Live match report Arsenal – Leicester : 3-1 full time score

By Walter Broeckx Monreal out with a tight hamstring so we have Lichtsteiner who will play left back. Aubameyang is on the beach for the start of this match. Arsenal starting with : Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Mustafi, Lichtsteiner, Torreira, Xhaka, Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Iwobi, Lacazette. On the beach : Martinez, Medley, Guendouzi, Smith Rowe, Ramsey, Welbeck, …

Arsenal v Leicester: The teams, the roadworks and Dr Evil

by Bulldog Drummond A foreshortened final piece in our review series for this match as some of us are off to London for jolly jaunts and exhibition visiting. So straight into the teams… And speaking of which let us not forget that we also have a game on Thursday, so we’ll be pacing players and …

Emery’s comments, Leicester’s managerial problems, more stats and the score we want.

By Bulldog Drummond Mr Emery’s commentary this week will be music to the ears of those who make a living by telling the rest of us how Arsenal will never get anywhere without a major rebuild.  He said, “I think we need to improve a lot. Our demands need to be very high. The supporters can …

Arsenal v Leicester: they have two wins at Arsenal in 42 years.

By Bulldog Drummond So summarising where we have got to in previous articles, we find that Leicester have a poor-ish away record, both in the second half of last season and this season, tending only to beat teams that are themselves doing very badly at home.  Arsenal might be in all sorts of categories as …

Why are our youth players coming through in such great numbers?

by Sir Hardly Anyone So how come our youth players are doing so well as we have been suggesting of late? It is an issue that has been touched upon of late, but there is another reason which seems to be relevant as shown by this rather exciteable headline in the Daily Mail… “Manchester City …

Nelson at the double (to coin a phrase) as Arsenal could (maybe) reach 3rd.

By Bulldog Drummond There was some action yesterday, aside from the activities of the Manchester United manager which got much of the media rather over excited.  For Reiss Nelson was at it again at Hoffenheim.  His team were 1-0 down at Nürnberg but came back thanks to two from our young man to win 3-1. According …

Just how good at predicting are the very best predictors? Today’s results in advance and the squad for monday.

By Tony Attwood There is a prediction site doing the rounds called Five Thirty Eight which it is claimed really knows how to predict results.   So I thought I would have a look. It gives percentage chance for each result.  So we get Chelsea v Man U today giving us Chelsea to win 56%, Man …

All the things you are not allowed to say about football because, well, no one does.

by Tony Attwood It is a great tragedy within football, in my opinion, that there are so many ideas and opinions that seem to be beyond acceptable conversation in the media, and indeed for most fans. While it seems perfectly ok to say that (for example) Arsene Wenger was the cause of all Arsenal’s perceived …

Arsenal v Reading Sunday 21 October 2018 – The Preview

by Andrew Crawshaw This is a WSL match being held at Borehamwood with a 14:00 kickoff.  Tickets will be available on the gate at £10 adults and £5 concessions (U16 and O65s). We, as you should all be aware, are sitting proudly on the top of the table with four wins out of four.  Reading …

Leicester worried about referee for monday, and the Arsenal v Leicester stats

By Bulldog Drummond Known to historians as the Yo-Yos, having transferred themselves between the top tier and the second level of English football no less than 13 times, with the occasional visit to the third tier (as in 2008/9), Leicester have now had four years in the top division. Since coming up from what has …

3pm Saturday is exactly the wrong time to have football kick offs.

By Tony Attwood 3pm saturday kick offs are sacrosanct.  You can’t show a live football match between 3 and 5pm in the major heartlands of football.  That is England, Scotland and er… Montenegro. And why? Ah well that is where it gets tricky.   There is the suggestion that 3pm was the historic time to kick …

Matchweek 9 – The Officials

by Andrew Crawshaw As usual here are all of the Match Officials for this weekend’s PL matches courtesy of premierleague.com Saturday 20 October 12:30 Chelsea v Man Utd Referee: Mike Dean (pictured) Assistants: Ian Hussin, Darren Cann Fourth official: Craig Pawson 15:00 AFC Bournemouth v Southampton Referee: Lee Probert Assistants: Simon Beck, Andy Garratt Fourth official: Stuart Attwell Cardiff City v Fulham Referee: Kevin Friend …

Nelson, Smith Rowe, Maitland Niles, Eddie: slowly the world is awkening

By Tony Attwood “Golden Generation” is one of those phrases that is generally either used far too early, or way to late (as in the all too common phrase “whatever happened to…” after the players en masse have failed to live up to the hype I am sure I can be proven wrong, but I …

What the car thieves did to Premier League players in the international break.

By Tony Attwood Yes the car thieves – the international managers who go round nicking players, wrecking them, handing them back and then demanding that that players are made fit for the next round of games. So who suffered this time around? Well they certainly worked hard with the wrecking ball, knackering as many players …

In football, why are individuals called to account, but not whole nations?

By Tony Attwood There are two stories floating around at the moment.   One involves the possibility that the royal family of Saudi Arabia might be thinking of buying Manchester United, the other involving a West Ham coach of their under 18 side who has attended a rally held by a right wing group. Which is …

Meeting a player you have admired can be such a very strange experience.

By Tony Attwood There are ex-players and ex-players, and when you meet one for the first time it can be quite a shock.  They come from different backgrounds, have different approaches to life… that of course is to be expected.  But so often one finds that the man is different from the player. And that …

We’ve got our Arsenal back. But which Arsenal is that exactly?

By Tony Attwood No one quite knows what “We’ve got our Arsenal back” means, although clearly it has some sort of relationship with an Arsenal club or team from the past which is now back playing once again.   Although not exactly the same players of course, for that would be silly. And it cleraly has …

Does the first eight league games of a season tell us how it will end?

By Tony Attwood The last time we had a great start to the league, in terms of the first eight games, was in 2016 when on 18 October the league table looked like this… Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts 1 Manchester City 8 6 1 1 19 8 11 19 …

England’s woes are all the fault of selfish clubs, at least according to the car thieves

By Tony Attwood Sometimes one is forced to stop and think, “Who pays the players?”  and “Who has to keep paying players even when they are injured in an international match?” Come to that, “Who takes the players on at a very early age, builds and runs the training facilities, develops their skills, advises them …

Chelsea 0 Arsenal 5. The view from behind one goal

by Andrew Crawshaw What a difference a day makes to the weather in South London.  Saturday was gloriously sunny, shirt sleeves and beautifully outdoorsy.  Sunday was wet, windy and far cooler a real autumn day.  The match was at Chelsea’s Kingsmeadow ground, near Kingston-upon-Thames, just about an hour and a half from home – ten …

When almost every media source says the same transfer is happening, what does it mean?

Sir Hardly Anyone explores drainpipe theory with Marianna Trench. Yes media drainpipe after media drainpipe (the things those quaint little bloggettas call outlets) are all shouting out the same story-story.  That Arsenal are going to sign Ismaila Sarr and Kai Havertz. As more and more and more of the pesky blighters copied each other over …

Last year’s top six – how this season is rather different from last time around

By Tony Attwood Below is a “this season vs last season” table, showing for key figures just how the clubs have changed in the course of a year after eight matches. Looking at each team there are two rows – one for key indicators at this time last season and one for now. In the …

Who in the Arsenal team has committed the most fouls this season? You will not guess!!!

Tony Attwood I was wondering where on earth the statistics came from showing that Arsenal were the dirtiest team in the league, and expressed incredulity as I worked through the analysis in previous articles. But others came to my rescue and found more and more figures, and in the discussion after the article “Arsenal are …

Chelsea Women v Arsenal – Sunday 14 October 14:00 Preview

Chelsea Women v Arsenal – Sunday 14 October 14:00 Preview By Andrew Crawshaw This a match that will really be a test of our title credentials. So far we have comfortably won all three of our league matches, albeit they have been against teams we should expect to beat. Chelsea on the other hand have …

Arsenal are the dirtiest team in the League this season. Errr? Really? Are you sure?

By Tony Attwood It was the story that Sky used years and year ago to discredit Arsenal and its manager Mr Wenger.  We were the dirtiest team in the League.   Unfortunately the source of their data was never given, nor any other team’s figures, so no one could check.  But seveal people challenged the figures …