I know most of you readers on JustArsenal will think I am crazy, but if you actually stand back and look at the facts you will find that Arsenal are NOT having a worse season than last year. In fact we are much better off considering we have also made it to the FA Cup Final, after losing in the Quarter-Finals last season.
Why do I say this? Okay well here is the Top Five in the Premiership at this point last season.
Position Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Leicester…… 33 21 9 3 57 31 +26 72
2 Tottenham…… 33 18 11 4 60 25 +35 65
3 Arsenal…….. 32 17 8 7 55 33 +22 59
4 Manchester City 32 17 6 9 58 33 +25 57
5 Manchester Utd 32 15 8 9 39 30 +9 53
Now here is this season’s Top Six (to accomodate Arsenal)
Position Team PL W D L GF GA GD PTS
1 Chelsea…….. 33 25 3 5 69 29 +40 78
2 Tottenham…… 33 22 8 3 69 22 +47 74
3 Liverpool…… 34 19 9 6 70 42 +28 66
4 Manchester City 33 19 8 6 63 35 +28 65
5 Manchester Utd 33 17 13 3 50 24 +26 64
6 Arsenal……. 32 18 6 8 64 40 +24 60
As you can see, currently we are one point better off than the last campaign, and we also have a better Goal Difference than at this stage.
Last year we were 6 points behind Tottenham, but still caught them. The problem now is that Spurs are 9 points better off than last year, in fact they would have been top if they had gained that amount of points, but of course they bottled it at this stage, which is what we want to see again, starting on Sunday!
The problem is not that Arsenal have got worse, it is that every single team above us has got exponentially better, which is what we expected with the arrival of all these top-class managers in the last couple of years…
So look at the facts, and stop picking on Wenger. We are actually improving!
Sam P