While you’re watching the world cup, Qatar is watching you, then and always

Qatar World Cup 2022 – Qatar travel advice – GOV.UK IF ALL LIVES MATTER, IF SLAVERY IS UNACCEPTABLE, WHAT IS THE FA DOING ABOUT QATAR? “The mandatory COVID app for the Qatar World Cup is basically government-sponsored spyware.” That is a prime fact of going to Qatar and watching the world cup, or indeed using …

Why predicting football is about looking at trends, not individual games

What’s best in the PL: one top scorer or several high scorers? By Tony Attwood The Athletic in its Daily Football Briefing for 31 October 2022 is running a piece which begins, “One year ago yesterday, Tottenham Hotspur were beaten by Manchester United.” They then add that the defeat was “so humiliating that Daniel Levy …

What’s best in the PL: one top scorer or several high scorers?

Arsenal: the horror, the defeat, the win, the unbeaten, the future By Tony Attwood Top scorers are widely and hugely celebrated in English football, and never more so than in the case of Erling Haaland who has scored 17 league goals – an astonishing total.  Behind him in the charts at the moment comes Harry …

How the ref will treat Arsenal and Forest over fouls and cards and the team.

      by Bulldog Drummond Arsenal v Nottingham Forest and the choice of the Championship Arsenal v Nottingham Forest: Form, fouls, tackles and cards Such were the results of yesterday we really do need to start with an updated league table.  You’ll know of course that our four nearest rivals have now all played …

Arsenal v Nottingham Forest and the choice of the Championship

      Arsenal v Nottingham Forest: Form, fouls, tackles and cards By Bulldog Drummond This summer Arsenal brought in Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fábio Vieira, Matt Turner, and Marquinhos which, all things considered, makes a total of five players. Nottingham Forest on the other hand brought in 14 players for a fee, plus another …

Arsenal v Nottingham Forest: Form, fouls, tackles and cards

    How spending a fortune on transfers is not always a good idea. By Bulldog Drummond And so after eight consecutive wins we are now in a blip.  Five games in which Arsenal have only scored one goal or no goals at all.  Two games without a win.  And the games are coming thick …

From top to bottom: how we can tell the season end by the table after 11 games

    By Tony Attwood and a calculator Arsenal’s new tactics explored in detail and what it means for the season ahead “Just 19 points separate the team at the top (Arsenal) and bottom of the league (Nottingham Forest), the smallest gap at this stage of a season since the 2008-09 campaign.” So says the …

Arsenal: the horror, the defeat, the win, the unbeaten, the future

by Tony Attwood Media repeats untrue Arsenal story from 9 years ago, and its still untrue! As you may have heard Pablo Marí, who is currently on loan at Monza, is in hospital after being stabbed in a Milan supermarket.  Although he was not seriously hurt in the attack one person was killed and five …

The Europa League: two years ago, and tonight’s team

  PSV against Arsenal: the effect of PSV fans on the matches they attend By Bulldog Drummond Our last outing in the Europa League 2020-21 season included an opening run in the group stages in which we won all six matches which is a feat worth repeating…   Date Match Res Score Competition 22 Oct …

The astonishing difference between refereeing in Netherlands and England

      The 8 serious refereeing failings that are corrupting the Premier League By Bulldog Drummond The advent of our match with PSV Eindhoven from the Netherlands on their home ground has raised a question in relation to the tackles, fouls and yellow card tables that we normally publish before each league match. And …

PSV against Arsenal: the effect of PSV fans on the matches they attend

        Media repeats untrue Arsenal story from 9 years ago, and its still untrue! By Bulldog Drummond A look at the Uefa group A table shows a rather interesting point…   UEFA Europa League – Group A 2022/23 # Team Pl W D L F A GD Pts 1 Arsenal 4 4 …

How are Arsenal doing over the last 100 games and the signing of Danilo

      Attacks on referees increase; but who is to blame? By Tony Attwood If you have been a regular reader of Untold you’ll know that while many commentators are very selective in the matches they choose to draw conconclusions, especially as to how Arsenal are doing (such as when they concluded that Arteta …

Arsenal: 10 Reasons to be cheerful (that others won’t tell you)

By Tony Attwood Well, ok maybe one or two other places will point these reasons out but given the mood of negativity swirling around the media at the moment, you’ll be lucky to find them all in one place.  So prepare to smile with 10 reasons to be cheerful Reason to be cheerful 1:   We’re …

Media repeats untrue Arsenal story from 9 years ago, and its still untrue!

      By Tony Attwood Attacks on referees increase; but who is to blame? Arsenal’s big problem is a lack of players – allegedly.   We are going to face total burnout soon because we have such a small squad, we are told.  Typical among these reports is Arsenal have growing problem they may need …

Attacks on referees increase; but who is to blame?

  Experts warn of risks to referees amid epidemic of abuse So proclaims the Guardian in a piece that reports on “Calls for tougher sanctions against those who abuse or attack match officials as the number of incidents continues to rise.” And some of the reporting is appalling and shocking, with players assaulting referees because …

World Cup Finals? Qatar can’t give them away: and here’s why

  Why are Fifa, Uefa, the FA and other bodies that run football not held to account? by Tony Attwood The Supreme Committee of the World Cup is clearly getting a bit worried about the number of fans that the TV cameras might show watching, or perhaps that should be not watching, the matches in …

Arsenal stars who could win the 2022 World Cup

  2022-23 has begun in spectacular fashion for Arsenal, who are now considered to be genuine contenders to win the Premier League title. But come the end of November, the domestic football calendar will come to an abrupt stop, as all eyes turn to the international game, once the 2022 FIFA World Cup begins in …

“Southampton dent Arsenal’s title credentials”

    By Tony Attwood How Sunday’s referee, Mr Jones, almost always rules in favour of the home team That headline comes from the Telegraph today, and the suggestion is that nine wins, one draw and one defeat in the first 29% of the season means that Arsenal are not good enough. We all recall …

How today’s referee, Mr Jones, constantly rules in favour of the home team

By Tony Attwood The Saints can put in 56% more tackles than Arsenal before getting a card The Southampton v Arsenal game was interesting from the point of view that we have been exploring that some referees are very much home team refs, while others are much more balanced in their approach. This table below …

Southampton v Arsenal: the Arsenal team and final score predictions

  Matchweek 13 Referee appointments: why do Liverpool keep getting the same refs? By Bulldog Drummond In the 104 Arsenal v Southampton games across the centuries Arsenal have won 53, Southampton 23 and 28 have been drawn.   Which means we have won just over half – and naturally we hope to keep that fraction rising …

The Saints can put in 56% more tackles than Arsenal before getting a card

      Arsenal play Southampton as League attack Arsenal with discipline charge and brawls become commonplace By Bulldog Drummond The Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhüttl joined the club in 2018/19 taking over from Mark Hughes of whom it has often been said.  In his three full seasons since then, the club has come 11th, 15th …

Arsenal play Southampton as League attack Arsenal with discipline charge and brawls become commonplace

The scandal of the lack of medical records in football. An Untold exclusive By Bulldog Drummond Arsenal have been charged by the FA “with a breach of FA Rule E20.1 following their Premier League fixture against Leeds United FC on Sunday 16 October 2022. And of course this being Arsenal, the media tell us not …

2022/23 WSL Matchweek 5 Previews

        Arsenal Women – Champions League last 16 draw – We get the toughest opponents by Andrew Crawshaw For most teams this will be their fourth game in the WSL, there are deferred games to be fitted in to the schedule later in the season. How did I do with my predictions …

Matchweek 13 Referee appointments: why do Liverpool keep getting the same refs?

      How some escape yellow cards but others are penalised for tackles by Andrew Crawshaw Who is on duty this coming weekend Matchweek 13 – Saturday/Sunday/Monday Match Referee Assistant Referees 4th Official VAR referee Assistant VAR Referee Saturday 12:30 Notts Forest v Liverpool Paul Tierney Constantine Hatzidakis Timothy Wood Graham Scott Mike Dean …

Javier Tebas threatens to suspend La Liga next weekend as Super League gets closer

      The scandal of the lack of medical records in football. An Untold exclusive By Tony Attwood Javier Tebas the president of La Liga is back in the news. He is reportedly threatening to suspend Spain’s first and second divisions if the Spanish government does not take steps to ban the Super League. …