One of the things I dislike most about the Christmas period is that there is far too much football compressed into too little time. It distorts the balance of the race for the title which otherwise has a pleasantly steady momentum. Would the world of athletics stand for it if Mo Farrah, 4,000 metres into a 10,000 metre race, was suddenly expected to negotiate a Takeshi’s Castle obstacle course with a big rubber mallet swinging across the track as he clambered over giant foam doughnuts? I doubt it. Yet we have a similarly ludicrous pile up of matches at a time when the weather and pitches are at their worst and just when everyone would benefit from a little rest.
However we can at least content ourselves that it is only at Christmas, can’t we? Well you’d hope so, but here I am attempting to bash out yet another blog only a couple of days after Andy’s match review of the Stoke match. We seem to be playing every few days even in the build up to the madness of the festive fixture feck up and I fear for the hamstrings and Achilles tendons of all our players as they get twanged like over tightened bow strings.
Tonight the opposition is provided by Everton who showed great early promise under Ronald Koeman this season. That bubble of positivity has burst like an unsightly pimple of late with only one win in their last six matches. Taken over the previous ten fixtures their results have sent them to second from bottom, above only Hull City at the grubby end of the form table. We in sharp contrast sit second only to Chelsea in the rarefied air at that table’s summit.
So a foregone conclusion then? If our resident statistical number cruncher is to be believed then the answer must be yes. After all Shotta pointed out yesterday “AFC is pounding those mid and lower level teams who they are expected to beat instead of dropping points as they did last year”. However, and as I keep pointing out, Positively Arsenal is a broad church and for every fan who hugs the comfort pillow of unbiased data to their heaving bosom there is a superstitious nitwit terrified that the wind might change at any moment.
I fall somewhere between the two stools. Yes the scorelines make satisfactory reading and yes there have been some scintillating moments of pure Arsène Wenger inspired footballing elegance. Success in sport hangs by such slender threads though and should one snap at just the wrong moment we might find ourselves in a much less cosy situation.
In a parallel universe Peter Crouch’s header beats Cech at his near post and the entire complexion of Saturday’s game changes. The ultimate scoreline may look convincing but each match has moments of unpredictability upon which the equilibrium of the apple cart must rest.
I am of course falling into a trap here. One which I decry others for not anticipating and I therefore hold up my hands. I’ve read, for example, that had Cavani not missed the target with such aplomb Paris Saint-Germain would have beaten us comfortably. Our Champion’s League group stage success was, therefore, no more than chimerical and misleading manifestation of good fortune. In short do not read too much into good results as they are structures built on shifting sands.
This is, I’m sorry to say, baloney. The problem with such counterfactual thinking is that we cherry pick the moments we want to change in order to suit or predetermined narrative.
So Peter Crouch scores and it’s 2 – 2. Does that automatically mean the game ends in a draw? Or do we go chasing the winner leave ourselves open at the back and concede to a counter attack? Why only change the story so that particular near miss goes in? Why not bend Alexis’s shot slightly to the right so he scores instead of missing? Why not have their keeper slip and not save one of Theo’s many efforts? I do not hold with any of this ‘a better team would have punished us’ nonsense. Alter one variable and you had just as well alter them all.
History tells us unbeaten runs like winning and losing streaks come to an end. All that matters to us is how the team responds when this happens. Since Southampton interrupted our unbeaten sequence we’ve won every game, scoring twelve goals and only conceding three. No one could ask any more of the players than that. If you cannot be delighted with such a response to disappointment and be filled with excitement at the prospect of more to come then football may not be for you.
One thing all fans do enjoy is a good statistic or two. Thanks to those diligent folk at Everton Results I have discovered that we are the Toffee’s least favourite opponents. No one has spanked them which such regularity in their entire history and in recent times they have only beaten us once in nineteen matches. The most worrying stat in an exhaustive list which must have taken some work to compile is that Everton have never lost a home game played on December 13th.
All right so maybe that doesn’t prove much but I do have a genuine word of caution to the Gung-ho reader. While Everton’s recent results make uncomfortable reading for them, closer examination reveals that it is away from Goodison where they struggle. They may have lost their last four games on the road but at home, excepting an EFL Cup defeat, they remain unbeaten all season.
So, in conclusion, having weighed up the cold, emotionless, Terminator style data and stirred in some curious and tenuous statistics, seasoned with a dash of counterfactual revisionism I conclude that I have no idea what’s going to happen tonight. The question the boys must answer is can they do it on a wet cold night on Merseyside? I don’t see why not, but I don’t expect it to be easy.
If you’re travelling all the way up there then good luck to you, I shall be watching surrounded by snotty tissues amid the steaming fug of Beecham’s Cold and Flu remedy all the time giving off gales of the great smell of Vic’s. So while the journey north may be arduous it will be infinitely preferable to sharing the couch with me.
Positively Arsenal 
Haha, Everton try to smash the ball away & whoever knows cket his team mate.
Hahaha – Goal 0-1.
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the freekick is taken by alexis and it deflects off williams and goes in 1-0 to the arsenal, no more than we deserve
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What a night for Ashley Williams – marvellous
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Kicked his team mate, sorry.
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the disappointment from the commentators at the scoring of our goal is laughable.
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arsenal passing the ball around even in the tightest of spaces, and even in and around our own area. Its as close to total football as I’ve seen in some time.
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oh no Koscielny looks to have hurt his back in a challenge with lukaku, hopefully he will run it off
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The little mouse showing a little spiwit
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Got my timings all wrong. Busting for a pee and still 13 minutes to go.
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ozil final ball missing so far tonight
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Not by much though Eddy. Such are the fine margins by which he plays.
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Twice their keeper has dummied Sanchez in that way. Better not try for a hattrick methinks.
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at a freekick monrael got the ball stuck under his feet and everton fire high over the bar
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Whoops. Lennon was close there. Possibly should have been closer.
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Coquelin once again absolutely brilliant wining the ball back using it quickly and accurately.
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seriously how does anyone actually think that Lukaku would be a good fit at Arsenal.
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Horrible challenge.
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yes steww I was about to comment about how nice it is we have the “limited” Coquelin.
by the way its 2 years ago today that he was recalled early form his loan at charlton.
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Didn’t want a clean sheet anyway
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poor defending, coleman allowed a free header six yards out to level the scores.
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Very good cross, very good header. Not a lot anyone could do about that.
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apart from track his run.
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clattenburg very quick to give everton freekicks
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HT: 1-1
we were by far the better team for most of the half, played some wonderful football, everton got back into the game after kos took that knock to his back, and got their goal late in the half.
hopefully we regroup and get back to dominating this game in the second half.
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JB™ @gunnerpunner 12s12 seconds ago
Koeman always sends his teams out to kick us. Always. And it’s always allowed.
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That will do nicely – bit of work to put in but we are at the controls here
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Kos was pushed away before Everton scored. Soon after Ox was with Jag, who threw himself at Ox, from behind, so Clatters gave Everton afoul.
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eduardo792
December 13, 2016 at 8:31 pm Edit
“apart from track his run.”
He wasn’t alone in the area, he took a great position and met the ball well. Not every goal we concede is our fault, credit the opposition occasionally.
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just a question on the freekick for our goal, should jags not have seen a red, a foul that stopped a goal scoring chance
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Ox a little quiet tonight as is Theo – le Coq and Granit formidably combative – Alexis fizzing – more flank work required
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he had a freeheader six yards from our goal, he was unmarked, both of our players on the six yard line were marking other players, one of our players should have been tracking his run, or monreal should have come in sooner from the left. Of course it was good play from an everton viewpoint, as it is for any team that scores, but from a defensive point of view it should not happen, and before you say it, I know that is the case for almost every goal.
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JB™ @gunnerpunner 14m14 minutes ago
This is all happening because the ref has allowed all the small, dirty fouls. No restrictions. Now they’re outright kicking us.
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No Eddy – Wrighty says it’s all Theo’s fault for failing to control his challenge on Baines – shocking incompetence on Walcott’s part
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it wasn’t great from walcott in the build up, and it looked like ox stopped tracking coleman and that was how he was free
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I think clattenburg is seeing things now, or was it just that we had a break on that had to be stopped
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OptaJoeVerified account@OptaJoe
887 – Jack Wilshere has played more Premier League minutes this season (887) than his previous two combined. Recovery.
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ozil really should have scored there
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Ffsmesut
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Imagine playing with Alexis constantly waving the entire team to press in the opponent’s penalty area. Then sighing elaborately when people sensibly keep to their positions.
You’d want to strangle him.
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I did in fact attempt to strangle a team mate years ago. Not my finest hour.
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Ozil had to score that.
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It took a bobble.
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Baines straight through on Steklinburg’s goolies as Galton and Simpson would say – marvellous
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its one rule for everton and another for arsenal with clattenburg
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I will give Everton 10 more minutes
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what sort of second cross was that from monreal, way too powerful
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that dirty cunt mirrales is coming on for everton
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Ah, Mirralis comb on. He who kicked our young Japanese right out ofmEngland.
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70 minutes. Giroud and Iwobi on for Theo and ox.
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alexis poor defensively there
everton fans in full voice again.
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