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.