Arsenal v Newcastle United. The transformation of two clubs with past glories

 

 

How the season will end

By Bulldog Drummond

The transformation of both Arsenal and Newcastle across the last three seasons has been extraordinary. As we know at the moment Arsenal are top and Newcastle are third, having played one game more.  But it is interesting to compare these clubs over the previous seasons…

3 January 2023 (Season 2022/23)

 

Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Arsenal 16 14 1 1 40 14 26 43
2 Manchester City 16 11 3 2 44 16 28 36
3 Newcastle United 17 9 7 1 32 11 21 34

 

Staying with 17 games played but going back one year to 17 December 2021 (Season 2021/22) Arsenal were fourth but a long way off the leaders and Newcastle were looking like relegation contenders

Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Manchester City 17 13 2 2 40 9 31 41
4 Arsenal 17 9 2 6 23 22 1 29
19 Newcastle United 17 1 7 9 18 37 -19 10

 

Going back one more season to 16 December 2020 (Season 2020/21) Arsenal were again fourth and Newcastle were ready for the drop.

 

Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Manchester City 17 13 2 2 40 9 31 41
4 Arsenal 17 9 2 6 23 22 1 29
19 Newcastle United 17 1 7 9 18 37 -19 10

 

For Arsenal this period has shown the coming together of a plan conceived when Arteta was introduced as manager – a plan which saw the club drop down to 15th after 14 games in the 2020/21 season, at which point Newcastle were actually above Arsenal (on 20 December 2020).

Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Liverpool 14 9 4 1 36 19 17 31
6 Manchester City 13 6 5 2 19 12 7 23
12 Newcastle United 13 5 3 5 17 22 -5 18
15 Arsenal 14 4 2 8 12 18 -6 14

 

At that point Arteta had been in his post at Arsenal for just one year and there were many so-called supporters who were demanding managerial change.  Thankfully they and their media maters were not listened to.

So while the media has constantly spoken of this era being the era of Liverpool and Manchester City, in fact the most dramatic change of all has come with Newcastle United and its Saudi money, and Arsenal with its appointment of an ex-captain who learned about management at Manchester City.

Indeed if you see any film of Arteta at games during his time in Manchester it is most likely to be of him sitting pitchside with pen and clipboard making notes.  I’ve often thought it would be interesting to know what he was noting, but whatever it was it seemed to be helpful to the club.

Arteta joined the Manchester City coaching staff on 26 February 2017 and was reported as “the first member of the new-look coaching staff to be officially announced” with the title of Assistant Coach,  It was his first coaching position.

Eddie Howe at Newcastle has had a different managerial career.  From 2008-2011 he managed Bournemouth.  They had just been relegated from League One to League Two, and in those years he took them back to League One.

Burnley were a Championship side when Howe joined, and in his one season they finished in mid-table, a little worse off than the season before he arrived. 

Howe has always maintained that he left Burnley due to the death of his mother.  He had started and ended his playing career with Bournemouth playing 270 games for them.   As a manager he took them from League One to the Premier League before joining Newcastle this summer.

Thus neither of these managers has been high-profile until this season, but both have shown themselves capable of re-energising languishing clubs.

Newcastle won the second tier of English football in 2010 and 2017, and prior to that won the Intertoto Cup in 2007.  Prior to that they won the Fairs Cup in 1969, and before that the 2nd Division in 1965, but their last serious spell of trophy winning was three FA Cups between 1951 and 1955 when they were a first division team.  They last won the top division in 1927.

But Newcastle supporters seem always to have believed that their club was a major force in football that was simply going through a difficult spell.  A bit like Arsenal in the 1960s, but rather than it lasting a decade it lasted a century.

Yet it is interesting to look back to the league table in December 2020, just over two years ago and see how the world of the top division has changed.  I’ve added today’s league position as an extra column on the right.

 

Team P W D L F A GD Pts Today
1 Liverpool 14 9 4 1 36 19 17 31 6th
2 Leicester City 14 9 0 5 26 17 9 27 13th
3 Manchester United 13 8 2 3 28 21 7 26 4th
4 Everton 14 8 2 4 25 19 6 26 16th
5 Tottenham Hotspur 14 7 4 3 25 14 11 25 5th
6 Southampton 14 7 3 4 25 19 6 24 20th
7 Manchester City 13 6 5 2 19 12 7 23 2nd
8 Chelsea 13 6 4 3 26 14 12 22 9th
9 Aston Villa 12 7 1 4 24 13 11 22 12th
10 West Ham United 13 6 3 4 21 16 5 21 17th
11 Wolverhampton Wanderers 13 6 2 5 13 17 -4 20 19th
12 Newcastle United 13 5 3 5 17 22 -5 18 3rd
13 Crystal Palace 14 5 3 6 19 25 -6 18 11th
14 Leeds United 14 5 2 7 24 30 -6 17 14th
15 Arsenal 14 4 2 8 12 18 -6 14 1st
16 Brighton and Hove Albion 14 2 6 6 16 22 -6 12 10th
17 Fulham 14 2 4 8 13 23 -10 10 8th
18 Burnley 12 2 4 6 6 18 -12 10 C1
19 West Bromwich Albion 14 1 4 9 10 29 -19 7 C9
20 Sheffield United 14 0 2 12 8 25 -17 2 C2

 

What is fascinating (for me if for no one else) is that only three teams from 2020/21 (the bottom three as it happened) are outside the league, and two of those occupy the top two spots in the Championship and look likely to return for next season.  It really does show that the Premier League is getting to be akin to a closed shop, with the bottom teams tending to pop in and pop out from time to time.

 

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