By Tony Attwood
Unfortunately, Untold Arsenal is down yet again, so here’s the article we were to have published there. When we can get onto the site we are working to overcome this problem – but rather obviously it is taking a very long time.
“Arsenal’s title hopes take another knock after goalless draw against Everton”
So says the Guardian, and yes it was a very disappointing game to watch. Indeed I think every Arsenal fan felt that way. The Everton fans were happy at the end, and it made me wonder what it must be like to take a game like that as a something of a triumph.
Of course, a lot depends on how the matches today go but for the moment the table shows us six points off the top but the top two have a game in hand. And less we get too despondent about life, Arsenal’s goal difference although not as good as Liverpool and Chelsea’s is not far off. Indeed just look at the difference that the two clubs below Arsenal have.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
| 1 | Liverpool | 15 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 31 | 13 | 18 | 36 |
| 2 | Chelsea | 15 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 35 | 18 | 17 | 31 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 16 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 29 | 15 | 14 | 30 |
| 4 | Nottingham Forest | 16 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 21 | 19 | 2 | 28 |
| 5 | Manchester City | 15 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 27 | 21 | 6 | 27 |
There will of course be calls for more and more and more transfers, but ultimately I am not sure that is the answer. The art of running a club is to be able to overcome moments like this with a simple twist of the line up, which gets everything up and running again, rather than endlessly spending money. The subs that Arteta brought on were surprising within the context of the game, but I wonder if there wasn’t a deeper issue in his mind.
But it was a great day supporting the memory and work of Kevin Campbell, and it was lovely to see the celebration and for Arsenal Independent Supporters Association to be so involved. There will be more on the www.aisa.org website in due course.
But the game, sadly, was pretty disastrous, but we are still unbeaten at home, and although we will bemoan yesterday’s result, it is away that the real development needs to continue, as the away table below shows.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
| 1 | Chelsea | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 23 | 10 | 13 | 19 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 17 |
| 3 | Nottingham Forest | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 12 | -1 | 14 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 12 |
Indeed as the Guardian says this morning, “For a long time on Saturday here the feeling was that Arsenal would score at some point. They had to. They had all the ball.”
Still we are off again with the league cup on Wednesday against Crystal Palace, and presumably a very different Arsenal lineup. We can only hope that will refresh the team, and give them some faith again in the fact that they can score goals, and indeed have been doing so. For with 29 goals so far we are the third highest scorers in the league. (Palace have scored under half the number of goals Arsenal have in the league, so surely that should bring some renewed optimism).
Only three teams have gone through the season so far having played seven or eight games at home, without losing one of them: Arsenal, Brentford and Brighton and Hove Albion. That surely shows a strength at Arsenal which the other clubs that are challenging for the title don’t have, and that surely is also something to build on.
Yesterday’s match won’t linger in the mind, and fortunately, I had a dance I could go to, in the evening, so quickly forgot about the misery of the afternoon. But let’s not have too many more affairs like this Arsenal. It really does play on everyone’s nerves, and I don’t like having one hobby being needed to make up for the failings of the other.
