When it comes to goal scoring, Arsenal really are up there with Liverpool.

By Tony Attwood

In the last article, we looked at how Arsenal doing across the last 22 games, and the force of the Innumerati.   The Innumerati you may recall, if you glanced at that piece, are the numerically illiterate who find it all too complex and confusing to look at a table that shows Arsenal top of the league.

But hang on, I hear you cry, “Arsenal top of the league?   Since when did that happen?”

Well, since we had the last ten games, for here is that very table: the last ten games for each club in the Premier League.   And yes Arsenal are top of the league on goal difference when we look at the last ten.

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal	10	8	1	1	23	7	16	25
2	Manchester City	10	8	1	1	24	9	15	25
3	Liverpool	10	7	2	1	23	7	16	23
4	Newcastle United	10	6	3	1	14	10	4	21
5	Chelsea	10	5	4	1	17	7	10	19
6	Wolverhampton W	10	6	0	4	15	9	6	18
7	West Ham United	10	5	2	3	16	11	5	17
8	Tottenham Hots	10	5	1	4	19	13	6	16
9	Manchester United	10	4	4	2	15	12	3	16
10	Southampton	10	4	3	3	16	15	1	15

Now this “top of the league on goal difference” is quite a jolly affair, because no one else is reporting it because, well, it does show Arsenal in a rather good light.   For these are the last ten games, meaning this is the current form.  

And even if you don’t want to have a look at the points total, you might like to look at the goals.  Because you will remember that Arsenal are in chaos because we kicked out Aubameyang, and therefore lost the ability to score goals, what with Lacazette only getting one every two years (that might be an underestimate, but you know what I mean).

The big point here is that Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City are way above the lesser teams in terms of knocking in the goals.  And we are doing it without a centre forward who can score goals.

And when it comes to defence, well yes we actually have the best defence in the league across the last ten games.  This also means we have the best goal difference, shared top with Liverpool.

Of course just like fourth is not a trophy as we were so often told by those who decried Mr Wenger’s achievements, so the last ten games is not a season.  But it is an indicator of which way we are going, and from my perspective that way is up.

It does not mean of course that we are the best team in the league because that is obviously measured over a season.  But it is interesting that while every single media outlet was doing virtually nothing but crowing over the first three games of the season, and taking them as indicative of what Arsenal were like as a team, and how the manager should go, no one is now looking at the last 10.

Besides, by and large, when I studied maths, 10 was considered to be more than three times as big as three.

But let’s go back to the figures we looked at in our last article How are Arsenal doing across the last 22 games, and the force of the Innumerati and this time expand them into home and away, to see if we have any worries or excitements there.

				H	O	M	E			A	W	A	Y
Pos	Team	P		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		GD	Pts
1	Manchester City	22		9	0	2	30	10		9	2	0	26	7		39	56
2	Liverpool	22		9	2	0	31	6		6	3	2	28	13		40	50
3	Arsenal	22		9	2	1	22	8		6	1	3	19	12		21	48
4	Chelsea	22		4	5	1	21	10		8	2	2	23	8		26	43
5	Wolverhampton W	22		6	2	3	14	8		5	2	4	11	10		7	37
6	Tottenham Hotspur	22		6	1	4	21	15		5	2	4	16	14		8	36
7	West Ham United	22		6	2	3	18	14		4	2	5	15	13		6	34
8	Manchester United	22		5	3	3	12	13		4	4	3	20	20		-1	34
9	Southampton	22		5	5	1	18	10		3	2	6	13	26		-5	31
10	Aston Villa	22		3	2	5	18	19		6	0	6	14	11		2	29
11	Newcastle United	22		4	4	3	15	18		3	4	4	11	16		-8	29
12	Crystal Palace	22		3	4	4	18	16		3	5	3	15	13		4	27
13	Leicester City	22		5	3	4	21	18		2	3	5	15	20		-2	27
14	Brighton and Hove A	22		1	5	4	6	13		2	7	3	13	15		-9	21
15	Burnley	22		2	5	4	8	13		1	6	4	11	15		-9	20
16	Leeds United	22		3	3	5	12	21		2	2	7	11	29		-27	20
17	Brentford	22		3	1	7	9	15		2	2	7	13	25		-18	18
18	Norwich City	22		2	3	7	8	23		2	2	6	7	22		-30	17
19	Everton	22		4	1	6	15	17		0	2	9	6	26		-22	15
20	Watford	22		1	0	10	10	29		2	3	6	10	16		-25	12

We are the fourth-best in scoring away and the third-best in terms of scoring at home, although we are a fair way behind Manchester City and Liverpool when it comes to scoring on our own ground.

But we can also look at this 22 game table to see just how bad Everton have been – 11 games without an away win.  If they carry on like this they might well be dragged into the relegation fight at the very end of the season.

In the 22 game table Newcastle are mid-table, but look back to the last 10 games and we can see they are performing above Chelsea, which is rather interesting.  As Bob Dylan said, “Money doesn’t talk it swears”

Overall what this all shows is that the defeats in the opening three games really were an aberration, and the calls for Arteta to go were nonsense.

As for the game against Leicester on Sunday, I’ve highlighted above our home performance in the last 22 and Leicester’s away performance in the same table.  I know that is not a comparison across the same number of games, but even so it makes rather fine reading.