By Tony Attwood
Most recent articles
- Why is there home advantage, and why does it only apply for some referees?
- Arsenal v Brentford. Do Arsenal need a recharge or is it already full speed ahead?
And on the Arsenal History website,
And now onto today’s game
So here we are the top of the league, just – but with a game in hand. It might also be added that we have scored the second highest number of goals in the league, have the best defence in the league, and have the best goal difference in the league.
So on the basis of Arsenal’s current position and that of Brentford in 12th, (same points as Tottenham but a slightly worse goal difference) we ought to win this one. Here are the figures
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 13 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 25 | 7 | 18 | 30 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 14 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 32 | 16 | 16 | 28 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 13 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 24 | 12 | 12 | 24 |
| 11 | Tottenham Hotspur | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 23 | 18 | 5 | 19 |
| 12 | Brentford | 13 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 21 | 20 | 1 | 19 |
One bit of media chat is that Mikel Arteta has “challenged Declan Rice to improve his long throws,” on the grounds that Arsenal have yet to score a goal with a move starting with a throw-in. Brentford on the other hand, will be keen to get themselves above Tottenham Hots with whom they share the same number of points, but with Brentford having a game in hand.
In some of the media there is a discussion of how it is interesting that since Rice can deliver such perfect balls into the box with his legs and feet, he ought to be able to do it with his hands and arms, and so apparently he is in training to do exactly that.
On this topic, Mikel Arteta recently said, “I know how good Declan was at taking set pieces three or four years ago and I know how good he is now….. Things have to be trained, evolved and tweaked. And the player has to believe as well, which is key. When you look at Declan, he can do almost everything you require him to do.”
Thankfully either West Ham didn’t realise that, or they were desperate to have some more money, despite not paying any rent for their ground.
What makes all this interesting is that Brentford are only fractionally behind Arsenal in terms of goals this season, having scored 21 to Arsenal’s 25. But of course, it is the defence that makes things different – they have conceded almost three times as many goals as Arsenal in this campaign. West Ham’s present goal difference is minus 12. Last season it ended at minus 16. With 25 games to go, at the current rate this season’s WHAM could be even worse than last season’s.
But back to Brentford… they have not beaten Arsenal since August 2021, since which time we have had seven league matches between the two sides. Arsenal have won five and two have been draws. But… and this is the issue… both of those draws have been at Arsenal’s ground. Although the one defeat in the last 13 games between the two was at Griffin Park.
Brentford, however, have been doing well in the league of late, winning four and losing two of their last six games, while for Arsenal it has been a case of winning four and drawing two.
And there is also a point that in these last six games Arsenal have a goal difference of +7. Only;y Chelsea have beaten this with +8. As for Brenftord, their difference over the last six has been +4.
Brentford’s last win on Arsenal’s ground was on 15 April 1938 when they won 0-2. It is an interesting historical moment because that result was utterly unexpected, as Arsenal were indeed top of the league. Here is the table from before that match 87 years ago… (two points for a win in those days of course).
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 36 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 68 | 38 | 45 |
| 6 | Brentford | 37 | 16 | 8 | 13 | 63 | 53 | 40 |
Arsenal eventually won the league by one point, and Brentford finished sixth, seven points behind.
As for the issue of injuries, Arsenal are still reporting that Havertz and Gabriel are not fit enough for this game, while Trossard and Saliba both have a 25% chance of making it – and presumably if they do, that will be on the bench.
Brentford still have three players ruled out as of this monring: Fabio Freitas Gouveia Carvalho, Antoni Milambo, Joshua Dasilva, along (as mentioned before) with Reiss Nelson.
Finally, a historical note. In 2008–09 Brentford were in League Two. Until 2013/14 they were in League One. Until 2020–21 they were in the Championship. And thus this is their fourth season in the top league. In those four seasons, they have come 13th, 9th, 16th and 10th. This season they are, currently 12th with the same number of points as Tottenham Hots.
And yet all this has been achieved with a ground capacity of 17,250. Tottenham Hots meanwhile are 11th in the league on the same number of points as Brentford, with just a four-goal better goal difference. But Tottenham’s average crowd is 61,016 – which is three and a half times the size of Brentford’s crowd. And we had all those Tottenham fans writing to us saying that the cost of the ground had not put Tottenham in debt nor restricted their ability to buy players.
Yet both clubs have the same number of points.
It makes one wonder what it is that Tottenham are doing wrong. Presumably, the answer is, everything…
