What I am critical of, however, is the fact that when the computer threw out the fixture list as it has come out, it should have been realised that there is no balance in the fixtures in terms of when top clubs who might challenge for the title are actually playing each other. My thought is that, assuming that the draw was completely random, on seeing the list produced by the computer, the fixture committee could have adjusted it so that the teams expected to be near the top had matches against each other spread out evenly through the season.
But this has not happened, and so we have a fixture list where games against top teams seem to come in a bunch and games againsts teams expecting to be lower in the league come in bunches.
Thus, I make the observation that Sunderland have done very well so far, playing teams such as West Ham, Burnley, Brentford, Palace, Forest and Everton – games which they still have to compete, but with which they have a fighting chance of success. Now they are coming up against the league leaders, I suspect they will approach the game with a desire to hold the score at 0-0 for as long as possible before going for a breakaway goal, and then ending with 11 behind the ball for the last third of the match.
But it is just a point a view. I’m sorry it angered some people so much.
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