- Arsenal’s position at the top of the Premier League injury table
- How referees change season by season and how it affects clubs
By Tony Attwood
In the last 26 games that Arsenal have played in league and cups, there has been just one defeat – and that to Aston Villa. And yet even though Arsenal have had seven successful wins since the,n the journalists still talk about that match as if it had some special significance. And they do that even though Aston Villa are now six points behind Arsenal and have a 17-goal worse goal difference than Arsenal. ManC are seven points behind Arsenal but have a game in hand, and if they win that, you can be sure there will be much ruminating on them “closing the gap”.
Of course, these are convenient topics, and no one mentions Arsenal being 15 points and a goal difference of 22 better than last year’s champions, largely because the media rather fancied this season to be a slog between Liverpool and ManC.
But just in case you missed it, here is the league table.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 20 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 40 | 14 | 26 | 48 |
| 2 | Aston Villa | 20 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 33 | 24 | 9 | 42 |
| 3 | Manchester City | 19 | 13 | 2 | 4 | 43 | 17 | 26 | 41 |
| 4 | Liverpool | 19 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 30 | 26 | 4 | 33 |
And I was reminded this weekend that we haven’t actually run a comparison between where Arsenal are now and where they were at this stage of the unbeaten season in 2004.
In fact, at this moment after 20 games in the Unbeaten Season, Arsenal were actually two points worse off, had scored four fewer goals, than this season and only in terms of defence were doing better, having let in one goal fewer in 2003/4 than this season.
And just in case you would like to check the figures, here is the top of the Unbeaten Season table after 20 games… (Charlton who at this stage were fourth in the Premier League, are this season 19th in the Championship, four points away from the first relegation position).
2004
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester United | 20 | 16 | 1 | 3 | 40 | 14 | 26 | 49 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 20 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 36 | 13 | 23 | 46 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 20 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 36 | 17 | 19 | 42 |
| 4 | Charlton Athletic | 20 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 28 | 23 | 5 | 31 |
Obviously, as you will know if you are following the current series on the Arsenal History Society website, where we celebrate 100 seasons in the top division, it hasn’t been glory all the way but there has been quite a bit of that, along the way, and so far this season seems to be playing its part.
Of course, ManC could win their game in hand (they play Chelsea today at 5.30pm) and so creep up to four points behind us with a better goal difference, but that is still four points behind us. And we might recall Arsenal have now won seven games in a row in all competitions and five in a row in the league.
But there is no doubt that whatever Arsenal do, it is never enough, and there is now regular talk in the media of clubs that have been this far ahead at this stage of the season, before then falling behind. Each match we come to is predicted as being the moment Arsenal will slip up, and when Arsenal win, there is little by way of media acceptance of the club’s success.
Indeed, so desperate are the media to find ways of knocking Arsenal that they are even turning to Harry Redknapp for quotes!!! As with “Speaking after Arsenal’s victory over Bournemouth, Redknapp claimed that Arteta’s desire to close out games could mean that Eze may struggle for playing time if he is named as a substitute.
‘They’re bringing on Merino towards the end of the game and he’s [Arteta] not looking around to bring on Eze or Myles Lewis-Skelly to go and win the game 4-2 or 5-2,’ Redknapp told Sky Sports.”
I imagine that’s a fairly accurate quote but it is full of holes. Redknapp is not necessarily a reliable witness of course, having had several scrapes with the law, including being investigated by Revenue and Customs in January 2010 and charged with false accounting. His defence was that he was dyscalculic and dyslexic and had problems with contracts. And certainly, as I work with the Dyscalculia Centre I can sympathise with that. But even so, he worked in organisations that could and should have had someone in place to help him. The thought that a professional football club would employ a dyslexic and dyscalculic man as manager and not have someone checking his writing, spelling, and maths is ludicrous.
But anyway, let’s finish off with a comparison between now and this time last year…
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Arsenal 2025 | 20 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 39 | 18 | 21 | 40 |
| 1 | Arsenal 2026 | 20 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 40 | 14 | 26 | 48 |
Four more wins, one more goal, four fewer conceded, eight more points. By and large that is looking rather good to me both in terms of progress, and in terms of actual position.
