By Tony Attwood
- Chelsea v Arsenal – the past games, selling part of the club, avoiding the rules
- Chelsea v Arsenal: how some refs are handing out twice as many cards as others.
So it is first against third… as portrayed in the last article. And of course we often focus on not just wonderful moves but also goals, and also wonderful goals. But quite often goals also come from errors, as The Athletic was reminding us recently, although they now seem to have put up a pay wall.
But I can tell you that according to their statistics, altogether the Premier League teams have made 180 errors leading to a shot or goal across the first 12 rounds of matches this season. And it seems this is the highest number of errors in the first 12 games since 2018/9, Indeed, they also tell us that 170 such errors were made in 2024-25. It is, in fact, the season of cockups.
Indeed it seems one just needs to wait for an error and then pouce, and indeed there is now an Alternative Table showing the number of errors leading to the number of shots conceded. Tottenham you might be delighted to hear, make the highest number of errors that lead to shots, with 15 such disasters so far thsi season. Chelsea are in sixth place in the table of errors with 11, the same number as sinking Liverpool – now in 13th position in the league, and 11 points behind Arsenal. Arsenal are 14th in the mistakes table with six errors leading to shots. Bottom of the table is Bournemouth with only three such errors.
So that is another good statistic for Arsenal to go with most wins so far this season (nine), fewest defeats this season (one), second most goals (24) – three fewer than Manchester City, best defence (six conceded).
And amidst all this, we might note that 16 out of the 20 clubs in the league have conceded at least twice as many goals as Arsenal, and four clubs have conceded four times as many. 17 of the 20 clubs have a goal difference at best only half as good as Arsenal’s, if not worse. But then of course Arsenal have four more points than anyone else.
As ever, Sportsmole have some very interesting insights into the game, noting that Chelsea have got well under half their Premier League points at Stamford Bridge this campaign, with three wins, one draw and two defeats. Compared with Arsenal’s away record of four wins, one draw and one defeat. Still, Chelsea can always console themselves with not being as bad as Tottenham.
Home matches only
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Arsenal | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 14 | 16 |
| 13 | Chelsea | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 10 |
| 19 | Tottenham Hotspur | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 9 | -1 | 5 |
What is interesting, and again I doff my cap to the Mole, is that Chelsea are “yet to win back-to-back Premier League home matches in the current term.” Goodness!
For Chelsea, it looks like Cole Palmer will be in the starting XI, and for Arsenal… well, the first thing that struck me is just how many goal scorers Arsenal have. Five Arsenal players have scored five or more goals in league matches this season. For Chelsea, the number is two (Estêvão and Enzo Fernández). For Manchester City it is two. For Sunderland, currently in fourth place, it is… well, actually… not to put too fine a point on it… none.
On the injury front Gyokeres and Havertz are being assessed, and of course, the Gabriels are out. Trossard is rated at 50% by Premier Injuries.
So to the line up. Sportsmole (who kindly suggest it will be a 1-2 win for Arsenal) offer us
Raya;
Timber, Saliba, Hincapie, Calafiori;
Eze, Zubimendi, Rice;
Saka, Merino, Martinelli
Pain in the Arsenal have the same score and would you believe, exactly the same team. However the Metro does manage to find a variation, and they offer the thought that Odegaard might actually start….
Raya;
Timber, Saliba, Mosquera, Calafiori;
Odegaard, Zubimendi, Rice;
Saka, Merino, Martinelli
As ever we shall see, and Untold will of course keep jogging along. I do hope you’ll be back with us tomorrow.
