By Tony Attwood
So Arsenal survived and overturned the [referee’s propensities.](https://untold-arsenal.com/archives/109904) Maybe our little piece on the referee showed him he’d been rumbled, or maybe he is a totally fair referee and each game is overseen completely fairly and properly. And maybe it just happened that until yesterday he hardly ever saw any home wins this season. Because PGMO don’t tell us anything, we can only draw our own conclusions.
The long and the short is that the league table is taking on a slightly more acceptable and somewhat more familiar look…
1
Liverpool
14
11
2
1
29
11
18
35
2
Chelsea
14
8
4
2
31
15
16
28
**3**
**Arsenal**
**14**
**8**
**4**
**2**
**28**
**14**
**14**
**28**
4
Manchester City
14
8
2
4
25
19
6
26
5
Brighton and Hove Albion
13
6
5
2
22
17
5
23
6
Nottingham Forest
14
6
4
4
16
16
0
22
7
Aston Villa
14
6
4
4
22
23
\-1
22
8
Tottenham Hotspur
13
6
2
5
28
14
14
20
Tonight it is Tottenham away to Brighton and Fulham against Bournemouth, all rescheduled of course at the behest of Amazon.
But as of this morning, Arsenal are the third-highest scorers and have the second-best defence in the league. Although as Tottenham Hots show, in having identical scoring records as Arsenal, there is also a need to win games as well. I’m surprised they haven’t realised that.
But here’s one little extra snippet from last night – obviously I don’t know if it was mentioned on TV as a) I don’t have Amazon Prime and b) I was at the match anyway, but Arsenal and Tottenham have identical goal-scoring records, although Tottenham have played one game fewer. A win for Brighton could really complete the week’s fun.
Although I should add, ManU were so inept in attack they didn’t even manage to get a single corner last night and had five attempts on goal to Arsenal’s 15. But anyway, now we get ready for Fulham away on Saturday. And this time just to confuse everyone it’s a 2pm kick off. At least I think it is.
And it is worth noting in passing that there is a difference between Arsenal at home and away which suggests we will see a different game again against Fulham. Data from [Whoscored…](https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/252/Tournaments/2/Seasons/10316/Stages/23400/TeamStatistics/England-Premier-League-2024-2025)
It is interesting to see that Fulham at home get 89% more shots per game than Arsenal away, and yet Arsenal have scored more goals away from home than Fulham at home. (Cue: “It’s a funny ol game”). We’ll take a further look at the figures before the match – as always. But one particular point to notice here is that although Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori were not fit to start the game yesterday, it seems that their injuries were minor and they should be ready for the Fulham game.
I should also add that the win takes Arsenal bounding up the last six games table, to third in that league extract. This yet again highlights the oddity of Arsenal’s fixture list this season, with a long stream of difficult games followed by a collection of easy games – or at least games with a much smaller amount of travelling involved.
Unfortunately, the two teams we are challenging in the league are also doing well – in fact even better – in the last six games.
Premier League Form (Last 6)
Pos
Team
P
W
D
L
F
A
GD
Pts
1
Chelsea
6
4
2
0
14
5
+9
14
2
Liverpool
6
4
2
0
14
8
+6
14
**3**
**Arsenal**
**6**
**3**
**2**
**1**
**13**
**6**
**+7**
**11**
But still, its a marathon not a sprint. (Actually I think that’s rather a good phrase. I wonder if anyone’s ever used it before.)
Anyway, here’s a final thought on ManU. They put in more tackles per game than any other club – 21.8 on average. That’s five more per game than Arsenal.
Quite clearly it is not an approach that is working, so I just wonder why they keep doing it. But then, it’s a funny ol’ game ain’t it? Maybe they just haven’t noticed.