- The ultimate truth on why refereeing in the Premier League is not all it should be
- Is Arsenal really the most hated club in football?
By Tony Attwood
In terms of Arsenal against Burnley across the years, Arsenal have won 58, and lost 34 with 24 draws in League and FA Cup matches, although curiously Arsenal didn’t manage to win any of the first five games the two clubs played – this reflecting how football started in the north and gradually filtered down to the south – and indeed south of the Thames.
However, that set of results has been turned around a bit with Burnley winning just one of the last 21 games the clubs have played against each other. And that one victory was in the League Cup when Arsenal put out a reserve team in 1974.
Burnley have not won any of their last ten league games and in fact, have drawn just three, scoring nine and conceding 22. So it looks as if they have completely given up any thought of staying in the Premier League a long time ago.
A significant part of their problem is that their stadium only holds around 21,500 and thus the income they can receive through the season is one of the lowest in the league, if not the actual lowest, and that, of course, reduces their ability to bring in new players. Any really top players they manage to discover will see Burnley as a mere stepping stone to greater things.
They have, however, won the top league in English football a few times, although spending much of their time in the lowest divisions, even slipping down to the fourth tier on occasion. But we must add that in each of 2023 and 2025 they were promoted from the Championship, but each time (including this season, as has already been confirmed) they have then slipped back immediately, undoubtedly due in part at least to the lack of money to spend on Premier League-standard players.
However, last summer they did spend £64m without recouping any money in transfer sales in the hope of managing this time to make it through more than one season in the top league, but it has not been a success. And indeed, one wonders what their finances now look like, having made such an expenditure without any noticeable return.
Their last win away from home was on 11 February, and since then, it has been ten consecutive away defeats. They must be coming into this match more in hope than any form of expectation.
Here is the current league table…. showing Arsenal’s position compared with the bottom clubs. It is interesting to note that the total difference in “goal difference” between the two clubs playing tonight 78 goals.
Meanwhile, it does look like Tottenham are going to survive in the top league. I wonder, however, if they will have learned anything from this season, or whether they will just continue to believe they are a natural Premier League club and this season was nothing more than an oddity.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 36 | 24 | 7 | 5 | 68 | 26 | 42 | 79 |
| 16 | Nottingham Forest | 37 | 11 | 10 | 16 | 47 | 50 | −3 | 43 |
| 17 | Tottenham Hotspur | 36 | 9 | 11 | 16 | 46 | 55 | −9 | 38 |
| 18 | West Ham United | 37 | 9 | 9 | 19 | 43 | 65 | −22 | 36 |
| 19 | Burnley (R) | 36 | 4 | 9 | 23 | 37 | 73 | −36 | 21 |
| 20 | Wolverhampton (R) | 37 | 3 | 10 | 24 | 26 | 67 | −41 | 19 |
.
The referee is Paul Tierney, and this is the eighth time we have seen him in his career. But the worrying fact is that he has been involved in 36 games this season, 25 of which have been as VAR and seven as the fourth official. Why he is now being upgraded is difficult to say. One might be tempted to write that I am sure PGMO know what they are doing – but the fact is I don’t have such an expectation at all.
One interesting fact concerning this game, however, is that in their next game Burnley play Wolverhampton – so the two clubs going down will meet. I wonder if that will bring along a big crowd to Turf Moor.
West Ham are currently only showing two injuries. Arsenal’s men down are Ben White, Jurien Timber, Mikel Merino and Ricardo Calafiori. I would be surprised to see any of these players even on the bench for this match.
.
