By Tony Attwood
It was deeply disappointing yesterday only to get a draw and not yet another win – but of course the memory will fade, and indeed even in the unbeaten season we had some draws that it is best to forget.
And of course there are headlines today such as “It’s so toxic at Spurs even West Ham were shocked,” remind us that thee are still things to smile about, even after a goalless draw. The Telegraph picked up on the Totts theme too with “Thomas Frank in crisis mode as Spurs fans turn en masse” That’s not actually something I want to see as I don’t actually like seeing Tottenham fans en masse, but I get the idea.
Even the Tottenham supporting Daily Mail go with “Thomas Frank’s Tottenham future is in DOUBT after toxic atmosphere during 2-1 home defeat by rivals West Ham – with hierarchy weighing up his fate amid Spurs fans’ calling for his sacking”.
I do LOVE the way that newsPAPER puts random WORDS in capitals for absolutely NO reason.
And of course, the thought of another managerial sacking down the Lane must be welcomed by all Arsenal fans, since we have seen through research that the chances of a new manager doing something better than the last one, are very limited. Yes, it happened at Arsenal with the departure of Emery, but even then, it took time (over one and a half seasons with us before we could clamber back into Europe).
Of course, the Daily Mirror breaks the trend by making Arsenal the headline with “Arsenal fail to punish Man City slip-up in drab Nottingham Forest draw – 5 talking points” as if we needed the Mirror to tell us what to talk about. They do actually get to the fact that, “The result means that chasers City have now gone four league games without a win,” but it takes them a long time to get there.
But we can still enjoy the table today… Here it is just showing London clubs…
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 22 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 40 | 14 | 26 | 50 |
| 6 | Chelsea | 22 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 36 | 24 | 12 | 34 |
| 7 | Brentford | 22 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 35 | 30 | 5 | 33 |
| 10 | Fulham | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 30 | 31 | -1 | 31 |
| 13 | Crystal Palace | 22 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 23 | 25 | -2 | 28 |
| 14 | Tottenham Hotspur | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 31 | 29 | 2 | 27 |
| 18 | West Ham United | 22 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 24 | 44 | -20 | 17 |
.
…This is quite an improvement for Arsenal on the situation after 22 games last year – this season we have won three more, and drawn three fewer by this point and although we have scored three fewer, the defence has conceded four fewer. All told it means Arsenal have six points more than they did on reaching second position after 22 games a year ago.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Arsenal 2024 | 22 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 44 | 21 | 23 | 46 |
| 2 | Arsenal 2025 | 22 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 43 | 21 | 22 | 44 |
| 1 | Arsenal 2026 | 22 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 40 | 14 | 26 | 50 |
But now we have a bit of a gap before the next league game as it is time to return to European matches with a game against Inter Milan away on Tuesday. And indeed it is interesting to look at Inter’s results of late by way of an initial prelude to the game..
- Saturday 17th January Udinese 0 , Inter Milan 1
- Wednesday 14th January Inter Milan 1 , Lecce 0
- Sunday 11th January Inter Milan 2 , Napoli 2
- Wednesday 7th January Parma 0 , Inter Milan 2
- Sunday 4th January Inter Milan 3 , Bologna 1
So they, like Arsenal, have been plodding along in a successful but not dramatic way, ensuring that they, like Arsenal, are top of their league. In fact you may have noticed in passing that Arsenal are now seven points clear at the top of the league. But what you might not have picked up on, since the media haven’t really worked out the maths yet, is that Inter are six points clear at the top of their league.
Here is a table comparison
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inter 2026 | 21 | 16 | 1 | 4 | 44 | 17 | 227 | 49 |
| 1 | Arsenal 2026 | 22 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 40 | 14 | 26 | 50 |
The figures are of course affected by the nature of the clubs in each league. And thinking of this it is interesting to note that the bottom three clubs in the Italian top division have a total of 41 points, while in the English Premier League the bottom three have 38 points – so despite the collapse of Wolverhampton this season, there really isn’t too much difference between the two leagues. The notion that the Premier League is more competitive than others tends to look a bit like media nationalism.
Meanwhile, back at home, although the draw against Forest was not what we hoped for, the league table is still looking pretty good, and we can look forward to the mid-week match with some positive anticipation.
It is on Tuesday at 8pm and on television in the UK on TNT.
Arsenal did enough and created enough chances to win the game. Forest created little to none. I don’t remember Raya making a save, I might be wrong.
There goal keeper was man of the match with some world class saves.
We shouldn’t be relying on handball decisions, but I was curious why VAR didn’t even ask the Ref to go look at the incident on the little screen ( not that it would have done much difference, being his fellow crime partner, Michael Oliver). That seemed strange to me seeing as he intentionally used his arm to control the direction of the ball. He did not even try to move his arm away from the ball as most players would do knowing that they are in the penalty area.
Also it was his own player that was leaning behind him not an Arsenal player.
So many factors their to say it was a penalty. But then again it was our worst VAR assistant Darren England, like Michael Oliver another secret Liverpool fan that helped Liverpool win the league last year with their many controversial decisions that was credited against Arsenal. A great double act.
Arteta was right to protect Saka, as like myself he knew the ref would allow forest to kick him off the park in the first half without punishment as he usually does this.
We should have been more clinical. So not a bad game for creative chances.
Anyway, I hope Villa and their Arsenal revenge seeking Manager loose today to make it a point well earned.
The Three Gabriel’s will be key against Inter.
I think we have a chance as they are not familiar with out set pieces so Gabriel Magalhaes to score the first goal from a set pieces.
Then Gabriel Jesus to get the starting nod ahead of Gyokeres and score a goal, then finally Gabriel Martinelli to come on in the second half and score a goal on the counter attack when Inter are to far up the pitch chasing the game.
At least Three nil to Arsenal if not more.
daveg
It is not so much relying on such decisions, it is more that title winning teams would get them given in their favour. Indeed, Man City got 2 key decisions going for them when they won at Forest last month
The only point to be made is that Arsenal couldn’t score against a team 17th in the table. The only other matches where they didn’t score were the two against Liverpool. Not an acceptable performance.
But Goner 72, very few clubs indeed manage to maintain the highest level of performance through every single game. Indeed I find it hard to think of any. Even some of the Unbeaten Season matches which ended in draws were not that impressive.
You have to love Dyche’s comments after the game, sums him up perfectly… I won’t quote because I don’t speak Gorilla, but along the lines of. ‘if were going to give penalties for that, we might as well cancel football’.
So we mustn’t give penalties against his sides for blatant cheating apparently! wonderful.
Even ex PGMOL and FIFA henchman Hackett stated it was an obvious hand ball offence and should have been a penalty!
Yes, as Vikrant has said. we shouldn’t rely on these decisions, but if the playing field is not level, we have such a harder job on our hands than certain other clubs seem to have!
A good weekend we have 7 only 7 points lead at the top of the table , who wouldn’t take that .
Was overjoyed by the Villa loss , as it ended up as a good week for us ! Just keep that not losing streak going , an we will be celebration come end of the season !
Up the Gunners !
When you see how Pool! were gifted a penalty and Manure’s Dalot not given a red, you just have to admit PL referees and VARs are just an incompetent bunch. And PGMOL an organisation incapable of selecting, educating and training them up to what should be the highest standards.
How most of the owners in the PL can accept that season after season is beyond my understanding.
@ Chris
or maybe it has something with 90% of refs being from the north!!
Just to follow up on my point above. I’m sure you will have noticed how Man U have crept back into contention for a Champions League place. I suppose it’s just coincidence that they are 9th for fouls per game but have picked up the fewest yellow cards of any club this season.
I did a bit of analysis on fouls and cards earlier in the season and based on about five and a half seasons I discovered that despite having committed 8% more fouls than Arsenal, we had a red card for every 112 fouls whilst they only had a red for every 301 fouls!! Funny that! Got away with another this weekend too!
Tony,
I take your point. Maybe I’m being harsh but it’s just that I see so much talent at every position that perhaps my expectations are a bit unrealistic. We were undone by draws last season, maybe that’s what triggered my remarks. We picked up a point, our competitors didn’t and we’re moving on. Hoping for no injuries vs Inter. My interest is winning the EPL. I’m also hoping that, at my age, my heart can take it when we do.
@Gooner72,
we may have a full team now or almost but were ravaged by injuries and most of the past 2 months games piled up and there had to be rotation.
Oliver is a referee who favors the home team. 42% home win, 23% tie…. and Darren England, I’m going to say nothing about him or the pairing of both of them.
So we got out of it with one point, the direct competition did not get a single point.
Enjoy the race….