Morning.
Arsenal news is pretty thin on the ground as you’d expect, but if you’re looking for something to worry about later, here’s who’s in action today. Jurrien Timber could play for the Netherlands away to Malta in a World Cup qualifier, while our England contingent (Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze and Myles Lewis-Skelly), could feature in England’s friendly with Wales.
Christian Norgaard, a player who could definitely use some minutes after playing very little club football so far this season, will hopefully be part of the Denmark team that is in Belarus for a World Cup qualifier, and as far as I can tell that’s it for today’s games. Fingers crossed for all of them to come through unscathed and happy with their lot.
What about this for a stat as a discussion point for today? From the official site:
Defensively, we have been superb, with just three goals finding their way into our net so far, which is the least we’ve conceded 10 games into a season in all competitions in our 138-year history.
We had a question on the Arsecast Extra this week about the possibility of Arsenal beating Chelsea’s record, which was 15 in 2004-05. That was when their spending was the beginning of the end of any financial common sense in the Premier League, and when Jose Mourinho’s evil and talent was at its peak. Arsenal finished second that season with 83 points, scoring 87 goals – 15 more than Chelsea, but 36 conceded to their 15 was the difference.
I think more often than not it’s goals that win you titles, but on this occasion it was sheer defensive parsimony. Obviously, every bit of Chelsea’s success comes with a massive Roman Abramovich shaped asterisk, and I think that all-time low goals against tally is one which will probably never be beaten. There’s just too much attacking talent in the Premier League, married with a generation of brilliant coaches and managers whose tactical understanding and awareness means even so-called ‘mid-table’ clubs can cause you all kinds of problems.
This season though, I suspect it’s going to be a case that a solid defensive/attacking combo will be required to finish on top. Last season it was goals that won it for Liverpool, scoring 86 to our 69 meant they could concede 7 more than us across the 38 games to finish top. I’d love for us to be as prolific in front of goal as we were in the 2023-24 season, scoring 91 goals (more than The Invincibles did in that incredible campaign), but if our defensive solidity continues we might not need to be.
Obviously the best combination is lots of goals scored and few conceded, and despite what some people might think, that is what Mikel Arteta wants. So far this season only Man City have scored more, and when you look at the respective fixtures, that’s not too shabby. Arsenal invested heavily in the attack this summer to ensure we have the firepower, but also bolstered the defensive ranks with players like Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie, who we should see back in action after the Interlull. Add those guys to the incumbents, some of whom are literally among the best in the world in their positions, and all the ingredients are there.
I think I’m right in saying Arsenal’s lowest ever goals against tally in a modern top-flight season is the 18 when we won the first division in 1990-91. A team that lost just once that season under George Graham, and that defeat came away to Chelsea. If we come close to matching or beating that, I think I’d pretty confidently say we’re going to be there or thereabouts when it comes to the title. 31 more games, 31 clean sheets? Let’s do it.
Update: Thanks to Orbinho for the correction – “Hey, related to today’s blog, we only conceded 17 goals in the 1998-99 Premier League and that’s our lowest tally. Hope that helps.”
It does, thanks!
Finally for today, touching on the potential stadium expansion stuff again, Andrew Allen looked at how it might happen, and also how what’s going on at Benfica might give us some insight into the way things might develop. Really interesting stuff over on Arseblog News.
Right, I’ll leave it there for now. We’ll have an Arsecast for you a little later on, that should be out before lunchtime, so until then, have a good one!
