By Tony Attwood
- Arteta is performing miracles. Turning Arsenal into Spurs II won’t help matters.
- Don’t think it is all over yet: it certainly isn’t
Here’s a list of Tottenham managers since 2023. I know I have run this before, but as there are now some people who think that Arsenal should copy Tottenham’s model of having two managers a season every season on average I thought it worth running it again…
- Antonio Conte
- Cristian Stellini
- Ryan Mason
- Ange Postecoglou
- Thomas Frank
- Igor Tudor
Now what I don’t understand is why some supposed Arsenal supporters think we should copy the Tottenham model. Maybe it is through comparing Tottenham’s position in the league with Arsenal’s….
| Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 27 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 52 | 20 | 32 | 58 |
| 16 | Tottenham Hots | 26 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 36 | 37 | -1 | 29 |
But as that doesn’t really help, let’s do what we normally do before a game and look at Tottenham at home and Arsenal away – after all, the game being played at the Unsponsored Stadium must give the Tots an advantage. It is, I am told, a wonderful place for footy, but they really do need a sponsor, and there are lots of companies locally that could help out. I mean it could be the Gestetner Reproduction Stadium* or the Duncan Tuckers Timber Stadium, or the Maynards Sweet Stadium, or the Eagle Pencil Stadium… True, because of the decline in the N17 area some of these might not exist anymore or much longer, but really, there are all sorts of names they could choose from. Here’s the table
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | Tottenham Eagle Pencils home | 13 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 16 | 18 | -2 | 10 |
| 1 | Arsenal away | 14 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 21 | 12 | 9 | 26 |
That little table, which we run before each game, suggests that Arsenal might have an advantage playing at Tottenham’s Cannon Rubber ground. After all Arsenal have scored more goals away than Tottenham EverReady have at home, and conceded fewer goals away than Tottenham Fanfolds have at home and have a goal difference that is 11 goals superior to that of Tottenham at the Power Flexible Tubing stadium. Also Arsenal away have 16 more points than Tottenham Oceana Laundry have at home.
Now we know that Mikel Arteta has been in charge of Arsenal for a long time, while Thomas Frank was kicked out of the Spong and Co stadium following two wins in 17 Premier League matches. That doesn’t seem a good reason to get rid of Arteta.
But still the Premier League like to help Tottenham, whatever sponsors name they finally come up with for their ground, so they have given the Tiny Tots players 12 days without a game before the local derby, which is really kind of the league, and shows no bias at all, as they are playing a club that has been playing two games a week throughout most of the season.
Now I have finally seen it admitted in the media that “Arsenal have the league’s second-most prolific attack,” which is something that many alleged Arsenal fans seem to have forgotten.
Multibillion Manchester City have scored 54 goals this campaign, and Arsenal have a miserly 52, which I suppose some will be arguing is another good reason to sack the manager. Tottenham have 36.
And although it is not commented upon much, Arsenal do have the best defence in the league, having conceded 20 goals to Tottenham’s 37.
Now, given those figures, Tottenham’s plight does not look too awful, but there is a bit of a problem here, for since the start of this year, Tottenham have played eight league games. They have drawn four of them and lost four of them. Which by my maths, means they have not won any. They have, however, scored nine goals and conceded 14.
However, we also know that Arsenal have been having such a terrible time that it is important (according to some fans) that Arsenal should now sack their manager. Arsenal, since the start of this year, and taking only Premier League games into account, have won three, drawn four and lost one. There have been 15 Arsenal goals and eight against.
So what are we to make of all of this? Quite simply, Arsenal are in a dip – the sort of thing we’ve debated quite a few times in the last few years. It is not just something that affects Arsenal but also affects other successful clubs – in short, they don’t just lose one match and then bounce back to winning ways, they have a real downturn over several games.
Even Manchester City, with their fairly substantial amounts of money spent over the years, during which they have had the benefit of the oil wealth of Abu Dhabi, can’t stop the occasional blips, although theirs have been three sets of consecutive defeats during this season.
So the issue is, can Arsenal leap forth out of their dip and overcome Tottenham with a thumping win thus bringing the latest dip to an end? That is what we shall see this weekend.
*All the suggested names do come from local companies in the area of the Tottenham stadium, and are offered by way of helpful suggestion. I should stress that none of these companies has been contacted by Untold and none have, to the best of my knowledge, expressed an interest in sponsoring the stadium, so it is still ok to trade with them if you so wish.
PS: I know taking the names of local Tottenham companies and associating them with sponsorship of Tottenham’s ground is rather childish, but I do like to stay in touch with my younger days just occasionally.
