by Bulldog Drummond
It is in the Guardian, in a column that previews all of the weekend’s premier league games, that manages to produce a whole article on Tottenham v Arsenal that does not include a word about Arsenal. It starts, “All eyes will be on Harry Kane” and concludes by talking about Song, ending with the phrase “What a time it would be for him to assume centre stage”
So maybe it is time to look at the top scorers once again, and we’ll focus just on the Tottenham and Arsenal entrants in the top 20 in the Premier League
| Player | Club | Goals |
| Harry Kane | 15 | |
| Gabriel Martinelli | 7 | |
| Martin Ødegaard | 7 | |
| Bukayo Saka | 6 |
So there we are. One Tottenham player, three Arsenal players. If we were to go down further we would have Gabriel Jesus with five. Son has scored four.
But what is the difference between Arsenal and Tottenham in terms of the league? Tottenham have played one game more than Arsenal, scored three goals fewer, conceded 11 goals more and have 11 fewer points.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 17 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 40 | 14 | 26 | 44 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 18 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 37 | 25 | 12 | 33 |
Using our usual comparison of home and away we can see how the difference works out when the venue of the weekend’s game is taken into account.
Both clubs have played nine games, and yes in this analysis Tottenham have scored three more goals than Arsenal. But Arsenal, away from home, have conceded seven goals fewer than Tottenham, and so once again have a better goal difference as well as four more points.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Tottenham Hotspur home | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 21 | 13 | 8 | 18 |
| 1 | Arsenal away | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 6 | 12 | 22 |
But there is another factor. In the first seven games of the Premier League season, Tottenham were unbeaten, drawing two, winning five, which is indeed impressive. However, thereafter things have not been going so well for the Tiny Totts.
Tottenham have one win in the last three games. Two wins in the last five, three wins in the last eight which is really not so good
Compare that with Arsenal who have two wins in the last three games, four wins in the last five, six wins in the last eight.
Looked at this way it is easy to see why the media utterly refuses to use the last six game table as a form guide. And in doing this we have to go not just through the top six, but the whole top half of the table to find reference to Tottenham Ho.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 3 | 12 | 16 |
| 2 | Manchester United | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 15 |
| 3 | Newcastle United | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 11 | 14 |
| 4 | Manchester City | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 13 |
| 5 | Brighton & Hove | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 11 | 6 | 12 |
| 6 | Brentford | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 12 |
| 7 | Fulham | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 12 |
| 8 | Liverpool | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 12 |
| 9 | Tottenham Hotspur | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 11 | 3 | 10 |
| 10 | Aston Villa | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 10 | -1 | 10 |
Arsenal’s goal difference across the last six games is nine goals better than Tottenham, who have conceded almost four times as many goals as Arsenal in the last six games.
But to be fair we must also consider this over a slightly longer period of time so here is the table based on the last ten games.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 7 | 16 | 26 |
| 2 | Newcastle United | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 20 | 3 | 17 | 24 |
| 3 | Manchester Utd | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 6 | 10 | 23 |
| 4 | Manchester City | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 22 | 10 | 12 | 22 |
| 5 | Fulham | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 10 | 8 | 20 |
| 6 | Liverpool | 10 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 16 | 13 | 3 | 18 |
| 7 | Tottenham Hots | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 18 | 15 | 3 | 16 |
Here the gap is ten points across the last ten games, with Arsenal having won 80% of their games and Tottenham just 50%.
But of course games against other members of the “Big 7” are different from normal games so let us see what that involves…
| Date | Match | Res | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Aug 2022 | Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur | D | 2-2 |
| 1 Oct 2022 | Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur | L | 3-1 |
| 19 Oct 2022 | Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur | L | 2-0 |
| 23 Oct 2022 | Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle United | L | 1-2 |
| 6 Nov 2022 | Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool | L | 1-2 |
Now it is true that Tottenham have played three of their five games away from home, but to have played five games against other members of the big seven and not won a single match seems a bit careless.
| Date | Match | Res | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Sep 2022 | Manchester United v Arsenal | L | 3-1 |
| 1 Oct 2022 | Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur | W | 3-1 |
| 9 Oct 2022 | Arsenal v Liverpool | W | 3-2 |
| 6 Nov 2022 | Chelsea v Arsenal | W | 0-1 |
| 3 Jan 2023 | Arsenal v Newcastle United | D | 0-0 |
Pulling this together here are the league positions across the season for Tottenham and Arsenal, and the two clubs against other members of the Big Seven with each side having played five of the 12 big even games.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 17 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 40 | 14 | 26 | 44 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 18 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 37 | 25 | 12 | 33 |
| 1 | Arsenal v Big 7 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 10 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur v Big 7 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 11 | -6 | 1 |
It seems hard to find an advantage point for Tottenham anywhere.
Typical Guardian.They along with The Telegraph appear to have an inherent Anti Arsenal agenda in their reporting of the club.The Guardian in particular,who are very pro Man Utd.No surprise.They’re literally gagging for Arsenal to be beaten.It’s killing them.
We have had 3 massive penalty claims in the last 2 matches and not a word of criticism for the referees or VAR who failed to award one of them. In fact it was all somehow turned on it’s head as Arsenal have been made to look like the villains in all this, hence the 2 FA charges against us this week.
The referees have been left in absolutely no doubt, just in case they had started to believe otherwise, that screwing Arsenal is the way to go if you want praise and adulation for your performance.
Miss blatant penalty shouts, time wasting, fouling, and as long as it goes against Arsenal you are sure to avoid derision.
So it’s all eyes on Kane.
Son to be centre stage.
Whinging Arsenal players.
A manager out of control.
We, or should I say the referee has been left in no doubt what is expected of him.
I cant see us keeping 11 players on the pitch.
I cant see us stopping Kane from scoring, after all he doesn’t miss many penalties.
Well, so, basically we don’t stand a chance. They’ve got the best striker in the galaxy, a manager who is so used to winning he is bored with it, they have 1 referee, 2 linesmen, a 4th assistant and a full VAR team with them, as well as the deadwood press.
As I commented, why do we even bother to show up ?
Ah, I know. Arsenal will stand a guard of honour so Kane can just jog down the field, score and break the galactical record of goals scored for Sp*rs. This is a record for the ages I guess.
From The Mirror
“Mikel Arteta himself is hopeful of adding more firepower to his ranks as the north Londoners look to build on their impressive start to the season. They have largely played with a settled starting XI, which has placed huge demands on the likes of Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka”
Except it hasn’t has it because as Tony points out we also have Odegaard, who has scored 7 PL goals, not to mention Nketiah who has scored 5 goals from 5 starts domestically.
For some reason that I just can fathom, The Mirror are actually trying to turn a ‘settled starting eleven’ in to a negative. Well I never.
We are surprised that the Manchester Guardian supports ManU?
This might be because The Guardian have today published at least 4 Arsenal articles including ones to Odegaard & Beth Mead, another on the Mudrtk transfer and a fun one about beating Spurs with 6 reserves.
WHEN ARSENAL BEAT TOTTENHAM AT WHITE HART LANE WITH SIX RESERVES
Just for a bit of balance I did find this rather enjoyable article in the Guardian on line:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/that-1980s-sports-blog/2023/jan/13/arsenal-tottenham-white-hart-lane-six-reserves-spurs-derby-
Finally the deadwood press is starting to open it’s eyes…. interesting…
Is it because Chelsea have a new owner ? Because Arsenal are top of the league and much more ‘popular’ ?
Curious….
But at least the fact that PGMOL is having arrogant incompetent morons as referees and managers is not something that can be hidden anymore. It is now there for all the world to see, week in, week out. And Arsenal games are the big thing now on TV accross the world. Looks like the heat is on. The sh*t is slowly hitting the fan.
https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2023/01/13/arsenal-will-now-ask-questions-about-what-happened-in-58th-minute-of-chelsea-defeat-our-view/
I share Nitram’s concerns. A safe bet that Spurs will get at least one penalty and a good chance that we will get a red card.
Someone on reddit made a nice CSV on the punishments between clubs.
https://old.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/10b2guj/fa_disciplinary_charges_against_in_the_last_five/
Thanks for those links lads. Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel?
But I will only believe it if these ridiculous figures make it onto SS, BTS or MOTD because sure as hell it would be highlighted if Liverpool or Man Utd were on the end of numbers like them. And nobody can say these outlets don’t know these figures, they know them, 100% they do.
I wonder if the FA are trying to build up a case for a points deduction for the club? That, the red card and dodgy pen we will suffer this weekend, the permitted rotational fouling, the wilsherisation of Saka, what I am sure is a looming touchline ban on Arteta, the permitted time wasting of opponents, no pens under any circumstances to Arsenal for the rest of the season, well, all shows how much of the threat they see in Arsenal, and that will be so very clear against Tottenham.
The PGMOL hierarchy has moved from one Fergie ref to another, Webb will take the establishment route, Arsenal are not favoured by the English football establishment.