By Bulldog Drummond
I don’t think we’ve been in the position of writing previews of two major Arsenal matches in two days, but if you are looking for our coverage of the Women’s Cup Final today that is here
- 2021 FA Women’s Cup Final – Arsenal v Chelsea Sunday 5 December – Part 1 History
- 2021 FA Women’s Cup Final – Arsenal v Chelsea Sunday 5 December – Part 2 – Match Preview
Whereas if you are following us in terms of Everton v Arsenal, the first episode of that is here
So on we go with Everton v Arsenal part 2 – the state of play approaching the game.
The fans discontent at Everton can be understood by a look at the last six games table – which you may recall we have been focussing on somewhat of late. The interest in this, and indeed the last ten games table which we also use, comes from the fact that last season was a real game of two thirds. By the end of the first third of the season, we were 15th and looking over our collective shoulders at the relegation positions. In the final two-thirds of the season, we had the second-best performance in the league.
Now obviously that second-best performance has not continued into this season – and the prime reason for that is that Mr Arteta decided to transform the defence through a series of transfers. Given that we are also playing a system that is built, in part, on beating the machinations of the referees by reducing the number of tackles that we put in, that transformation has taken a while to complete. And while we are clearly good enough to beat most lesser teams, when up against the likes of Liverpool, who have their own approach to dealing with referees, we can come unstuck.
But the last six and last ten games’ tables are useful in giving a bigger perspective, as is the comparison of home and away form, which is where I’ll start. (And interestingly, despite the fact that Untold Arsenal is freely available, this is not an approach that the media, in general, has shown any interest in… except in the past couple of weeks I have come across a couple of media mentions of the “last six games”. A few other sites do mention this, so I am sure the media have picked it up there.
For once I will run the whole “last six” table, and I think you’ll see why…
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 15 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 6 | 11 | 13 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 12 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 11 |
| 5 | West Ham United | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 10 |
| 6 | Tottenham Hots | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 10 |
| 7 | Leeds United | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 9 |
| 8 | Crystal Palace | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 8 |
| 9 | Wolverhampton Wands | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 8 |
| 10 | Leicester City | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 11 | -2 | 8 |
| 11 | Southampton | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 9 | -3 | 8 |
| 12 | Norwich City | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 12 | -6 | 8 |
| 13 | Burnley | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 7 |
| 14 | Manchester United | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 14 | -6 | 7 |
| 15 | Aston Villa | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 6 |
| 16 | Newcastle United | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 10 | -4 | 6 |
| 17 | Brighton and Hove | 6 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 5 |
| 18 | Brentford | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 12 | -5 | 4 |
| 19 | Watford | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 12 | -4 | 3 |
| 20 | Everton | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 15 | -11 | 1 |
So Everton are in a poor run of form, and although we’ve lost two of the last six and our goalscoring is still way below what it should be. But we have won the other four. This suggests we should not be too down about recent results.
The last ten games tables tells a similar tale – but I won’t bore you with the whole table.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 8 | 13 | 25 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 32 | 11 | 21 | 21 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 23 | 8 | 15 | 20 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 11 | 5 | 20 |
| 19 | Watford | 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 14 | 21 | -7 | 7 |
| 20 | Everton | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 20 | -13 | 5 |
So whichever way we look at it, it is still pretty ghastly for Everton and likely to be made worse by a fans’ walkout and the inability of the protest organisers to get their Latin right.
Here’s the final comparison table before we move on… this one compares Arsenal’s away form and Everton’s home form for the season so far
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Arsenal away | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 14 | -9 | 7 |
| 11 | Everton home | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 12 | -1 | 10 |
This is the table that comes with a warning – Everton have been pretty awful this season, and particularly awful of late – BUT – taking the season overall they have performed better at home than we have away.
We really do need to be focused.
More anon.
