Arsenal v Huddersfield: the teams from 30,000 feet

By Tony Attwood

By a tragic twist of fate the Arsenal v Huddersfield match happens when I am rather more up in the air than normal; I’m flying from Cyprus to Manchester, and then driving south.

So I regret Untold’s normal coverage of events is going to be rather more curtailed than normal, but here’s the preview as far as I can do it.

I won’t bore you with a long chart of matches between Huddersfield and Arsenal, but it is interesting that in the period from 1921 to the end of the 1924/5 season Huddersfield and Arsenal played each other eight times.  Huddersfield won seven and one was drawn.

The last of these games was on 14 February 1925 when the match was played at Highbury and Huddersfield won 0-5.  What makes that game one that goes down in history is the fact that it was the game in which the new offside law was introduced for the first time; this was the one trial run game before the whole footballing world changed to the new system at the start of the 1925/6 season.  Huddersfield under their master tactician manager Herbert Chapman knew exactly how to play the new law.  Arsenal under Leslie Knighton hadn’t got a clue.

That summer Herbert Chapman moved to Arsenal and the next three games between the two clubs resulted in two draws and an Arsenal win. From April 1928 Arsenal went on a 22 match unbeaten run against Huddersfield, with Arsenal adopting the revolutionary tactics Huddersfield had been using up to 1925: the classic counter attacking game played in exactly the same way at home and away. Huddersfield slowly drifted back to the standard approach, and after one more championship in the year after Chapman left, slipped down the league.

Back in the present, Arsenal (as I am sure you will know) have won four of their last five PL games.   Huddersfield have won two and lost three of their last five.

However Arsenal have yet to win three Premier League games in a row this season – having won successive games several time but never quite been able to make it three out of three.   This is our opportunity to put it right, besides which Arsenal usually do particularly well when I am not there.

Speaking ahead of the game Mr Wenger said, “It is a massive game for me. Huddersfield didn’t deserve to lose against City.   They had to play 46 games in the Championship and have proven they are ready for a fight. They are dangerous for every Premier League side.”

The last time Huddersfield beat us was 16 January 1971 (2-1) and the last time they beat us in London was 13 November 1954 when the score was Arsenal 3 Huddersfield 5.

But there is one particular point vis a vis Huddersfield and that is that even last season when Huddersfield won promotion to the Premier League, their away form was not always that alluring.  In all they won 10, drew four and lost nine away league games, scoring 22 but conceding 32 goals. Although they won promotion through the play offs, their overall goal difference for the season (home and away) was minus 2.  I wonder if many other teams have ever been promoted on a negative goal difference.  Not many I suspect.

So what of the teams, I hear you cry…

Iwobi is the latest name to be added as a “doubt” concerning the match, (along with Ozil), following a dead leg in the Burnley match.  Otherwise the team is much as we would expect so I would go for

Cech;

Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal;

Bellerin,                                    Xhaka,

Ramsey,      Kolasinac;

Sanchez, Lacazette, Welbeck

That would leave lurking on the beach…

Ospina, Mertesacker, Holding, Chambers, Debuchy, Nelson, Maitland-Niles, Wilshere, Xhaka, Elneny, Walcott, Giroud.

Now that makes something in the order of 12 beached players from which seven must be selected – another reminder of the growing strength in depth of the squad.  On this occasion, what with me writing all this up some way in advance, I won’t try and predict exactly who will be on view.

But there is one thing to remember in all this.  The next match of course is Man U at home, followed by BATE also at home.  Clearly the Man U game will require the fullest first team squad there is available, while given that Arsenal have already won their group in the Europa, the BATE game could involve all sorts of further experimentation and chances for untried players.   Eddie from the start perchance?

So the teams for those two matches are fairly clear: full strength against Man U, lots of experimentation against BATE.    Therefore if Mr Wenger does want to experiment with anyone in terms of giving them a chance in a full PL game, this is going to be the match.

Which means we might just see a bit more of Jack.

Recent Posts

61 Replies to “Arsenal v Huddersfield: the teams from 30,000 feet”

  1. As happened before in the last weeks all and everything is conspiring against me to be able to write a match report. Sorry about that.
    I do hope that life will come back to normal in the next weeks and I will not only be able to see the matches live but also be near a computer (as that was the problem most of the time)

  2. Looks like no rotation tonight, 3 points in the bag is what’s needed says AW.

    Good strategy, we cannot depend on beating Manu(especially when past results have not really favoured us). Beating Manu would be a bonus 3 points.

    Yet we still have to be focused and organised to beat Huddersfield and not take it lightly.
    Come on lads, it’s time to have a good winning run.

  3. Not to interfere with the game versus Huddersfield, but the U23 play again tomorrow night versus Reading. Kickoff is 19:00 (7pm).

    —-

    Now that Alan Pardew and Fat Sam have been named to take over at WBA and Everton respectively, I can’t help but wonder if this is what is needed. Aren’t there some young managers or managers who are not they typical lot that could to the job?

    Pardew apparently has a 2.5 year contract. Does that mean he will still be manager at the end of this season?

    —-

    In terms of tonight’s games, my hopes are for wins by us (H), Bournemouth (H), Swansea (A), Southampton (A) and Stoke (H). This leaves Everton versus State Aid, which I hope ends in a draw. I’m also hoping we get another clean sheet.

    What do you want?

  4. Off topic just read on BBC football text that Santi has had another ankle operation not seen anywhere else I wonder if true

  5. Arsenal
    Starting Lineup:
    33. Petr Cech (G)
    31. Sead Kolasinac
    24. Hector Bellerin
    18. Nacho Monreal
    06. Laurent Koscielny
    20. Shkodran Mustafi
    29. Granit Xhaka
    11. Mesut Ozil
    08. Aaron Ramsey
    07. Alexis Sanchez
    09. Alexandre Lacazette

  6. Just had a great laugh.
    Match M’Gladbach v Mainz
    Goalie stopped ball with foot, not looking down he then tried to kick it, but ball had moved by then, so he kicked air.
    Will probably be on you tube soon, look out for it.

  7. Thanks Jax thought more than likely true poor Santi l think it will be a miracle to see him in Arsenal’s first 11 again

  8. The 5 minute interval from 5 to 10 minutes, seen Arsenal at 72% possession. The next 5 minutes (from 10 to 15) only seen 53% possession. So if there was a let down, it was slightly more than 5 minutes after scoring.

    COYG!

  9. Statistics:

    Shots on target 2:1
    _off target _ _ 3:1
    Corners _ _ _ _ 1:1
    Offsides _ _ _ _0:2
    Fouls _ _ _ _ _ 5:4
    Goalkicks _ _ _ 1:4
    Treatments _ _ _3:0

    __ Cumulative %Arsenal Possession
    _____ %Arsenal last 5 minutes
    _5 58 58
    10 65 72
    15 61 53
    20 62 65
    25 67 87
    30 67 67
    35 66 60
    40 65 58
    45 64 56
    45+2 64 64

    _6 Hogg trips Ozil
    _7 Mounie trips Mustafi
    _8 __unknown treatment
    13 _Kolasinac trips Quaner
    21 _Koscielny trips Kachunga
    25 Joergensen pushes Ramsey
    26 _Sanchez trips Hogg
    28 _Xhaka trips Quaner
    29 Mustafi treatment (We now see that Arsenal have had 3 treatments??)
    41 Joergensen pushes Sanchez
    45 _Ramsey trips Mooy

    COYG!

  10. Being careless….

    In a hurry. Understand, cos one eye will be at the weekend fixture. But come on ARSENAL, don’t kill me like this. It’s 2 am and I want to get some sleep when the game is over ppplllleeeaaaasssseeeeee ?

  11. Yyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhh cooooommmmeeeee ooooooonnnnn

    Giroooooooo so easy…

  12. A couple of errors in the stats, I took the numbers before whistle blown. Corrected for end of game set of statistics.

    We scored, but who? Who assisted? Come on commentary! Giroud scores, assisted by unknown. How to go Giroud, how to go unknown!

    COYG!

  13. Another goal? Wonderful! I gather that is the Alexis comment? Must be. Ahh, Mesut assisted both goals. How to go Mesut!

    Para, 13 you can both relax now. The Gunners can’t, but you can. 🙂 A little.

    COYG!

  14. Another goal? Again? You guys are making it hard for me to do math while reading commentary.

    Ozil from unknown. How to go Ozil! And unknown number 2!

    COYG!

  15. Relax noooooooooooooooooo…

    As long as therz beautiful breathtaking football….can’t relax.

    Every moment is an edge of the seat moment. ?

  16. Was Lacazette injured when he was replaced, anyone know.
    Oh shit Rooney just scored from his own half….won’t hear the last of that.

  17. And another goal! This is helping the goal difference a lot tonight.

    At the moment, it is unknown scored by unknown assisting.

    And it’s Giroud, from Kolasinac. How to go Gunners! More please.

    I mentioned above, that Lacazette was limping at end of half.

    COYG!

  18. Final statistics

    Shots on target 2:1 _7:1
    _off target _ _ 3:1 10:3
    Corners _ _ _ _ 2:1 _7:2
    Offsides _ _ _ _0:2 _2:3
    Fouls _ _ _ _ _ 6:5 10:12
    Yellow _ _ _ _ _0:0 _0:1
    Goalkicks _ _ _ 1:4 _3:9
    Treatments _ _ _3:0 _3:0

    __ Cumulative %Arsenal Possession
    _____ %Arsenal last 5 minutes
    _5 58 58
    10 65 72
    15 61 53
    20 62 65
    25 67 87
    30 67 67
    35 66 60
    40 65 58
    45 64 56
    45+2 64 64
    50 65 74
    55 63 42
    60 65 88
    65 63 38
    70 63 63
    75 69 155 _??
    80 68 53
    85 69 85
    90 70 87
    90+ 70 70

    _6 Hogg trips Ozil
    _7 Mounie trips Mustafi
    _8 __unknown treatment
    13 _Kolasinac trips Quaner
    21 _Koscielny trips Kachunga
    25 Joergensen pushes Ramsey
    26 _Sanchez trips Hogg
    28 _Xhaka trips Quaner
    29 Mustafi treatment _(We now see that Arsenal have had 3 treatments??)
    41 Joergensen pushes Sanchez
    45 _Ramsey trips Mooy

    46 Giroud on for Lacazette, was limping at end of half, missed foul?
    52 _Ramsey pulls Hogg
    55 _Sanchez trips Kachunga
    58 Kachunga trips Monreal
    60 Mooy trips Xhaka (Yellow)
    65 Ozil trips Hadergjonaj
    79 Depoitre pushes Mustafi
    81 Depoitre pushes Xhaka
    88 _Kolasinac pushes Joergensen
    90+2 Kachunga pushes Wilshere

  19. I cancelled my cable tv subscription and it seems to coincide with when AFC is back in winning ways!!!!

    But I’ll not reconnect until the ‘Oink’Mob is truly reformed of its corrupt tendencies & set up that encourages match fixing. Top 4? We are back to stay in there. Well done boys.

  20. Sorry Gord if you responded to my question.
    But I am having to refresh the page up to 10 times just to get all the comments and I may of missed your reply.
    I hope Lacazette is ok for Saturday …

  21. In the interviews, Wenger said that Lacazette will miss Saturday’s game to a groin injury. Is it only 1 game? It might be.

    In tracking more of the statistics form LiveScore, I am finding that there are things which end up in the statistics, which are never part of the commentary. Which is not helpful.

    Also, to convert the cumulative possession information, to information on possession in the previous 5 minutes you can see that the lack of significant figures produces results which are unreasonable or even not possible. I don’t think our possession over 5 minutes was as low as 38%, and it is not possible to have more than 100%. But I suspected this would happen as the game went further along.

    We didn’t seem to get favourable results out of the rest of the games, or at least for games involving the top of the table. Even with Burnley, I would have preferred a draw. Oh well, ….

    —-

    Start to look at the post game news. Same old crap. Ozil has baffled people ever since he arrived. No he hasn’t! The people that are “baffled”; don’t care, don’t want to prove themselves wrong or have an agenda. Everybody and his dog is looking to pick up Ozil for their team. They all know what a good player he is. It is just too darned bad that soooooooo many “gooners” have to propagate this nonsense.

    The first medja report I see (and Para above) talk about Arsenal’s intensity dropping after the first goal was scored. I don’t think it shows in the possession over 5 minutes data. It might have dropped just before half time slightly, but it could also be that the lack of significant figures in the possession data was starting to show up. Huddersfield had a spate of chances; blah, blah, blah. Huddersfield had one shot on target all game long, and 1 shot off target in the the first half and two shots off target in the second half.

    Oh well, I’ll see if I can find some “good” news in the medja.

  22. And in the British medja, there seem to be no articles that don’t take shots at Arsenal in general, or players in particular. Lots offer good words, but always with the slap in the face to accompany this.

    Why bother reading this crap?

  23. WOO HOO ,HOO ! What a win ! Good going guys .Now to keep our home record going this weekend .
    Up the Gunners !

  24. Despite lack of sleep last night, feeling fresh as ever. This is what a breathtaking ARSENAL display does to you.

  25. The Arsenal Ladies new manager, Joe Montemurro, has an interview up at Arsenal.com. Guess what, he’s a Gooner!

    https://www.arsenal.com/news/im-arsenal-fan-so-bit-surreal

    It’s a nice article.

    —-

    On a Ladies football note, but not Arsenal related. Recently, Canada was away to Norway (last weekend?). At halftime, it was 2-0 to Norway.

    Canada won the game 3-2, with the comeback started by Captain Canuck, Christine Sinclair. She is now at 168 international goals, only 16 behind Abby Wambach (all time leading scorer of women’s goals.

    If we go looking at the men’s statistics, the top scorer is only at 109 goals. Cristiano Ronaldo is the leading man that is still actively playing, at 79.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *