Arsenal v Liverpool. Comparisons over the last few games give us hope

By Bulldog Drummond

Despite all the negatives about Arsenal of late we are still up there when it comes to current form

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Manchester City	6	6	0	0	21	4	17	18
2	Tottenham Hots	6	4	2	0	13	5	8	14
3	Arsenal	6	4	0	2	16	5	11	12
4	Liverpool	6	3	2	1	11	6	5	11
5	Manchester Utd	6	3	2	1	10	6	4	11
6	Wolverhampton Wands	6	3	1	2	5	3	2	10

That puts us very close to Liverpool on the form across the last six matches, although it is worrying that Tottenham are second, because of their game in hand overall.  Indeed if we look at the league table today there is a lot “up for grabs” as the journalist like to say, using an old shop lifting expression.

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Manchester City	22	18	2	2	54	13	41	56
2	Liverpool	21	13	6	2	55	18	37	45
3	Chelsea	23	12	8	3	46	18	28	44
4	West Ham United	22	11	4	7	41	30	11	37
5	Tottenham Hots	19	11	3	5	26	22	4	36
6	Arsenal	20	11	2	7	33	25	8	35
7	Manchester United	21	10	5	6	35	30	5	35

As Arsenal catch up on their games in hand we have every chance of overtaking West Ham while holding off any challenge from Manchester United.  The problem is that this still only gets us to fifth, while the target is fourth.

But the really interesting prospect is the collapse of Chelsea.  They are of course nine points above us – and we have three games in hand.  Although we could win those three we would not catch up on the goal difference.

However, there is further hope in that across the last six games in the league Chelsea are 11th!   Across the last ten games they are eighth.  In other words, their form is poor and getting worse.  So it is possible that both Tottenham Hots and Arsenal could overtake Chelsea and West Ham United by the end of the season.  Which would be quite a turnaround.

And indeed a reason not to worry too much about tonight’s game.  Of course, we want to win, but a defeat would not be a disaster – fourth this season is more than a trophy.

Away goals do not count double in the league cup semi-final (for reasons that will not become clear at this time because no one has ever explained why this is) so there will be two hours of extra time, (well, it might well feel like two hours of extra time although will technically only be somewhere around 30 minutes) and then penalties.  Fortunately, although my chums and I then have to drive back to Leicestershire, and I then pick up my car and make the little journey over the border to Northamptonshire – (home of the notorious gang of criminal local government officers), I don’t have to get up early for work tomorrow.   The benefits of working from home.

Anyway, my point is that this is not the be-all and end-all of the season.  A trophy is always a jolly thing to have but really a return to the Champions League is what the club finances need, and what the top players need to convince them to stick with Arsenal despite all the media tripe they have to face each day.

Despite the usual pro-Liverpool ravings of the media their results have not been that great of late as the last six matches table suggests.  And when we include cup games, we can see something curious…

Date	Match	Res	Score	Competition
19 Dec 2021	Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool	D	2-2	Premier League
22 Dec 2021	Liverpool v Leicester City	W	3-3 (5-4)	League Cup
28 Dec 2021	Leicester City v Liverpool	L	1-0	Premier League
2 Jan 2022	Chelsea v Liverpool	D	2-2	Premier League
9 Jan 2022	Liverpool v Shrewsbury Town	W	4-1	FA Cup
13 Jan 2022	Liverpool v Arsenal	D	0-0	League Cup
16 Jan 2022	Liverpool v Brentford	W	3-0	Premier League

We can see seven games in the last month.  Three wins – one of which was on penalties after a draw, and one of which was against the mighty Shrewsbury Town.   Sticking just with games against the big boys, and that is six games, two wins (one by penalties), three draws and one defeat.

Our past six games (again excluding the cup game against a lower league team) show three wins, two defeats and a draw.  12 goals scored 

Date	Match	Res	Score	Competition
15 Dec 2021	Arsenal v West Ham United	W	2-0	Premier League
18 Dec 2021	Leeds United v Arsenal	W	1-4	Premier League
26 Dec 2021	Norwich City v Arsenal	W	0-5	Premier League
1 Jan 2022	Arsenal v Manchester City	L	1-2	Premier League
9 Jan 2022	Nottingham Forest v Arsenal	L	1-0	FA Cup
13 Jan 2022	Liverpool v Arsenal	D	0-0	League Cup

So things are indeed evenly balanced.  We just need to pick up that old winning habit one more time.

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