Arsenal win, statistics look promising and it looks like a league of two teams
By Tony Attwood
Yes as you may have heard, the two top clubs in the Premier League are on 21 points except that we, (even if no one else is), are putting (when I remember) an asterisk next to the ManC point total to remind us that it is subject to resolution of the multiple breaches of the rules dispute. ManC says they are not guilty, the rest of the universe says they are – which shows a certain amount of imbalance it seems to me. But I am sure they will work it out one day.
Meanwhile here’s the table
|||||||||||
|Team|P|W|D|L|F|A|GD|Pts|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|1|Manchester City|8|7|0|1|20|9|11|21*|
|2|Arsenal|8|7|0|1|13|5|8|21|
|3|Brighton and Hove Albion|8|5|1|2|23|7|16|16|
|4|Liverpool|8|4|3|1|11|8|3|15|
|5|Chelsea|8|4|1|3|17|15|2|13|
|6|Brentford|8|2|5|1|14|9|5|11|
*Subject to legal rulings following constant breaches of the financial rules
So we are three goals behind on the goals difference chart. And in case you are interested, here is how it looked after the same number of games last season… As you can see we are doing better than a year ago, although the Mancs are doing a lot better having had a dodgier start a year back.
|||||||||||
|Team|P|W|D|L|F|A|GD|Pts|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|1|Arsenal|8|6|1|1|15|3|12|19|
|2|Manchester City|8|5|1|2|17|6|11|16|
|3|AFC Bournemouth|8|4|3|1|14|11|3|15|
And so we come to what I believe is the first ever Fleetwood v Arsenal game and so our first game at Highbury Stadium (as opposed of course to “Highbury”) for the fourth round of the Carabao Cup. It is at 8pm on Tuesday (in case you didn’t know), and In the UK it is on the Arsenal App as a radio commentary and on Sky Sports Main Event on TV. My apologies – as ever I am not up to date with broadcasting beyond the UK – but if you know, please do write in.
The ground at which the game is to be played is called Highbury not in deference to the club whose colours they took but because the ground runs alongside Highbury Avenue .
Fleetwood Town are in the fourth tier of English football, and are currently 18th in the league having won 13, drawn 3 and lost five . They currently sit on a goal difference of minus 2. Meanwhile, this is the round of 32 match for the league cup.
The club is known as the Cods. Or the Fishermen. And it goes back over 100 years. The ground has a capacity 5,327 of whom 2,672 may be seated if they so choose.
This is one of the more recent clus to come into the League – perhaps the msot recent (I don’t actually make a note of each one) having been set up in 1997, although the original club was set up right at the start of the last century.
And you will note that not only do they play at Highbury but they also have shirts that are red and the sleeves are white this of course may remind you of something. However they have not shared in our success for according to the potted histories I have read, the club has folded at least three times (but there may have been more – I might have missed something).
But this club seems to be Fleetwood Wanderers who became Fleetwood Town in 2002. Their owne was apparently jailed for fraud in 2023 according to Wikipedia (so Mr Pilley please sue them not me, if that allegation is not true). But they won the North West Counties Premier in 2005, were promoted from the Northern Premier League 1st Division in 2006, won the Northern Premier League Premier in 2008 and and the Conference in 2012.
Then just to add to that they beat Burton in the League 2 play off but went back down in 2024. Still six promotions in ten years is quite a record and the current league cup run is described by Wiki as a “record breaking” run.
If you are going you’ll need to know that Highbury Stadium is in Park Avenue, Fleetwood, FY7 6TX. When I looked yesterday on the internet quite a few people were offering tickets but the prices were ludicrously high, and of course there is no guarantee that they are your actual genuine entry tickets, so I wouldn’t recommend anything touted there (or come to that anywhere else).
It is also said (although I could have been wound up at this point) that one part of the ground is or was known as the Scratching Shed and was a reminder that they used to have speedway at the ground (although I am not sure why).
Anyway I have found a picture of the stand behind one of the goals which appears on the internet without reference to the copyright owner so I am unable to acknowledge the copyright..
The ground has had some improvements over the year including a new terrace which was opened in 2007, so although small the facilities should enable reasonable watching on the match from wherever your ticket happens to be. And it is interesting to note that the building of the stand cost almost a quarter of a million pounds, which explains why some clubs are so reluctant to do any upgrading on their stadium. They simply can’t afford the cost.
And of course there are oddities left over as for example the fact that apparently the south side of the ground only runs about two-thirds the width of the pitch. I guess they ran out of concrete. Or money.
There has been much talk of upgrades to the ground although I am not sure that they have all been undertaken although I know that the Percy Ronson Stand was opened in 2007 at a cost of half a million pounds, and I remember there was a bit of controversy over it. It was said to be able to hold over 1200 people but the council on seeing it limited the capacity to half that number – which is something I have never heard of before. But I do know they did get the floodlights in the end, so that the game can go ahead tomorrow night. The capacity I believe is about 5300.
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