by Bulldog Drummond
The last time we had a regular series of league matches against Sheffield United was in the early 1990s, but then the club dropped ouf of the top league in 1994. However during that era although they didn’t manage to beat us they did manage a series of 1-1 draws.
Eventually they did get the better of us in the FA cup in January 1996 and we did lose to them in their last round of appearances in the Premier League, in December 2006. But the record since 1990 shows just two defeats to them.
| 29 Dec 1990 | Arsenal v Sheffield United | W | 4-1 | Division One |
| 06 Apr 1991 | Sheffield United v Arsenal | W | 0-2 | Division One |
| 21 Sep 1991 | Arsenal v Sheffield United | W | 5-2 | Division One |
| 18 Apr 1992 | Sheffield United v Arsenal | D | 1-1 | Division One |
| 19 Sep 1992 | Sheffield United v Arsenal | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 09 Jan 1993 | Arsenal v Sheffield United | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 29 Dec 1993 | Arsenal v Sheffield United | W | 3-0 | Premier League |
| 04 Apr 1994 | Sheffield United v Arsenal | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 06 Jan 1996 | Arsenal v Sheffield United | D | 1-1 | FA Cup |
| 17 Jan 1996 | Sheffield United v Arsenal | L | 1-0 | FA Cup |
| 23 Feb 1999 | Arsenal v Sheffield United | W | 2-1 | FA Cup |
| 13 Apr 2003 | Arsenal v Sheffield United | W | 1-0 | FA Cup |
| 19 Feb 2005 | Arsenal v Sheffield United | D | 1-1 | FA Cup |
| 01 Mar 2005 | Sheffield United v Arsenal | W | 0-0 | FA Cup |
| 23 Sep 2006 | Arsenal v Sheffield United | W | 3-0 | Premier League |
| 30 Dec 2006 | Sheffield United v Arsenal | L | 1-0 | Premier League |
| 31 Oct 2007 | Sheffield United v Arsenal | W | 0-3 | League Cup |
| 23 Sep 2008 | Arsenal v Sheffield United | W | 6-0 | League Cup |
What is noticeable is that in these 18 games since the start of the 1990s they have only once scored more than one goal – and that in a 5-2 defeat. At the time Arsenal were fifth and United were 15th. And to add to Arsenal’s ignomony with no substitute keeper on the bench, Phil Jagielka took over in goal after Paddy Kenny went off with an injury after 61 minutes. United went to an 10 man defence and held on.
Their specialism however has been the 1-1 draw and that will be what they go for this time around.
But the game I suspect most people remember was the last game between the two, not just because it was the most recent and we won 6-0, but because of the side we put out. It was a team of by and large 18 and 19 year olds… although to be fair Djourou was 21. Wilshere on the other hand was 17.
We then rubbed in the salt by bringing on Henri Lansbury for Alex Song, Francis Coquelin for Fran Merida and Jay Simpson for Nicklas Bentner, with 20 minutes to go.
In the 2006 defeat we unusually had two Brazilian players in the team: Julia Baptista and Gilberto Silva.
But these more recent games are quite a change from the early matches between Sheffield United and Woolwich Arsenal between 1903 and 1907. Arsenal only won one of the first seven league and cup games between the sides, and United regularly got the better of Arsenal right up to 1929 when they beat Herbert Chapman’s team in December 4-1.
Arsenal did however then get their revenge with an 8-1 victory in 1930. Mind you there had been 28 goals in the previous five games between the sides so maybe that was not too surprising. In 1932 we went even better and beat them 9-2. And we have knocked in five or more five times since then, despite not playing them every season.
But because of those early defeats we are not that far ahead of them in the reckoning. They’ve won 39 league and cup games, and we have won 48, with 26 draws – but recent history remains firmly on our side.
There seems to be something wrong with the layout of the page. It might be my computer of course but it is difficult to read in the end
@Walter. Same here. Your computer is still sane.
OT: Spuds v Watford
Welbeck started, but got hurt at 4m and was replace. I’ve no idea if some spud kicked him or not. Two minutes later, Watford scored. At 13m, a spud was carded. Go Watford!
This page looked okay with the mobile CSS, but on entering my comment, I now see the page with the desktop CSS. The body of the article has a page width that is only a few characters wide. The comments are fine.
Spuds v Watford – Delofeu brought down by Alderwireld and VAR shows its bias by not giving a clear penalty. What a sham the VAR is and how does an official not see what is visible. It’s the Riley method.
The page is infringing the advertisement space and displaying 7 character lines.
VAR making a killing on Wolves (-2) and robbed Villa of one goal.
VAR says no goal at Spuds but the ref says goal!!! The whole damned VAR stinks as bad as PGMOL. The left cheat doesn’t know what the right cheat is cheating about.
What a shambles.
OT: spuds
Drat. spuds tied it up. Impossible to tell if Kavanagh gave them the tie.
OT: First 9 games – Watford
Last season, Watford ended in 11th.
They scored an average of 1.37 goals per game last season, this season they are scoring at a rate of 0.56 goals per game. There current rate of scoring is 4.26 standard deviations below expectations based on last season.
They gave up 59 goals, or 1.55 goals per game. This season they have given up 21 goals, or 2.33 goals per game. Their current rate of giving up goals is 3.31 standard deviations above the rate they displayed last season.
Both differences seem large with respect to their variances. But, let’s pool the scoring to 57 goals in 47 games; which is a goal scoring rate of 1.21 goals per game. Their scoring last season was 0.97 standard deviations above the pooled rate. Their scoring this season is -4.09 standard deviations (below) their scoring of last season. Based on the pooled scoring, last season Watford was perhaps a little lucky to be scoring at 0.97 times above expectations; but -4.09 this season is pointing to problems.
The pooled goals against is 80 goals in 47 games, which is 1.70 goals per game. Their goals against last season is -0.76 below expectations from the pooled rate. Their goals against this season is +3.32 times bigger than expected based on the pooled data.
Underperforming on goal production can easily be due to bad luck. Giving up too many goals is seldom considered a matter of bad luck, as the team nature of the sport makes it unlikely that enough players are having bad luck all at the same time.
My analysis assumes I didn’t make any arithmetic mistakes along the way. As I am trying to debug some computer problems here, and the ground is covered with snow outside; mistakes are more likely. 🙂
OT: CPal v Man$ity
Fouls were about 10 each, which equated to 1 yellow to each side. If Arsenal were playing, that could easily be 6 or 7 yellows to Arsenal. CPal were given a yellow on what appears to be the third foul of the game (2nd to CPal).
Man$ity needed a treatment at 26m, Taylor noticed nothing. Man$ity score at 39 and 41m. Man$ity inflict a treatment on 45m, Taylor notices nothing. 2 minutes of extra time. Man$ity carded at 46m. Man$ity inflict a second treatment at 90m, Taylor notices nothing. 3m of extra time.
@Gord – the Spuds were gidted the draw by PGMOL. Delofeu should have had a penalty and the Spuds goal was preceeded by what looked like a handball (off Dele Alli’s arm). VAR flashed ‘no goal’ on the screen but Kavanagh gave the goal. He might have misinterpreted the decision.
OT: Spuds on the VARbeque
From the mirror:
Obviously there is an error in that statement: