There was of course never any chance that anyone would want to take action because all Mr Artetea said was that the fixture list was tough at the moment. But so lost is the Mirror for stories that they put their “Chief Football Writer” John Cross onto it.
And really, at a time when there is still uncertainty over what will happen (if anything) to Chelsea as part of the supposed confiscation of Russian investments, to make such a non-story a central piece worthy the chief writer is a bit dopey.
But to move on, now we play Aston Villa away. Let’s look at recent results and tables.
Across the whole season, Arsenal have the edge comparing home and away results for the two teams, with us having one more point from one fewer games although, with a worse goal difference.
| 13 |
Aston Villa home all season |
13 |
5 |
3 |
5 |
24 |
20 |
4 |
18 |
| 8 |
Arsenal away all season |
12 |
6 |
1 |
5 |
19 |
19 |
0 |
19 |
When we look at recent results we find however, a rather brighter picture…
| 13 |
Aston Villa home last 6 games |
6 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
12 |
10 |
2 |
8 |
| 8 |
Arsenal last 6 away games |
6 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
16 |
8 |
8 |
12 |
So the general improvement in results which we invariably see when we look at more recent games as opposed to all-season is there for Arsenal in looking at the last six away games. The Villa results at home across the last six show a set of figures pretty much in keeping with their whole season.
Indeed if we look at the results for the last six home and away to get an overall feeling of form we are third in that table, and Villa ninth. Go back to the last ten games home and away and we a third and Villa tenth. The form is consistent.
All of which prognostications are good. They are scoring fewer than Arsenal score while also conceding more.
Looking at the head to head we have beaten them 84 times to their 69 victories with 45 games drawn. But there is a warning sign. For after a 13 match run between the clubs in the League and FA Cup in which Aston Villa won just the one, with one game drawn (Arsenal scoring 21 goals in the last six of that run) ….
| 20 Sep 2014 |
Aston Villa v Arsenal |
W |
0-3 |
Premier League |
| 1 Feb 2015 |
Arsenal v Aston Villa |
W |
5-0 |
Premier League |
| 30 May 2015 |
Arsenal v Aston Villa |
W |
4-0 |
FA Cup |
| 13 Dec 2015 |
Aston Villa v Arsenal |
W |
0-2 |
Premier League |
| 15 May 2016 |
Arsenal v Aston Villa |
W |
4-0 |
Premier League |
| 22 Sep 2019 |
Arsenal v Aston Villa |
W |
3-2 |
Premier League |
… then it got a bit sticky.
| 21 Jul 2020 |
Aston Villa v Arsenal |
L |
1-0 |
Premier League |
| 8 Nov 2020 |
Arsenal v Aston Villa |
L |
0-3 |
Premier League |
| 6 Feb 2021 |
Aston Villa v Arsenal |
L |
1-0 |
Premier League |
| 22 Oct 2021 |
Arsenal v Aston Villa |
W |
3-1 |
Premier League |
So we have to believe that they have now had their upturn. And indeed the November 2020 game came at the time when Arsenal were sinking to 15th as Mr Arteta tried to instil the new “no tackle” concept into the club. That run you may recall went on to Christmas, although Villa still managed to get a second victory over us.
We’ll compare the issue of tackles, fouls and yellow cards for the two clubs in the next piece which, as if by a miracle (or some rapid typing on my part) will appear anon…
If John Cross really wants to write an article about ‘rants’ he should look no further than the way Jorgen Klopp persistently loses his temper and takes it out on the poor old fourth official every time there is a decision he does not like. Now they really are ‘rants’ of the highest order, the latest coming in the match against us on Wednesday night when he went into one for some reason or another. Talk about Mr Angry. And to think poor old Arsene got sent off for kicking a plastic bottle of water.
Or during the same match how about the Jordon Henderson ‘rants’ at the ref every time he gave a decision Henderson didn’t approve of. Swearing and gesticulating at Andre Marriner on a regular basis. On one occasion you could clearly lip read him telling Marriner to ‘f**k off’ whilst waving his arms indignantly when a foul was blown against the scousers, a decision which he didn’t agree with.
But Liverpool and their manager are the modern day equivalent of Man U under Fergie…. completely untouchable and seemingly exempt from sanctions.
They are the media favourites and are therefore treated accordingly by the Football League, the FA and of course Riley and his PGMO.
And therein lays the difference. Cross and his employers always looking to discredit Arsenal but always silence on anything bad to say about Liverpool.