By Bulldog Drummond
Liverpool is one of a small number of clubs which have beaten Arsenal more than the reverse. The numbers are 81 Arsenal wins, 62 draws, 93 Liverpool wins.
Arsenal entered a real downturn in playing Liverpool in 2015, for in the 18 games starting on 24 August 2015, in the League, League Cup and Community Shield Arsenal have won just three games (one in the League, one in the Shield and one League Cup match in a penalty shoot out. Five of the games have been draws, leaving the remaining ten as defeats. Here is the (rather depressing) list of recent results in the League.
| Date | Match | Res | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Aug 2015 | Arsenal v Liverpool | D | 0-0 | Premier League |
| 13 Jan 2016 | Liverpool v Arsenal | D | 3-3 | Premier League |
| 14 Aug 2016 | Arsenal v Liverpool | L | 3-4 | Premier League |
| 04 Mar 2017 | Liverpool v Arsenal | L | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 27 Aug 2017 | Liverpool v Arsenal | L | 4-0 | Premier League |
| 22 Dec 2017 | Arsenal v Liverpool | D | 3-3 | Premier League |
| 03 Nov 2018 | Arsenal v Liverpool | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 29 Dec 2018 | Liverpool v Arsenal | L | 5-1 | Premier League |
| 24 Aug 2019 | Liverpool v Arsenal | L | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 15 Jul 2020 | Arsenal v Liverpool | W | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 28 Sep 2020 | Liverpool v Arsenal | L | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 03 Apr 2021 | Arsenal v Liverpool | L | 0-3 | Premier League |
| 20 Nov 2021 | Liverpool v Arsenal | L | 4-0 | Premier League |
All pretty negative, but all bad runs do come to an end. And indeed if we look back just a little while at the period between 2001 and 2016 there were 38 games between the clubs. 18 were won by Arsenal, there were 14 draws and just six Liverpool wins. Thus these things come and go, and at some stage the current run against Liverpool will end and a new era will begin, because that is what always happens.
Indeed if we think of the time between 2009/10 and 2017/18 Liverpool finished in the league second just the once, fourth twice, sixth twice, 7th twice and 8th twice.
Their recovery from this process was not without its own controversies – not least the “What are they smoking at Arsenal?” jibe . The exposure of the number of lies told by the Liverpool chairman was sadly not something that the media of the day wanted to know about, so they ignored the situation to suit their own agenda. But in case you want to delve back into history and learn a little about that club, the full tale is here.
But at present they are a force to be reckoned with and aside from their home defeat to Inter a week ago, they haven’t lost a game in league or cup since an away defeat to Leicester at the end of last year.
However we should not get too despondent, for let us not forget that since 1990/91 Liverpool has won the league just the once, while Arsenal have won the league four times.
Or in terms of the FA Cup in that period Liverpool has won it three times, to Arsenal’s seven. And to be fair they have won the Champions League twice, which of course we have not done.
As to Arsenal’s position in the league this season compared with recent years the figures show us that this is our best position since 2016 when we had the same number of points as now, but a slightly better goal difference. The last time we had more points after 26 games was in 2014. The last time this number of points gave us a higher position was 2016.
| Pos | Year | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2022 | 26 | 16 | 3 | 7 | 43 | 29 | 14 | 51 |
| 10 | 2021 | 26 | 11 | 4 | 11 | 34 | 27 | 7 | 37 |
| 10 | 2020 | 26 | 7 | 13 | 6 | 36 | 34 | 2 | 34 |
| 5 | 2019 | 26 | 15 | 5 | 6 | 53 | 37 | 16 | 50 |
| 6 | 2018 | 26 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 51 | 35 | 16 | 45 |
| 5 | 2017 | 26 | 15 | 5 | 6 | 55 | 31 | 24 | 50 |
| 3 | 2016 | 26 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 41 | 23 | 18 | 51 |
| 3 | 2015 | 26 | 14 | 6 | 6 | 49 | 29 | 20 | 48 |
| 2 | 2014 | 26 | 17 | 5 | 4 | 48 | 26 | 22 | 56 |
So we are very much on the way back to recovery, whichever way one looks at these things…
More anon…
OT
Chelsea have asked the FA that their FA Cup game agains Boro take place behind closed doors as it would not be fair to Chelsea fans.
Seriously ?
So their owner being in trouble with the law or politics means other teams have to be under the same set of sanctions as they are ?
That is a very interesting way to see things.
Maybe they could request special referee privileges as well ? Or maybe a 12th player on the field ?
Yesterday we have have Chelsea fans whingeing that it’s unfair they should ‘suffer’ just because their owner sponsors a despot.
The next day we have the club suggesting the exact opposite, namely that Middlesbrough fans SHOULD suffer just because their fans have to ‘suffer’.
If you was going to design the most obnoxious club and fans in the World you’d surely come up with Chelsea.
Nitram,
it just can’t fathom how these people can use the word ‘suffer’ in today’s context.
‘Be annoyed’ maybe. ‘Be frustrated’ accepted. ‘Be upset’, ok, why not.
But suffer when we are one click away from actually seeing what real suffering is, to me is just obscene.
I was trying to think about a dad talking to his son at the NEW-CHE game : Daddy what is an execution, and why 81 ? And what has it got to do with the game ?
Suffer ? Seriously ?
Off topic
Strange but true, can you believe it, Football.london coming out and supporting Arsenal against the disgraceful Adrian Durham rant on talksport yesterday in which he did his best to discredit Arteta’s and Arsenals strong run of form and current league position.
According to Durham Areteta does not yet deserve any credit because we are only where we are as the other teams in contention are either useless, suffered with injury problems, have had manager problems and various other reasons equally ridiculous. According to him we have had no injuries, no Europe to worry about and didn’t take the cups seriously and we should get 4th place because this year it is the easiest it has been for years and if we do not make it Arteta will be a failure. Durham is an arrogant radio bully, an absolute cretin of the highest order.
Anyway well done football.london for calling him out.
https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/news/arsenal-mikel-arteta-talksport-durham-23392162#comments-wrapper
@Mick Shelley,
thanks for the link. It is interesting to see suddendy a shift in the way Arsenal is being reported upon. Not the first time I see rather positives then negatives. Almost looks like a trend.
Then again, from a PR perspective, Mr Arteta with his young, talented and exhuberant squad, playing now with an identity and showin spectacular movements, with pretty much no scandal or drama looming above so far, with a public that is behind his team, all that makes Arsenal a nice alternative to quite a few other teams, does it not ? Lots of positives is much better then all the s..tloads of crap part of many other teams’ newsfeed.
Strange, strange….but enjoyable while it lasts, because I wouldn’t be surprised if – and almost expect tomorrow’s game to be, clouded in anti-Arsenal controversy.
Let’s see how it pans out and hope the Young Guns manage to prove their worth on a larger stage.As last week-end the Manure-Sp*rs game was labelled ‘decision for 4th place’ in french and TV, I wonder how they’ll label this one ?