- Arsenal against West Ham: results across the years and the game tonight
- The ultimate truth on why refereeing in the Premier League is not all it should be
By Tony Attwood
There is a project going on at Arsenal, but it isn’t the one that the media wants you to believe in. You can read something about it in this article if you feel you can take in any more information before tonight’s game.
“Arsenal fans go from hindrance to the 12th man,” is the big story, and that change of attitude is all down to the media, according to the media. Actually, that exact quote has turned up in the Telegraph and on Press Reader but I am not sure that actually tells us the full story.
For the real story is that a lot of Arsenal fans have joined together to reject what the media, and hence fans of other clubs, are saying about Arsenal and Arsenal fans. Instead, a lot of Arsenal fans have started to believe in Arsenal’s own story. The story that is delivered by Arteta and the players. The story that has taken a club that was sinking fast under the previous manager, survived two 8th place finishes without sacking Arteta, and now has taken the club to the top of the league.
The story that hopefully tonight will take us a step further through a resounding defeat of the already relegated and thus dispirited Burnley.
The article asks, “What has caused the dramatic shift from the anxiety of the Bournemouth game to the deliriousness of Atlético? Much of the credit must go to supporter groups, especially Redaction, and also to the club, who have worked with fans on issues relating to the atmosphere.”
OK I won’t argue againsts that, but maybe we’ve done our bit as well, along with AISA (Arsenal Independent Supporters Assocation) and others, by ponting a finger at the remourceless and endless attacks on Arsenal and Arsenal fans by the bulk of the mass media and a number of blogs too, each of which thought it was a great way to get readers by telling the world how awful Arsenal were and what a bunch of cheats their players and management are. Oh yes, and how awful their support has been.
So here we are….
Premier League table as it stands before the match…
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 36 | 24 | 7 | 5 | 68 | 26 | 42 | 79 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 36 | 23 | 8 | 5 | 75 | 32 | 43 | 77 |
| 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 | 36 | 4 | 9 | 23 | 37 | 73 | -36 | 21 |
| 20 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 37 | 3 | 10 | 24 | 26 | 67 | -41 | 19 |
Win the last two games, and we are there. And although of course, what Tottenham does means nothing at all to us in terms of winning the league, it is a shame that an Arsenal win will make it easier for Tottenham to survive.
That club (The Tiny Tootts) seems to be thinking that this season was something of an aberration and that next season they will be back to where they belong. And yes, maybe that’s true – the only difference between them and Untold is that we think that they are already where they belong with a goal difference that is 51 goals worse than Arsenal’s while playing in the most expensive ground in the land.
Here is the Standard’s predicted team for the game tonight.
Raya;
Mosquera, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori;
Rice, Lew,is-Skelly; Saka,
Odegaard, Trossard;
Gyokeres
Football Lineups give us
Raya;
White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori;
Rice, Lewis-Skelly;
Saka, Eze Trossard;
Gyokeres
Raya;
Mosquera, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie;
Rice, Lewis-Skelly;
Saka, Odegaard, Trossard;
Gyokeres.
As for the future games, ManC played in the FA Cup this past weekend and needs to beat Bournemouth on Tuesday. We will be having a look at that in light of the result of Arsenal’s game, in another post tomorrow.
In the meanwhile here is the latest from tomorrow’s newspapers. If Arsenal win by several goals, then it will be taken that Arsenal are champions as the media predicted. If Arsenal just scrape through, then it will be “lucky Arsenal” as the media predicted. If Arsenal lose, then Arsenal will be deemed to have bottled it and handed the title to Manc, as the media predicted.
At least we always know where we stand with the media.
Wherever and however you are watching, have a jolly time, don’t drink too much, cheer the team constantly and remember how lucky you are that for some reason (maybe the choice of colour, the influence of your parents, where you live, or just pure chance) you support Arsenal, and not some other team I could mention.
.
