How the media comes daily to the rescue of the referees

By Tony Attwood I have not kept exact records over the years on the issue, and sadly I don’t have the spare time to go back and check, but I get the impression that there are more articles in the mainstream media about referees these days than there were even just one year ago. It …

Sir Hardly Anyone reviews the opinions of Jamie Carragher on Arsenal

By Sir Hardly Anyone It is rarely difficult to distinguish between a football journalist with a grievance and a ray of sunshine, and that is certainly the case in the aftermath of the latest wild ranting and raving from Jamie Carragher. Take for example the Daily Express’ approach with its headline “Chelsea news: Jamie Carragher …

Continental Tyres Cup semi-final – the match report

by Andrew Crawshaw This match was played on Thursday evening 7 February at Borehamwood against newly formed Championship side Manchester United. Whilst a newly formed team, Manchester United are genuinely of WSL quality, although they play in the second tier of the women’s game it is only a matter of when they will gain promotion …

Arsenal are quite clearly a top four club, but there’s just one problem

By Tony Attwood There have, for many years, been certain clubs that are apart from the rest, because of their crowds and their historic results. The exact list of such clubs has changed over time, but it has, since the end of the first world war, included Manchester United and Arsenal, because of the consistently …

Arsenal beat the away barrier, but it is still not enough

by Tony Attwood Arsenal have now finally improved on last season’s awful away record.   Here’s the current table for away games only Pos Team P W D L F GA GD Pts 1 Tottenham Hotspur 13 11 0 2 30 13 17 33 2 Liverpool 13 9 3 1 24 8 16 30 3 Manchester …

Final score and live match report Huddersfield – Arsenal : 1-2

By Walter Broeckx Mkhitaryan and Maitland-Niles return to the starting  line up. A few absentees with Auba and Ozil missing out because of illness. According to Arsenal.com we also miss  Ramsey wiht a knee injury and Xhaka who still has trouble with his groin. Arsenal: Leno, Maitland-Niles, Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal, Kolasinac, Torreira, Guendouzi, Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, …

Huddersfield v Arsenal and the issue of away form

by Bulldog Drummond Unai Emery has put forward the view that the poor away form of Arsenal is a psychological issue, and of course there may be something in that.  But the interpretation put on the remarks by journalists has as always been very short term, rather than looking back over this season and last …

Huddersfield v Arsenal: injuries; the awful away form and the team

by Bulldog Drummond Huddersfield must know that they are going down – it would be one of the all time escapes if they didn’t, and there is no sign of a turn around in recent games…   Here is their league record since 1 December. Date Game Res Score 01 Dec 2018 Huddersfield Town v Brighton …

Matchweek 26 – The games and officials; phantom fouls and time under caution

by Andrew Crawshaw Here, courtesy of premierleague.com, are this weekends fixtures and appointed match officials.  Please note that kickoff times are 15:00 (UK time) unless otherwise noted :- Saturday 9 February 12:30 Fulham v Man Utd Referee: Paul Tierney Assistants: Eddie Smart, Mick McDonough Fourth official: Graham Scott Crystal Palace v West Ham Referee: Craig Pawson Assistants: Lee Betts, Ian Hussin Fourth official: …

Mindless twaddle: Sir Hardly Anyone’s roundup of Arsenal media inventions

by Sir Hardly Anyone You need a certain type of mind these days to be a football journalist.  A mind not cluttered with issues of reality or the detail of mere fact.  A mind that is allowed to run free hither and thither, gambolling across great swathes of fantasy unhindered by any notion of reality, …

Promoting Tottenham, Mourinho escapes jail, Chelsea face 2 years ban, Arsenal away problems.

By Tony Attwood With Arsenal sitting in sixth position, where they were at this moment last season, and with just the one loan signing in January, many of the pundits have given up on the club as a source for news or indeed a source of knocking copy.   Instead they are looking around for …

This year last year: how Arsenal have progressed under Mr Emery

By Tony Attwood One year ago after 25 games the league table in Mr Wenger’s final season had Arsenal 6th on 42 points.  We were eight points off fourth place and the much derided (at the time) challenge for a Champions League place. Team P W D L F A GD Pts 1 Manchester City …

The Arsenal Junior Teams – January Update Part 3 – The Women’s Development Squad

by Andrew Crawshaw Here is the current League table courtesy of fulltime-league.thefa.com POS P W D L GD PTS 1 Reading FC Women Academy 15 11 1 3 30 35 * 2 Liverpool FC Women Academy 11 9 1 1 31 28 3 Chelsea FC Women Academy 13 9 0 4 11 27 4 Arsenal …

Final score and Live match report Manchester City – Arsenal : 3-1

By Walter Broeckx A few changes to the team. Özil drops to the beach and Iwobi starts in his place. Also Xhaka has a slight groin problem and didn’t travel to Manchester. Arsenal starting with 3 central defenders and with 2 players in defensive midfield positions. Arsenal: Leno, Lichtsteiner, Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal, Kolasinac, Torreira, Guendouzi, …

Manchester City v Arsenal. Who blinks first and the teams.

By Bulldog Drummond.You don’t need me to tell you that Arsenal’s form of this year has been erratic following the hammering by Liverpool. Date Game Res Score 01 Jan 2019 Arsenal v Fulham W 4-1 05 Jan 2019 Blackpool v Arsenal FAC W 0-3 12 Jan 2019 West Ham United v Arsenal L 1-0 19 …

Matchweek 25 – All the games and officials

by Andrew Crawshaw Here, courtesy of premierleague.com are the full details of this weekend’s fixtures.  nb kickoff times 15:00 unless noted otherwise:- Saturday 2 February 12:30 Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle Referee: Andre Marriner Assistants: Simon Long, Sian Massey-Ellis Fourth official: Lee Probert Brighton v Watford Referee: Simon Hooper Assistants: Daniel Cook, Darren Eaton Fourth official: Roger East Burnley v Southampton Referee: Anthony Taylor …

The Junior Teams January Review – Part 2; the U23s

by Andrew Crawshaw This article continues from the under 18s update. After a strong start to the season, injuries, red cards and players being called up for first team duties had a massive impact on Freddie Ljungberg’s youngsters.  A win and two draws in October were followed by a dreadful November and December which saw …