By Bulldog Drummond
I don’t normally present the injury news for every team, but this is so extraordinary I’ve includef the full injury table rather than just the few clubs above Arsenal in terms of players injured. Here we go… Figures as always from Physioroom.com
- Wolverhampton Wanderers: 2
- Manchester City: 3
- West Bromwich Albion: 3
- West Ham United: 3
- Arsenal: 4
- Aston Villa: 4
- Burnley: 4
- Chelsea: 4
- Sheffield United: 4
- Tottenham Hots: 4
- Liverpool: 5
- Manchester United: 5
- Southampton: 5
- Brighton and Hove Albion: 6
- Fulham: 6
- Leeds United: 6
- Leicester City: 6
- Newcastle United: 6
- Crystal Palace: 9
- Everton: 10
Yes we are fifth in the injury rankings working from the bottom up rather than the other way around. Our four lost souls are all ruled out for this weekend’s game
| Player | Reason | Further Detail | Potential Return | Condition |
| Calum Chambers | Knee Injury | Oct 21: “Now back in full training and progressing well towards full match fitness.” | 3 Dec | None |
| Reiss Nelson | Knee Injury | No further information | 21 Nov | Currently Being Assessed |
| Pablo Mari Villar | Ankle/Foot Injury | Oct 28: “Aiming to integrate into full training after the November international period.” | 21 Nov | None |
| Gabriel Martinelli | Knee Injury | Returning to training | 2021 | None |
I imagine that Southampton supporters are getting copies of the current league printed up and put in frames within their houses. And although Villa has slipped down from the heady days of being second in the league in early October.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southampton | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 16 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 15 | 2 | 16 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 15 |
| 4 | Leicester City | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 15 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 14 |
| 6 | Everton | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 14 | 2 | 13 |
| 7 | Crystal Palace | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 13 |
| 8 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 13 |
| 9 | Aston Villa | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 12 |
| 10 | Arsenal | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 12 |
But there has been a slide and there must also be a worry about their under 21s.
The under 21s don’t often concern us, but the Football League Trophy games are continuing without crowds and without coverage. This is the competition where the Premier League team enter their under 21 side, and play three away games against lower league teams.
Villa have played two of these, and lost both. The first 8-1 to Sunderland and the second 3-0 to Fleetwood Town – results not suggesting strength in depth.
Arsenal by contrast have played games against Crawley and Ipswich, and won both. But it is not the winning by Arsenal – it is the size of the Villa defeats that is interesting.
Yet they had a good run at the start, beating Burton Albion and Bristol City in League Cup games, and basement buddies Sheffield United and Fulham in the league.
After losing their third league cup game (at home to Stoke) they then had that extraordinary match in which they beat Liverpool 7-2. All hail the new dawn! Especially since after that they beat the media’s favourites: Leicester City, 0-1 away. But then came two home defeats – to Leeds (0-3) and Southampton (3-4).
Our Premier League approach hasn’t always been that much better: four wins and three defeats.
| Date | Game | Res | Scire | Competition |
| 2 Sep 2020 | Fulham v Arsenal | W | 0-3 | Premier League |
| 19 Sep 2020 | Arsenal v West Ham United | W | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 28 Sep 2020 | Liverpool v Arsenal | L | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 04 Oct 2020 | Arsenal v Sheffield United | W | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 17 Oct 2020 | Manchester City v Arsenal | L | 1-0 | Premier League |
| 25 Oct 2020 | Arsenal v Leicester City | L | 0-1 | Premier League |
| 01 Nov 2020 | Manchester United v Arsenal | W | 0-1 | Premier League |
The encouraging thought however is that we have been losing to teams challenging at the top. Encouraging, in that this doesn’t really include Villa given their recent results. But not encouraging when we consider that we ought to be beating the likes of Leicester, even if we have not risen to Manchester City and Liverpool’s level yet.
We have played three games at home and scored four goals, and that isn’t really where we should be.
Taking into account all our games this season from the Community Shield onwards we have these figures…
| Name | Goals | Assists | Played | Goals per 90 | Mins per Goal | Total Shots | Goal Conversion | Shot Accuracy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
|
4 | 1 | 9 | 0.48 | 187 | 14 | 29% | 64% |
|
Nicolas Pépé
|
3 | 2 | 11 | 0.43 | 208 | 15 | 20% | 40% |
|
Alexandre Lacazette
|
3 | 0 | 8 | 0.52 | 172 | 9 | 33% | 67% |
|
Eddie Nketiah
|
3 | 0 | 13 | 0.45 | 200 | 16 | 19% | 44% |
|
Joseph Willock
|
2 | 1 | 6 | 0.50 | 181 | 7 | 29% | 57% |
There is no doubt that if Pepe and Eddie could get his conversion rates up, we’d be in a much better position.
Coming shortly…. More on Arsenal v Villa
- The desperate need to sort out Arsenal’s away form
- Despite media denials, away advantage now outweighs home advantage
I would think the manager has won the respect all Arsenal fans for the way he has turned what was a ‘cracked’ defence into a ‘crack’ defence.
I am sure he will provide us with an attack that will be the despair of all packed defences it faces. ‘Forward Arsenal’
Charles
You are surely correct in your imaginings, but I would suggest the change is in the way we defend/play/set up, as a team, rather than the defence Per Se.
yes it is true that our 2 additions to the spine of the team have made a difference, but by and large the teams personnel is pretty much the same as when we played like a team of strangers. That suggests to me it was by and large a coaching issue, as opposed to a personnel issue.
However, that may be being a little disengenuous to our previous coach, as there may be other factors at work as well, such as confidence ? And I don’t just mean the confidence created, or otherwise, by the manager, but the confidence that comes from not having your own fans calling for your ‘neck’ every time you have a bad day at the office. The constant barracking of certain key players surely contributed to our overly nervous play, which in turn contributed to us giving the ball away and conceding chances at a rate more akin to Hackney Marshes than the Premier League. As far as Arsenal are concerned, the lack of crowds has been a rather unexpected positive, amid a multitude of negatives.
Now as much as this frugality is a welcome change, it does seem to of come at the cost of the free flowing attacking football we had become so used to under Wenger, and even Emery, who it must be said seemed to embrace the free flowing ethos he inherited.
In conclusion I have absolutely no problem with where we find ourselves at this stage of Artetas tenure, or in deed this stage of the season, because as I have said recently, surely Artetas priority was sorting out the defensive issues, which it seems that by and large he has done. Now is surely the time to turn his attention to the offensive side of our game and get us scoring the elusive goals we need to move to the next level and put in a concerted challange on the top 4, and eventually the title, though that is still a way off. How far off only time will tell.