By Tony Attwood
- How the football media is conning most of us, day after day after day
- In terms of squads, English clubs have a much tougher time than those in Germany or France
Poor Chelsea. Hammersmith and Fulham, the local council, has said that they don’t want a football ground at Earls Court, but for some reason would like to build more houses for people to live in and shops for them to buy things in, rather than a ground that is unused for most of the year. And with London’s housing shortage being as acute as it is, I guess they have a point. The fact that the site is only just up the road from the current ground doesn’t seem to cut any ice with the council – seems they wouldn’t mind Chelsea meandering off somewhere else…
Of course, that decision more or less stops what could have been an entertaining fight between Chelsea the club and the Chelsea Pitch Owners, the latter group each owning one little square of the pitch. Goodness knows how that would have gone had it gone to court. But it is the one bit of Ken Bates’ legacy at Chelsea we all remember with a smile: buy a tiny bit of grass and scupper any chance of turning the ground into something else.
So Chelsea continue at their little ground (well, ok not really little but littler than Arsenal’s and even littler than West Ham who perpetually reside in the darkened outer reaches of both London and the Premier League. It seems Chelsea can’t even go to rugby’s Twickenham ground as that has a limit on the number of events that can be held there each year.
They could rent Wembley, but there are fears that Chelsea fans might not find the way, having had only one cup final in the last ten years.
Anyway, several publications have been publishing the size of various Premier League grounds of late, and Arsenal are down in sixth position but still a fair way above the likes of ManchesterC, and Newcastle. After that, you are down to the grounds of under 50,000 capacity. Anyway, never mind.
Still, this weekend Chelsea, who used to be known as Chelski but aren’t any more, have to play Arsenal, who are known for being top of the league. Here’s our usual home and away chart.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | Chelsea home | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 10 |
| 3 | Arsenal away | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 13 |
Curiously at this moment, Chelsea have an away record that is similar to Arsenal’s away record – although with a better goal difference, but here we are looking at Chelsea at the Bridge and that shows a modest superiority in Arsenal’s favour.
For Chelsea, in their first six league games of the season, they won two, drew two, and lost two, but since then it has been five wins and one defeat at home – that defeat being against Sunderland 1-2 at the end of last month.
So in the last three games in the league for Chelsea, it has been three wins with six goals scored with none conceded. For Arsenal, we have seen two wins and a draw in the league with eight scored and three conceded.
Chelsea’s three league defeats this season have come from Manchester United away, Brighton and the aforementioned Sunderland at home. Maybe Chelsea don’t like their home ground that much either.
In recent seasons, they have had a bit of an up and down run, coming 3rd, 12th, 6th and 4th in the league, while also winning the conference league last season. Their average league attendance last season was just 39.672, which suggested a level of disinterest among the fans.
As for the head-to-head out of the 211 matches between the two, results Arsenal have won 85 (40%), and Chelsea have won 66 (31%)
But here is a funny thing. In the last dozen Premier League and FA Cup matches, Chelsea have won just one – that on 20 August 2021 when they beat Arsenal 0-2 at Arsenal’s ground. Of the remaining games, Arsenal have won eight and three have been draws. That total took me a bit by surprise, but if you want to check, here are the games…
| Date | Match | Res | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Jan 2020 | Chelsea v Arsenal | D | 2-2 | Premier League |
| 01 Aug 2020 | Arsenal v Chelsea | W | 2-1 | FA Cup |
| 26 Dec 2020 | Arsenal v Chelsea | W | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 12 May 2021 | Chelsea v Arsenal | W | 0-1 | Premier League |
| 22 Aug 2021 | Arsenal v Chelsea | L | 0-2 | Premier League |
| 20 Apr 2022 | Chelsea v Arsenal | W | 2-4 | Premier League |
| 06 Nov 2022 | Chelsea v Arsenal | W | 0-1 | Premier League |
| 02 May 2023 | Arsenal v Chelsea | W | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 21 Oct 2023 | Chelsea v Arsenal | D | 2-2 | Premier League |
| 23 Apr 2024 | Arsenal v Chelsea | W | 5-0 | Premier League |
| 10 Nov 2024 | Chelsea v Arsenal | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 16 Mar 2025 | Arsenal v Chelsea | W | 1-0 | Premier League |
More on the game soon.
