By Bulldog Drummond
I have to admit, getting news about this game has been tough since the media seem only to want to talk about Manchester United.
And I know that normally on Untold we end our run of match previews with a prediction of the team – (which as you may have seen in the last article was difficult because few people want to predict the team), and some thoughts on who is going to win.
But it has struck me recently that really the best prediction of the possible result does come from the form table made up of the last six games each club has played. And there is an excuse for running this once more, because some games were played last night.
So by way of signing off before I go on a hunt for a pub that has Amazon Prime TV channel, and is choosing to show the actual match, and which looks to be a moderately safe place to watch TV (the area in which I live having a rare number of hearty roughs in some of the public houses roundabout) I thought I would offer the league table based on the last six games.
And I present this with the extra thought, I wonder why no one else is publishing this as part of their build-up for the match. Could it be that it doesn’t really accord with the image that they have of Manchester United?
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 15 |
| 2 | Chelsea | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 3 | 14 | 14 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 6 | 15 | 13 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 13 |
| 5 | West Ham United | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 10 |
| 6 | Tottenham Hots | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 8 | -1 | 10 |
| 7 | Leeds United | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 9 |
| 8 | Wolverhampton Wands | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 9 |
| 9 | Crystal Palace | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 8 |
| 10 | Leicester City | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 11 | -2 | 8 |
| 11 | Southampton | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 10 | -3 | 8 |
| 12 | Norwich City | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 12 | -6 | 8 |
| 13 | Burnley | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 7 |
| 14 | Watford | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 6 |
| 15 | Aston Villa | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 6 |
| 16 | Brentford | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 4 |
| 17 | Newcastle United | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 11 | -5 | 4 |
| 18 | Brighton and Hove | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 4 |
| 19 | Manchester United | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 16 | -9 | 4 |
| 20 | Everton | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 15 | -11 | 1 |
Of course, that is just the last six games – but then on the other hand that is the best form guide we have. In terms of the actual table from the start of the season, we are now fifth. A draw or defeat will leave us in fifth, but a victory will indeed take us up to fourth, and all the anti-Arsenal people can respond to our celebrations of the moment by telling us that “fourth is not a trophy”. Just as the “last six” is not the season.
Both of which are true, but I must say I have rather missed the old Champions League days of late. Here’s your real live all season table. A victory would do us rather well.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelsea | 14 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 33 | 6 | 27 | 33 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 14 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 29 | 8 | 21 | 32 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 14 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 43 | 12 | 31 | 31 |
| 4 | West Ham United | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 25 | 17 | 8 | 24 |
| 5 | Arsenal | 13 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 15 | 17 | -2 | 23 |
- The overwhelming arrogance of journalists is destroying football
- Manchester United v Arsenal – a variable history, but will a real ray of hope
- Man U v Arsenal: who is running the show these days for Arsenal?
- Injuries ahead of the Man U v Arsenal game
- Man U v Arsenal: how Man U failed to tackle and sank to 18th in the form table
The team
Ramsdale,
Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Tavares,
Elneny, Partey,
Martinelli, Odegaard, Smith Rowe,
Aubameyang
Subs: Okonkwo, Tierney, Holding, Maitland-Niles, Lokonga, Pepe, Saka, Lacazette, Nketiah
I just don’t see how this goal could not be validated… I mean, there is no Arsenal player involved.
And ESR just sent a volley, not like he could have seen that de Gea was on the ground. And even if he was ?
The TV idiots now say Arsenal ought to give a goal to MU….as if anybody in the PL ever gave Arsenal anything ?!?
Imust say, to me it looks like Atkinsonblew the whistle knowingly after the ball had crossed the line. You see him raising the hand just as ESR shoots. I guess in doing such he enabled VAR to look at who committed the foul and thus preserved the goal if it was not an Arsenal player. Looks to me like on this call he was correct and fair.
We need at least 2 other goals. COYG
the goal stands
“technically”, i think there’s nothing wrong about that (don’t know what the “pundits” are saying, the sound of my computer is turned off because my wife is watching tv 3 feet away from me)
but this must be the strangest thing i’ve ever seen in my fan life
COYG – we’ve played really well so far, marti’s pressing is somethin’ else
They spoke to their lawyers in that five minutes no doubt. Also the arsehole commentator stoking up an Arsenal morally wrong to score
We definitely should have had a penalty for the clear tug on Tomy which Atkinson didn’t see. Aparently not a clear cut error! My arse!
@Andrew,
I had the same impression looking at the only replay.
Don’t understand what VAR is doing…..
Great levelling done by Oodegard. Beautiful goal and best way to respond. COYG !!!
OUr boys aren’t giving up!
Arteta gifted it to them with Elneny in the starting XI… and the his subs. Elneny and Partey were shocking in midfield, and the fact that they both played the full 90 is just amazing. We did well in spite of these 2. Elneny is a known quantity, but when do we admit that Partey has been a flop? We see flashes of what he can do, but he’s consistently poor.
Then to bring on Nketia and leave Pepe on the bench is also just bizarre. I would rather have lost with Lokonga and AMN in midfield – at least that would have shown some balls with a bolder approach.
Arteta set us up to nullify a bang average ManU team in poor form, instead of being positive. So we got what we deserved. Very disappointing.
Soop
Sorry, I am not having it that Elneny was shocking.
In my opinion Elneny played really well, so I do not know what game you were watching. Does your obvious preconceived poor opinion of Elneny cloud your judgement to such an extent that you cannot bring yourself to praise him when he does well.
I have to say that I am with Soop on this.
The midfield didn’t work . Changing things to protect Lokonga seemed a retrograde step and Aubameyang needs to have a serious look at himself . He is almost anonymous and not imposing himself on the opposition and that’s not just in this match but over a period of time.
We are work in progress but currently take two steps forward and then retrace them immediately we play anyone at the middle to top end of the table .
We are what we are and that’s an upper end midtable team.
Mick I actually felt that Elneny was just Elneny . He will never set the game alight but he intercepts and recycles doing a lot of the work that his more esteemed partners fail to do. Having said that we do need an upgrade but not just of him , the midfield needs a driving force which it lacks and we have no-one in the squad that can really step up.
Having seen the way that Lokonga and Partey have been playing to date , it did seem strange to split them up when there was so much at stake in this game.
The 3 points would have given us an 8 point lead over a team that will be challenging us for a European place at the end of the season .
I hope that this is not an inferiority complex that from the manager down we do not believe in ourselves when we meet big named teams.
I thought that we were the better side for most of the game. The difference seemed to be that Man U were more dangerous from fewer scoring chances. After the fuss over ESR goal – (De Gea seemed to feign injury in an attempt to con the referee – he seemed fit enough when he chased him to complain) – our team appeared to be expecting some form of retribution and went back into a defensive mode for the latter part of he first half – and paid the price before half-time.
In the second half, De Gea had to make more saves than Ramsdale. Saka and Auba were not decisive enough with presentable scoring chances and it was clear that Atkinson was ignoring a number of fouls by their players made when winning back possession. Hard to object to the penalty award, except to question why VAR was used then, but not in the first half for Maguire’s shirt-pull.
I would not criticise Elneny. If anything, Partey is less reliable. He looks to be a very good player, but he is likely to give the ball away in a dangerous position at some stage in every game. Perhaps it would have been better to bring on Pepe, or bring Eddie and Laca on sooner.
Still a great shame to lose to that outfit, but it now seems clear that they are all now playing better than under Solksjaer, when they were obviously not trying. What a shower! Still, they are continue to be the media darlings.
Porter and John L
Fair comments from you both.
With regard to the midfield which I agree is a cause for concern (but not as much as our inability to score!). It is fair to say we all expected Partey to be a lot more effective than he has been. Some of his problems are no doubt injury related but my feeling is that like a lot of players who have been playing La Liga for a long time he is still struggling with the much faster pace and relentless intensity of the premier league. His speed of thought and action is still tuned in to La Liga level and he is making mistakes as a result. Hopefully he will get up to Premier League pace with a good run of games.
At last! A player has cost his team a goal by feigning injury. How many Man U players indicated to the feeble Atkinson they had their goalkeeper severely injured? More worrying is the fact that Atkinson, always one to fail with important decisions, stood on the goal line expecting to be advised to restart the game with either a free kick or a dropped ball.
He must have been mortified when told he had to give a goal as no law had been broken. Marriner failed by not telling Atkinson of the pull on Tomiyasu’s arm by the lumbering Maguire. He was quick enough to refer Odegaard’s idiocy to Atkinson. We can hardly complain though as Odegaard got away with one against Newcastle. In conclusion it’s about time we reverted to the referee stopping the game.