By Sir Hardly Anyone
As you will recall, I’m sure, we recently played Wolverhampton and so went through all the regular analyses that we do prior to each game, for that first round. So there is only a minimal about to say now.
Indeed we seemingly don’t even have any injuries – the only person we had left on the list of non-players was Martinelli suspended for the last game, so he is back.
And even more extraordinarily, Wolverhampton are in the same boat. Their statement on injuries reads, “Everyone is involved in training, so every player’s fit, and ready to join the team, so it’s good news.”
So there we are two full teams. There is however one rather interesting league table that we can run… It is the league table run on goals scored. I’ve included the top seven, and then our opponents.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Liverpool | 26 | 18 | 6 | 2 | 70 | 20 | 50 | 60 |
| 1 | Manchester City | 26 | 20 | 3 | 3 | 63 | 17 | 46 | 63 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 25 | 14 | 8 | 3 | 49 | 18 | 31 | 50 |
| 5 | West Ham United | 26 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 45 | 34 | 11 | 42 |
| 4 | Manchester U | 26 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 44 | 34 | 10 | 46 |
| 12 | Leicester City | 23 | 7 | 6 | 10 | 37 | 43 | -6 | 27 |
| 6 | Arsenal | 23 | 13 | 3 | 7 | 36 | 26 | 10 | 42 |
We can’t hide the fact that goal-scoring through the season as a whole has been poor.
But hold on, what’s this that pops up across the last six games? Yes we are the second-highest scoring team in the league…
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 2 | 16 | 18 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 4 | 9 | 13 |
| 5 | Manchester City | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 13 |
| 7 | Southampton | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 11 |
| 3 | Manchester Utd | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 14 |
So even though our two centre forwards have not scored very often across the last six games we are doing ok. And in fact, across the last ten games, we are also quite well
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 8 | 22 | 25 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 8 | 17 | 23 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 21 | 9 | 12 | 19 |
And all this having two midfielders as our top scorers, our third best scorer having packed up and left and our two remaining resident scorers getting between them just about half the goals scored by our midfield players!
| Sqd | Player | Games | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Emile Smith Rowe | 18 | 10 |
| 7 | Bukayo Saka | 25 | 8 |
| 14 | Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang | 13 | 7 |
| 9 | Alexandre Lacazette | 16 | 5 |
| 30 | Eddie Nketiah | 5 | 5 |
So let’s stop worrying about having a goalscorer and instead enjoy the fact that we most certainly do have a goal scorer – or rather two of them and indeed that’s why everyone sings “I like it I like it I like it”.
Of course we need someone to play in the number nine position and even if it is Martinelli, we still need a backup as well, and of course I would enjoy the season even more if we scored as many goals in the last ten games as Manchester City, but I do think it is important not to be swayed by the incessant suggestion that there is something wrong with Arsenal’s attack this season.
The story of this season, as these tables endlessly show, is that we had a rocky start because of illness in the squad. While Liverpool were able to have a game called off because a load of players were said to have had covid and then didn’t (the false positive scandal) we were told to battle on in order to give the media all its “worst start since the ice age” tales.
- Checking the pundit’s accuracy: How Lawrenson gets Arsenal oh so wrong.
- Do Arsenal need a new striker? Do Uefa need a new Gazprom?
Don’t forget we have been given Martin Atkinson again tonight.
This is the man who gives red cards and penalties against us for fun. In fact if we look at his history of refereeing us in the premiership we’ll see his true colours.
His given us more red cards than any other ref in premier league history. He’s been in charge of 15 league games this season and given out two red cards, we got one of them of course. Let’s not forget, at the Etihad this season we committed just seven fouls but still he managed two yellows and a red for us and made some pretty strange decisions…..all of which went against us!
In EPL history in 43 games he’s given us 3 penalties but given 15 against us.
Of the 29 refs we’ve seen in the premier league, only two have given us fewer points per game than Atkinson (the worst being the ref we’ve already had five times in the league this season, Michael Oliver!)
Methinks the powers that be are pulling out all the stops to try and halt our quest to finish in the top four.
Terrifying stats Mikey when you stand back and look at it in the cold light of morning. Unimpeachable numbers.
”He’s been in charge of 15 league games this season and given out two red cards, we got one of them of course.”
Mr Atkinson, welcome to your world
”In EPL history in 43 games he’s given us 3 penalties but given 15 against us”
Atkinson seems even worse than Dean, who is often just as bad but not as consistently so.
However, the PGMOL competition to be Riley’s favourite is getting ever more keen, with so many other strong contenders. Oliver, Pawson, Atwell and Moss are prominent rivals for the position.
i agree we don’t need to panic too much as our front line is still capable of scoring goals. our youngsters is balling and so much joy to watch them playing good football with such freedom. plus our back 5 is coming together,more solid and reliable with each passing games.even Cedric is pulling his weight and put a solid performance in the absence of Tomiyasu. hoping for another good performances and 3 more points this evening