- “Rattled” Arsenal are just one point behind where they were in the unbeaten season
- What does Arsenal’s league position today indicate for the end of the season?
By Tony Attwood
We regulaarly post comparison tables showing whee clubs were last season (or several seasons ago) and where they are now. Indeed yesterday we also publihed a table showing Arsenal now and Arsenal two years ago. Turns out we had one more point two years ago than now, although, as we have often pointed out, the way the fixtures ran this season hasn’t been so kind.
But what we didn’t get into was the yellow card issue. However, fortunately, the New York Times was on the case and clearly concluded in their piece, “Arsenal have cut out unnecessary bookings”
After 10 games of last season, Arsenal had got three red cards and 24 yellows. Indeed you’ll probably remember that because the media could hardly contain themselves with excitement: the refs were really doing their bidding.
But this season they must be in dismay: the figures show none sent off and ten yellows. That is a phenomenal change.
Of course, the anti-Arsenal movement might well argue that referees knew they had gone far too far last year and themselves have been reigning things in. But I also think that Arteta has said to the players, “We are being targeted, and if we complain all that happens is the media laugh at us. So if the refs won’t change, we’ll change.”
At the same point this season, despite a tough early fixture list, Arsenal have had nobody sent off and received only 10 bookings. Not only are they top of the Premier League — they lead the fair play table, too.
So what has changed? To look at this I’ve selected Arsenal and two clubs that are often of interset to us – Tottenham and Liverpool. Here are the figures for this season, and they are of course per game. Tottenham tackle 40% more than Arsenal but commit only 10% more fouls than Arsenal.
| Team | Tackles pg | Fouls pg |
|---|---|---|
| Tottenham 2025/6 | 20.6 | 11.5 |
| Arsenal 2025/6 | 14.7 | 10.5 |
| Liverpool 2025/6 | 13.2 | 10.1 |
And by comparison, the figures for 2024/5 – although of course these are for the whole season. Tottenham players commit 11% more tackles than Arsenal and commit 11% more fouls than Arsenal. So that looked about right.
| Team | Tackles pg | Fouls pg |
|---|---|---|
| Tottenham 2024/5 | 17.4 | 11.7 |
| Arsenal 2024/5 | 15.7 | 10.6 |
| Liverpool 2024/5 | 16.9 | 11.3 |
And do note this: Liverpool are tackling far less – at just over 75% of the level of last season but they are getting around 11% more fouls called against them this season than last season! Somehow their influence seems to have collapsed!
Plus now consider this:
Arsenal are tackling less but giving away the same number fouls.
Liverpool are tackling a lot less, but have only reduced their number of fouls slightly
Tottenham are tackling a lot more (over 18% more) but the number of fouls committed has declined very slightly. They clearly have found a way to play PGMO at their game!
Of course if we look for everything to be balanced, fair and consistent, these numbers suggest that marginal changes in the level of tackling don’t really have much effect on the number of fouls given anyway. But, much more to the point, is that it is possible, as Tottenham show, to put in more tackles and get fewer cards, just as it is possible to tackle less but get no change in the nubmer of cards. It depends on the refs attitude to the club!
The Yellow Cards Tables
And let us consider this a different way around – via the number of yellow cards. Now yellow cards have been worrying us for several seasons because the major reasons for giving a yellow card is called, (in the figures released by PGMO), “other” which gives us no clue at all as to what it means.
What we have in this first table are the actual figures for last season in terms of the reasons why yellow cards were handed out, for four clubs that we are regularly interested in.
.
2024/25
| Pos | Team | Fouls | Unprofessional | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Chelsea | 54 | 10 | 38 |
| 12 | Tottenham | 54 | 7 | 11 |
| 13 | Liverpool | 52 | 6 | 11 |
| 17 | Arsenal | 42 | 3 | 28 |
2025/26
What we have done for this season is added in brackets the number that will occur if the teams carry on as they are through the whole in the same way as they have for the first 11 league games The first number shown is the number of yellow cards after 11 games, and the second number (in brackets) is the number the club will reach by the end of the season if they carry on in the same way.
| Pos | Team | Fouls | Unprofessional | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Liverpool | 20 (69) | 0 | 3 (10) |
| 3 | Tottenham | 18 (62) | 6 (21) | 2(7) |
| 5 | Chelsea | 17 (59) | 2 (7) | 6 (21) |
| 19 | Arsenal | 9 (31) | 0 | 2 (7) |
Liverpool’s yellow cards for fouls and other reasons is rising considerably.
The number of yellow cards Chelsea will get for that mysterious “other” reason (which we tried to find out about last campaign, but no one would tell us what they were for) is falling fast. Maybe PGMO read our comments.
But Arsenal are showing a major reduction in the number of yellows they are getting. Yellows from fouls are down by 27%. Yellows from the mysterious “other” reasons are down by three-quarters.
There is now a palpable focus from Arsenal on referees. Where once there was impetuousness, there is caution. It is one of many factors bolstering Arsenal’s growing title credentials.
I know the research takes loads of time so I’m not knocking the article. I would, however, suggest that without looking at the refs that each club has has had for then the comparison may be meaningless. As you have suggested in the broader context, refs have a huge influence on the outcome of games particularly in terms of the fouls they “see” and their inclination to wave yellow cards. This must obviously be a factor than would need to be considered in any comparative analysis.
Yet again a referee who sees things that aren’t there does for us. Zubimendi clearly won the ball. Pawson not only cautioned him but Sunderland scored from the resultant play.
Nothing wrong with the disallowed Liverpool goal but so satisfying to see considering the amount they have gained from either incompetent or officials who are allegedly influenced by a crowd who howl for a foul when a perfectly fair tackle wins the ball