- Just as we thought the injury crisis was over…
- How to deflect from reality: refereeing figures for the league cup are bonkers
By Tony Attwood
At the end of this little piece there is a question which reads: Arsenal are the second highest goal scorers in the league with 49 points. ManC are top with 45, and ManU third with 36. But who are Arsenal’s top goal scorers in the league? The answer is at the end.
Meanwhile, there is the general thought that Arsenal are moving seamlessly into the final, which allows the media to talk about the rarity of Arsenal getting a trophy, while ignoring the fact that Arsenal have won a major trophy more recently than Chelsea.
And there is also a recognition that Arsenal can not only play really stylish football but can, on occasion, bully the opposition, which is, these days, part of the game. But of course it wasn’t really an Arsenal victory (according to some scribblers) because Chelsea didn’t have a proper goalkeeper. So Lucky Arsenal once again. And anyway, Chelea had lots of injuries.
But the fact is, Arsenal played an interesting tactical game that Chelsea never quite got the hang of. Arsenal let Chelsea have the majority of possession (57% of it in fact), knowing that the opposition didn’t really have much idea how to benefit from that while knowing also that Arsenal could then cause them confusion when they took over.
So in the end Arsenal had 17 attempts on goal to Chelsea’s ten, and nine corners to their six, The only thing they shared was yellow cards (four all).
Those stats don’t suggest that the Guardian’s comment that “Arsenal were rampant” was true, but compliments are rare for Arsenal. so we take them where they are given.
Chelsea have now won one game in the last seven (that was the one against Charlton away in the FA Cup) and three in the last 13. In their last 13, Arsenal have won ten, drawn two and lost one. Or if you would like to see a more positive view, Arsenal have won nine and drawn one of the last ten.
So the next game is Nottingham Forest away on Saturday at 5.30pm. Forest have won one of their last six games, beating (as everyone does these days) West Ham. That will be the third of our four consecutive away games, and it seems to me by and large things are not going too badly. For a win in that game should set the team up well for the last of the four consecutive away games, which is in Italy against Inter Milan.
Inter are six points clear at the top of the Italian league table, Arsenal are six points clear at the top of the Premier League table. They have scored 43 goals in 20 league games, Arsenal have scored 40 goals in 21 league games. That game could be tighter than the three previous consecutive away games.
But to lighten any gloomy thoughts about the Milan game (which doesn’t really matter too much as Arsenal are certain to qualify for the next Champions League round without going through the play offs) it might be worth noting that Arsenal have conceded half the number of goals (or lfewer than half) than most Premier League clubs. This table shows Arsenal’s goals against, and the 11 clubs letting in twice as many, or more.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 21 | 15 | 4 | 2 | 40 | 14 |
| 4 | Liverpool | 21 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 32 | 28 |
| 5 | Brentford | 21 | 10 | 3 | 8 | 35 | 28 |
| 11 | Brighton and Hove Albion | 21 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 31 | 28 |
| 9 | Fulham | 21 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 30 | 30 |
| 7 | Manchester United | 21 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 36 | 32 |
| 17 | Nottingham Forest | 21 | 6 | 3 | 12 | 21 | 34 |
| 16 | Leeds United | 21 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 29 | 37 |
| 15 | AFC Bournemouth | 21 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 34 | 40 |
| 19 | Burnley | 21 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 22 | 41 |
| 20 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 21 | 1 | 4 | 16 | 15 | 41 |
| 18 | West Ham United | 21 | 3 | 5 | 13 | 22 | 43 |
But to return to last night… Arsenal are the second-highest goal scorers in the league with 49 goals. ManC are top with 45, and ManU third with 36. But which players are Arsenal’s top goal scorers in the league so far this season?
The answer is that it is the endlessly maligned Viktor Gyokeres along with Leandro Trossard: they are equal top scorers. Now they have only scored five each – which seems pretty poor – but the Arsenal approach is partly based on the opposition not having a clue where the next goal is coming from.
And this does suggest that all the whinging and whining about individual players not scoring enough is simply anti-Arsenal bias by the media. Yes, we could have one player who scores most goals, but a) he would be targeted by opposition henchmen who are rarely punished by referees, and b) he’d spend a lot of the season out injured as a result of a). This way, spreading the goals around means Arsenal can be the second-highest scorers in the league and top of the table without having their leading scorers crippled.
Best not to point this out to the media, however, who in every match note that Gyokeres doesn’t score enough. Those journos haven’t quite got the idea that it is a team game and proper analysis can give them headaches.
