By Bulldog Drummond
WORST ever start to a top-flight campaign screams the Daily Mail, carefully noting that in 1895/6 we lost the first three games in the season, but were in the second division at that time. So that means a defeat against West Bromwich Albion could then give them another shock horror.
The funny thing is that these bad openings to seasons, which Arsenal like all clubs who have been playing for over 100 years have had, don’t actually relate to the final position in the league.
You might recall that in 2018/19 we lost the first two games and then were undefeated in the next 22 and finished the season in 5th.
It is interesting that no one is trying to explain how Arsenal moved from being the second best club in the league for the last two thirds of last season, to the second worst club this season. The most obvious answer is injuries and illness, and the refusal of the league to countenance postponements due to the virus – which is probably why the reporters won’t touch the subject. Here is the table from physioroom.com showing just what our illness and injury table is looking like
| Player | Reason | Further Detail | Potential Return | Status |
| Edward Nketiah | Ankle/Foot Injury | Ankle Injury | 11/09/2021 | Ruled Out |
| Thomas Partey | High Ankle Sprain | High Ankle Sprain | 11/09/2021 | Ruled Out |
| Gabriel Magalhaes | Knee Injury | Patellar Tendonitis | 11/09/2021 | Ruled Out |
| Alexandre Lacazette | Coronavirus | It’s catching | 28/08/2021 | 25% |
| Hector Bellerin | Thigh Injury | Thigh Injury | Ruled Out | |
| Kieran Tierney | Thigh Injury | Thigh Injury | 25% | |
| Gabriel Martinelli | Thigh Injury | Cramp | 50% | |
| Ben White | Coronavirus | It’s catching | Ruled Out |
As you will have anticipated (although it is not something that the media is making much of) Arsenal are way out in front with eight men down. Our nearest challengers are
- Leicester City: 7
- Brighton and Hove Albion: 6
- Manchester United: 6
- Newcastle United: 6
Of course this remains a touchy subject for the media who spent around 15 years telling us that the reason Arsenal had injuries was because of the training tactics of Mr Wenger. I wonder if they are going to tell us that the reason we have so many players out with covid and injuries is because of the … well just fill in the gap. There must be something.
Anyway was are going to play West Bromwich Wobbleyou in the not too distant future and it is hoped that a few of our under 23s might have survived the epidemic of injuries and can turn out for the team.
The away tickets are for the game are all sold out and I suspect that it will be a full ground all round, given that West Brom’s start to this season is a little better than their end of last season. For a start they don’t seem to have the very large Sam in charge (I am sure his lady wife is delighted to have him back home) having not been able to buy a win in their last seven games last season they have done a little better this campaign:
| Date | Match | Result | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 Aug 2021 | Bournemouth v West Bromwich Albion | D | 2-2 | Championship |
| 14 Aug 2021 | West Bromwich Albion v Luton Town | W | 3-2 | Championship |
| 18 Aug 2021 | West Bromwich Albion v Sheffield United | W | 4-0 | Championship |
| 21 Aug 2021 | Blackburn Rovers v West Bromwich Albion | W | 1-2 | Championship |
If you have not seen it of late, the top of the Championship table is fairly akin to turning the bottom of the table at the end of last season, upside down.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fulham | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 10 |
| 2 | West Bromwich Albion | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 10 |
| 3 | Stoke City | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 10 |
| 4 | Coventry City | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
And as you may have noticed, if you read the AISA Arsenal History Society website, we have been collecting together videos of matches against various teams and putting them into, well, collections. You’ll find an index of collections, and a link to hundreds of daily videos here.
Not every video obliges by popping up with a screen view, so you just have to click. As with this first one from 2013… WBA in the League Cup last time we played them.
But some do pop up properly… Here are two penalties two goals from 2012
Next we have the victory this year (2021) – again just click on the link
And this superb 5-2 victory from the 2002/3 season…
And just to be fair, here’s one where WBA got a draw, March 2011
So you never know, something nice might happen in West Bromwich. OK it’s not guaranteed, but it can happen.
More on the game anon.
- Guendouzi strangled, racist abuse, physical violence: hello football
- Arsenal changed tactics v Chelsea and it didn’t work. But why did they do it?
- Women’s Champions League – report and videos against PSV and 2nd round draw
something like:
ramsdale
mniles-chambers-holding-tavares
odegaard-elneny-lokonga-nelson
balogun-aubameyang
… would be fine by me (and would stand an outside chance of at least scoring one-two goals, wouldn’t it?)
hutchinson/azeez (patino??) ready to hop in would be great too
but there’s obviously something going on about ainsley and reiss in our manager’s cryptic psyche, that i just can’t figure out
(and eddie btw, all of it on top of joe’s move – what MA’s problem with hale end is, beats me)
COYG
Win, lose or draw & Arteta can expect a panning & at the best, back handed compliments, regarding, vision, team selection, tactics, transfer business, hair style…etc etc…groan!