- WHAM v Arsenal. Recent events and the injuries ahead of the game
- Why is the FA still in control?
- What the Europa draw means for Arsenal: a battle and racism perhaps
- Why Arsenal supporters should support Tottenham’s fans’ push for a new manager
Tackles, fouls yellow penalties
We are used to seeing it now, but it is always incredibly frustrating to be reminded of it, game after game. Arsenal commits fewer tackles and have fewer fouls given against them than the opposition, but get more yellow cards.
How can that possibly happen? We ask it week after week, match after match, but there is no answer. In effect, West Ham have to commit two more fouls to get a yellow than Arsenal do, match after match after match. The only compensation is that we do get more penalties – which suggests we play in their penalty area more.
| Club | Tackles | Fouls | Yellows | Tackle per foul | Fouls per yellow | Penalties |
| Arsenal | 332 | 260 | 39 | 1.28 | 6.67 | 6 |
| West Ham | 392 | 287 | 33 | 1.37 | 8.70 | 2 |
Goodness knows what Arsenal would have to do to collect fewer yellows than West Ham, but I suspect it would mean stop tackling. However, Arsenal have taken the right step to avoid the inevitable by reducing their tackling level. But if we look at the tackling league table we can see how ludicrous this is getting.
| Pos | Club | Tackles | |
| 1. | Southampton | 560 | |
| 2. | Leeds United | 552 | |
| 3. | Leicester City | 511 | |
| 18. | Burnley | 380 | |
| 19. | Aston Villa | 367 | |
| 20. | Arsenal | 332 |
It is interesting to see Leicester third in the tackles league – we can remember how last season they used tackling without getting yellows as the way of getting to the top of the league until the referees decided to take some action – and now we see the club’s technique happening again, although this time the referees are not quite so active. However Leiester have only won three of their last six as they have stepped up the tackling, so maybe the refs are more on the ball than I think.
In the games between WHAM and Arsenal we have won 69, drawn 39 and lost 35. However in recent years that dominance has grown to even greater levels. In the table below we have taken the last 25 games between the clubs.
| Date | Game | Res | Score | Competition |
| 26 Oct 2008 | West Ham United v Arsenal | W | 0-2 | Premier League |
| 31 Jan 2009 | Arsenal v West Ham United | D | 0-0 | Premier League |
| 25 Oct 2009 | West Ham United v Arsenal | D | 2-2 | Premier League |
| 3 Jan 2010 | West Ham United v Arsenal | W | 1-2 | FA Cup |
| 20 Mar 2010 | Arsenal v West Ham United | W | 2-0 | Premier League |
| 30 Oct 2010 | Arsenal v West Ham United | W | 1-0 | Premier League |
| 15 Jan 2011 | West Ham United v Arsenal | W | 0-3 | Premier League |
| 6 Oct 2012 | West Ham United v Arsenal | W | 1-3 | Premier League |
| 23 Jan 2013 | Arsenal v West Ham United | W | 5-1 | Premier League |
| 26 Dec 2013 | West Ham United v Arsenal | W | 1-3 | Premier League |
| 15 Apr 2014 | Arsenal v West Ham United | W | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 28 Dec 2014 | West Ham United v Arsenal | W | 1-2 | Premier League |
| 14 Mar 2015 | Arsenal v West Ham United | W | 3-0 | Premier League |
| 9 Aug 2015 | Arsenal v West Ham United | L | 0-2 | Premier League |
| 9 Apr 2016 | West Ham United v Arsenal | D | 3-3 | Premier League |
| 3 Dec 2016 | West Ham United v Arsenal | W | 1-5 | Premier League |
| 5 Apr 2017 | Arsenal v West Ham United | W | 3-0 | Premier League |
| 13 Dec 2017 | West Ham United v Arsenal | D | 0-0 | Premier League |
| 19 Dec 2017 | Arsenal v West Ham United | W | 1-0 | League Cup |
| 22 Apr 2018 | Arsenal v West Ham United | W | 4-1 | Premier League |
| 25 Aug 2018 | Arsenal v West Ham United | W | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 12 Jan 2019 | West Ham United v Arsenal | L | 1-0 | Premier League |
| 9 Dec 2019 | West Ham United v Arsenal | W | 1-3 | Premier League |
| 7 Mar 2020 | Arsenal v West Ham United | W | 1-0 | Premier League |
| 19 Sep 2020 | Arsenal v West Ham United | W | 2-1 | Premier League |
West Ham have won two of the last 25 games between the two teams. Four have been drawn and the other 19 have gone Arsenal’s way. We have scored five twice, and four just the once, so the goals are not always that plentiful, but the wins are quite clearly Arsenal.
More soon.
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We have a lot of atmosphere in todays TV studio. We have a whole stadium in the space between Jamie’s ears and a similar gap in Merse.
Fat boy Moss in the middle of the Taxpayers Stadium and off course the barrow boy porn kings.
Lets see what PGMOL have set up for us in this match.