By Bulldog Drummond
Now here is a funny thing. Just look at the injury table – we are no longer at the top, in fact we are almost at the bottom.
Of course this will be an opportunity for one or two anti-Wengerians to come in and say that they told us all along that our ex-manager and his training sessions were the cause of our injuries.
But they might care to remember that we have been up the top of the injury league for quite a bit of the time since he left, and there really doesn’t seem to be any link between manager and injuries – unless it relates to the way referees reign in clubs with yellow cards. We’ll look at that later.
Anyway, here is the full list of the number of players each clubs has injured at the moment, as always taken from the database of Physioroom.com
- Brighton and Hove Albion: 8
- Mancheseter City: 8
- Southampton: 8
- Burnley: 7
- Crystal Palace: 7
- Sheffield United: 7
- Leeds United: 6
- Liverpool: 6
- Everton: 5
- Newcastle United: 5
- Wolverhampton Wanderers: 5
- Leicester Penalty: 4
- Manchester United: 4
- Tottenham Hots: 4
- West Bromwich Albion: 4
- Aston Villa 3
- Chelsea: 3
- West Ham United: 3
- Arsenal: 2
- Fulham: 1
But who are these two recalcitrant players still crying off with injury when all others are fit, I hear you ask.
Well here they are…
| Player | Reason | Further Detail | Potential Return | Condition | Status |
| Gabriel dos Santos Magalhaes | Covid | Dec 28: “Tested positive for COVID-19 and is isolating according to protocol. Hoping he will be available again after our next two matches.” | 14/01/2021 | Covid isolation | 50% |
| Thomas Partey | Thigh Injury | Jan 02: “He’s feeling good and we will assess him. He needs another two or three good sessions to see if he’s 100 per cent OK to play.” | 09/1 | Late fitness | 75% |
So we could be pretty much down to one covid and no injuries! If covid isolation is now 10 days then Gabriel is well out of it. But if he has not been training, even on his own, it would be sensible to leave him until the next match.
As for Arsenal although we have had three wins in a row our home form is still not that good, although Newcastle’s away form isn’t either.
| Pos | Club / venue | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 15 | Arsenal home | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 11 | -2 | 10 |
| 16 | Newcastle United away | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 11 | -3 | 8 |
So home and away comparisons for today look quite even, although we are doing better on the injury front.
As for the tackles, fouls and yellows this is what we find at the moment…
| Club | Tackles | Fouls | Tackles per foul | Yellow cards | Fouls per yellow | Penalties for | Penalties against | Lge pos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | 201 | 160 | 1.26 | 26 | 6.15 | 3 | 1 | 11 |
| Newcastle | 214 | 165 | 1.30 | 29 | 5.68 | 4 | 2 | 15 |
Both clubs have obviously been taking note of these tables as both are getting in more tackles per foul than they were earlier in the season. But there is a similarity between the two clubs, so the most likely influence today will be how each side has been doing of late…
We’ll take a look at the last ten games…
| Date | Match | Result | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 06 Nov 2020 | Southampton v Newcastle United | L | 2-0 | Premier League |
| 21 Nov 2020 | Newcastle United v Chelsea | L | 0-2 | Premier League |
| 27 Nov 2020 | Crystal Palace v Newcastle United | W | 0-2 | Premier League |
| 12 Dec 2020 | Newcastle United v West Bromwich Albion | W | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 16 Dec 2020 | Leeds United v Newcastle United | L | 5-2 | Premier League |
| 19 Dec 2020 | Newcastle United v Fulham | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 22 Dec 2020 | Brentford v Newcastle United | L | 1-0 | League Cup |
| 26 Dec 2020 | Manchester City v Newcastle United | L | 2-0 | Premier League |
| 30 Dec 2020 | Newcastle United v Liverpool | D | 0-0 | Premier League |
| 03 Jan 2021 | Newcastle United v Leicester City | L | 1-2 | Premier League |
That gives them two wins, five defeats, and two draws with eight goals scored
and Arsenal…
| Date | Match | Result | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03 Dec 2020 | Arsenal v Rapid Wien | W | 4-1 | UEFA Europa League |
| 06 Dec 2020 | Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal | L | 2-0 | Premier League |
| 10 Dec 2020 | Dundalk v Arsenal | W | 2-4 | UEFA Europa League |
| 13 Dec 2020 | Arsenal v Burnley | L | 0-1 | Premier League |
| 16 Dec 2020 | Arsenal v Southampton | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 19 Dec 2020 | Everton v Arsenal | L | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 22 Dec 2020 | Arsenal v Manchester City | L | 1-4 | League Cup |
| 26 Dec 2020 | Arsenal v Chelsea | W | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 29 Dec 2020 | Brighton and Hove Albion v Arsenal | W | 0-1 | Premier League |
| 02 Jan 2021 | West Bromwich Albion v Arsenal | W | 0-4 | Premier League |
We have five wins, one draw and four defeats and 21 goals scored. True our last ten includes a couple of easy Europa League games but that’s still a lot more than Newcastle have been knocking in. So far it is looking positive on all fronts.
More anon.
We’ve completed the latest round of analysis of referee behaviour and club responses:
- 1 How clubs manipulate referees through their tactics
- 2 Proving unconscious bias by referees is rife in the Premier League: penalties
- 3 Revealed: How clubs have evolved their “referee handling” tactics with such success
- 4 How the impression refs have of certain clubs influences how they are treated
- 5 How clubs developed the fourth type of match fixing in the Premier League
- 6 How some clubs manipulate referees and journalists to their own advantage
- 7: Referee tactics and why Arsenal are in the bottom half of the table
