63 – Arsenal are first in the Premier League, averaging 63% of possession (Man U is #2 with 62%, Tottnumb are third with 60%)
72 – Arsenal had 72% of the possession today against Villa
812 – Arsenal attempted a season high 812 passes today against Villa
401 – Number of Arsenal’s passes which were forward
231 – Number which were backward
180 – Number square
13.42 – Square root of 180
306 – Villa attempted just 306 passes
1118 – There were a total of 1118 attempted passes in the Aston Villa v. Arsenal game
72 – Arsenal attempted 72% of the passes¹
109 – Per Mertesacker attempted 109 of Arsenal’s 812 passes
13 – Mertesacker attempted 13% of Arsenal’s passes
1 – Mertesacker completed all but one of his 109 passes, it was a long attempt, forward
104 – Koscielny attempted 104 of Arsenal’s 812 passes
26 – Mertesacker and Koscielny attempted 26% of Arsenal’s passes
7 – Koz only misplaced 7 passes, all were forward, 5 were long balls
93 – Arteta attempted 93 of Arsenal’s passes
38 – Koz, Arteta, and Mertesacker attempted nearly 40% (306) of Arsenal’s 812 passes
10 – They only combined for 10 “bad” passes, all of which were forward, and 8 of which were long bombs
97 – They were 97% accurate with their passes going 296/306
1 – Koz even had a nifty little dribble in the Arsenal 18 yard box, which didn’t get counted by Opta
6 – Villa attempted just 6 shots, none in the final 35 minutes
1 – Szczesny made one good save, though they had two shots on goal
9 – Arsenal attempted just 9 shots, none in the final 35 minutes
16 – Going into the game Arsenal were 2nd in the League is shots per game
10 – Arsenal’s pressing directly dispossessed Aston Villa 10 times, while they dispossessed Arsenal only 5 times
23 – Villa attempted 23 tackles, winning 15 but…
20 – Arsenal attempted 20 tackles, winning 14 but…
5 – Of Villa’s tackles were in the Arsenal half, and they won 4 and…
6 – Of Arsenal’s tackles were in their half and we won 4 just like them
22 – Arsenal made TWICE as many interceptions as Villa
11 – Villa only made 11 interceptions, despite Arsenal attempting 800+ passes, but Villa only averaged 12 interceptions a game, which again proves that possession stats and tackles or interceptions do not correlate. Some teams, like Villa and West Ham, abdicate possession and also do not attempt to tackle or flood the passing lanes
2 – Villa also only won 2/10 aerial duels, neither team, despite playing long, was very interested in an aerial game
19 – Arsenal attempted 19 dribbles and won 8
12 – Of Arsenal’s attempted dribbles were in the Villa final third and three were in the box, Arsenal won 7 and 2 respectively
3 – There were three Arsenal players who created two chances for teammates; Welbeck, Özil, and Ramsey
2 – There were two caviar passes, Welbeck to Özil for the first goal and Özil back to Welbeck for the second — in fact, Welbeck was man of the match, taking 4 shots for himself, scoring a goal, making an assist, completing 31/32 passes (THIRTY ONE OF THIRTY TWO), creating two chances, completing at least two dribbles (that’s what he was credited with), he also made two tackles (of three), and had a headed clearance. Not bad for £16m!
1 – What was Gibbs doing not following Ciaran Clark for that header off that set play where Szczesny saved? EH? I know this is not a number but seriously that about drive me crazy.
2 – There are only two undefeated teams in the League
6 – Both have only allowed six goals
6 – Villa players infected with what sounds like Norovirus
100 – Percent chance that if Andreas Weimann had the virus, he was removed at half time, transmitted the virus to Arsenal. Let’s hope not or that would mean this match could be a poison chalice, a Pyrrhic victory, etc. ahead of the match against Tottenham. We will know in two days. About the time when people will blame the Arsenal medical staff for “allowing the virus to be transmitted”.
Apps: FourFourTwo Stats Zone, WhoScored.com
Stats: Opta and my personal database
Picture: 7amkickoff
¹”Possession” according to some stats outlets like Opta is almost entirely a measure of passes. Most of the time, unless it’s a UEFA match or a FIFA match, when you hear a possession stat you are really hearing “team x made y percentage of the overall passes”.
Infinity – number of doubters silenced for
Ozil and Welbeck.
You’ve summed it up quite perfectly there. It’s early days but given today’s performance Welbeck doesn’t look bad for 16 million, not bad at all! 31/32 passes is very impressive.
“13.42 – Square root of 180”, what did we need to know that for?
It was to distribute the square passes to left and to right 😉
we need it to identify the root cause of success 😛
You must be new here
and then god made those who just dint get it…..
“13.42 – Square root of 180”, what did we need to know that for, Mr. Tim?
For science…duh.
Don’t you understand humour?
Don’t you understand stupidity?
0 – Number of injuries suffered today.
We’ve broken our streak of 1 per game!
Knowing our luck, we’ll get two the next game and we’ll still average one per game 😀
Don’t worry, there’s always training grounds injuries lurking.
198 – number of seconds in which we scored 3 goals.
COYG!
1. Clean sheet since the beginning of the season.
0. The number of world class no. 10s in the world on the same level as Mesut Ozil
I was actually expecting some Mesut related numbers, you know since he was ridiculed so much over the last week or two and he seemed to enjoy himself today. I don’t remember him misplacing a pass all game.
Tim what’s the mathematical equation for playing with so many no10’s?
Chance of winning is proportional to 10 to the power of n, where n is the number of no10s.
However we need to remember the chance of winning is reduced by 10 to the power of (9-d), where d is the number of defenders in the squad less the number injured.
I’m still working on what the value of the constant is that is needed to get this perfect.
Much more like it from Mesut. Good to see the lad showing some emotion too for his goal and assist.
I don’t know about you, but if I see more of this kind of football, I will be so satisfied that I will not even need the basic things required for survival, like rum or fornication.
Seriously…?? I know it was great to watch, but you could honestly go without rum…?
I guess there’s always gin…
Ozil haters can shut up.for at least 7 days …….Class is permanent !
Geolgao,
Rum and fornication only increase the satisfaction you will feel.
1 – dirty ex-spud taken out by Jack.
Tokx Shaw September 21, 2014 Ozil haters can shut up.for at least 7 days …….Class is permanent ! If it was Permanent he would have been performing at a higher level on a more consistent basis surely? He’s got talent, but has no versatility and he’s not the type of player you want in your team when you need to dig in. He had 2-3 decent games in the whole of 2014 for Arsenal. He’s got a lot to prove, I’d love for him to bag 20+assists and 15+goals this season and turn up in some big games. But from… Read more »
2 or 3 three decent games in 2014? You must only watch occasionally (that’s fine btw) 😉 but leave the arm chair punditry to the assholes
before yesterday he had 1 assist in 18 games, I think the poster is right on characterizing Ozil’s game.
One game does not a renaissance make, like Rich, I hope Ozil does improve, unlike the rest of you lot I am not going to start gloating after 1 game.
That’s rich, coming from you.
just shut up rich
1 – The number of times Ozil has been deployed in his desired position this season… what a player we have on our hands.
The difference between Welbeck’s and Balotelli’s contribution to a team, really showed today. Although it’s still early, I’m happy we avoided a potential dud.
Ha ha I live overseas and watching the Sports Max debate after the game, two pundits went head to head, one was praising Danny Welbeck and the other would choose Balotelli claiming he was “world class”.
Can someone teach me what constitutes as a drible? Clearly welbeck had more successful dribles… However I cannot find this on Google. Any help welcomed. Coyg
Taking on an opposition player with the ball and getting past him
We’re Wel-beck to our best
A bit off subject here Arseblog. But the Arseblog app is not working for me, well the news section will not load, is this a problem with my phone or whats up?
Villa played as if they were defending a 3-0 lead in the second half.
Still not a fan of the term “caviar pass.” Can we try to think of something else?
dat pass?
Sturgeon like accuracy.
Agree, sounds like something they say in the executive box while eating a prawn sandwich.
“Ohhh what a caviar pass! Let’s celebrate, where’s my Dom Perignon?”
Great pass
Always wondered about how they calculated the possession thing, thought it was some guys with stopwatches clicking continue everytime a team have a ball. Now I’m clear, after all this years! Thanks blogs!
Yes! thank you blogs for signing 7am to the Arseblog team.
2 .the number of defeat by Brenda ” the suppose to be new Shankly “Rodgers mighty liverpool
how does he feel to try winning without suarez.
3
so happy to see one of our top 4 rivals faltering, I celebrate rivals dropping points almost as much as Arsenal winning points.
Interesting to see we’re 2nd for shots at goal in th league. Another fact completely ignored by the Danny Mills of this world who claim we’re obsessed with scoring the “perfect goal”.
3…..
Sorry I’m late.
I just figured out I run to Arseblog when we lose looking for consolation, When we win I come 12 hours later after I’m done summersaultting and now bored.
Spurs next and here I am shitting myself that half the team will be not 100% because of this norovirus.
Can’t believe yesterday’s victory has been overshadowed by this for me.
Shit. Bollocks. Fuck.
Caviar pass – not a fan either (btw your stats are unrivalled nonetheless, much appreciated.
Can we change the term caviar pass to:
Arse-splitting pass
… please?
Alex is the “Ox”…………. Gibbs IMHO is the…… “Bolox”!!! COYG
You don’t rate Gibbs then?????????
Hint: That did not read like a compliment to Gibbs.
Can we go unbeaten plssssssssssss? Its a decade now, we could afford 7 more draws like Chelsea, Man City, a draw against Man U(4) and any other 3 unforseen draws just like we did against Everton and Leicester City already. Upgrading the unbeaten to 28 wins and 10 draws from the 2004 26 wins and 12 draws. 94 points certainly is a very good shot for the title. Hmmmmm, too early? If we do the Spuds and dont lose to Chelsea, that feeling will only wax stronger. Bring in Ospina, Joel Campbell, Podolski, Sanogo, Rosicky and Coquelin, keep Arteta, Chambers,… Read more »
What?
Anyone with young kids will know the norovirus and it’s fuckin awful so let’s hope they are ok. Is this the new thing in football biological warfare! The sad thing is I wouldn’t be surprised if it was.
Weren’t villa in the slightest bit embarrassed about their second half performance?
“The bolox” means the best!
Loved Mesut’s run down the left wing to deliver that perfectly weighted ball for Welbeck’s goal. Perhaps we should think about starting Ozil there at some point?!! 🙂
Statistics. These are the numbers I’m happy with : Leicester 5- United 3 = United 5 points West Ham 3 – Liverpool 1 = Liverpool 6 points Spurs 0 – WBA 1 = Spurs are crap Everton 2- Palace 3 = Everton 5 points And of course thank you Frank Lampard. Pundiots Zero points Pratternberg Zero points (except for the penalty) Media pack gone all quiet now that their favorite team Liverpool and their favorite progressive manager Brendan Rodgers are the new spurs (or maybe its United). Their second favorite Roberto Martinez struggling yet again. And then : Mainz 2… Read more »
What a weekend!! Wow, thanks for pointing out that German team’s loss. Great to see the Danny’s numbers looking so impressive. In fact, seems like the whole team had improved quite a bit since the European game.
Lets kick on from here, the transfer window is closed so can we please forget about what could have been. It’s becoming a bit tiresome. No team will ever perform 100% to it’s full potential, so can we all please get over the signings we could have and should have made.
COYG!!!!
Metersecker is too slow. Arteta is not physical enough.
Better them than some of the players I’ve seen with the ‘title contenders’ this weekend.:)
really? looking at mangala, kompany and fernandinho bossing the free-scoring chelsea attack would suggest otherwise. Any one of those players would’ve made our case for premier league contenders. We’re lucky Lampard did one against his old boss Maureen else, we’d be looking at 9 point gap after we play them in 2 weeks time. Chelsea are running away with it and no 3 goal blitz against Villa will say otherwise.