Arteta is right and Arsenal have been unlucky by Sam P
Both Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal captain Mikel Arteta have claimed that Arsenal have deserved a lot more than we have got for our efforts this season, highlighted by the way we dominated Manchester United more than we have in years and still got nothing, while they scored two goals before even having two shots on target.
So I thought I would have a quick look at the evidence and see if there was support for what Mikel Arteta said to Arsenal Player about the Gunners seeming to be punished for every little mistake and not getting rewarded for the things we have done well.
He said, “As the manager said a few weeks ago, we are doing 99 per cent of the things right and every time that we make a little mistake it seems to cost us a point or a defeat. It’s always something so we need to bounce back. We have another massive game against Dortmund on Wednesday – let’s go for it.”
And a quick look at the Premier League table will give you a hint that he is right, because Arsenal have a better goal difference than every team above us bar the top three. And when you see that our north London rivals Tottenham are on the same points as us with a negative goal difference and some truly awful performances, it just does not seem right. They got all the luck that we missed at the weekend, an offside goal given to draw them level at Hull and then a harsh sending off leaving them against 10 men for most of the second half. And they still needed luck to scrape a winner.
Arsenal should already be through to the Champions League knockout stage as well and have a chance to top the group, because Anderlecht’s goal was clearly offside. Just as Jack Wilshere should have earned a penalty which would have given us the lead against United, just two examples of how small but key things have gone against us.
Stats do not tell the whole story, I know, but Arsenal have dominated almost every game this season with possession and chances but have not got the rewards. Nowhere is this more clear than on the Squawka.com website which compiles all sorts of stats from attacking, defending and possession and gives a Premier League table based on the total. In that table the Gunners are second behind Chelsea, with Southampton, Man City and then United behind us.
So it is clear that Arsenal are doing a lot of things right, I just hope that we can start to get the results that we deserve before the team’s confidence falls off a cliff.