Arsenal beat West Ham United 3-0 today extending their win streak at home to eight matches. It is the first time Arsenal have won 8 straight League matches at the Emirates stadium and the first time Arsenal have won 8 straight home League matches since 2005.
First, some context:
29 – Arsenal have played 29 League matches this season which can be broken into this 8 game home win streak and 21 other matches
28 – These 8 matches represent 28% of the season
57 – Arsenal have won 57 points this season
24 – Arsenal have won 24 points in this 8 game streak (3 points per game)
33 – Arsenal won just 33 points in the remaining 21 matches (1.57 ppg)
56 – Arsenal have scored 56 goals this season (1.9 goals per game)
22 – They have scored 22 goals in this 8 game streak (2.75 goals per game)
34 – Arsenal scored 34 goals in the other 21 matches (1.6 gpg)
39 – Those 22 goals are 39% of Arsenal’s total goals haul
30 – Arsenal have allowed 30 goals this season
3 – Arsenal have allowed 3 goals in this 8 game win streak (0.375 gpg)
27 – Arsenal allowed 27 goals in the other 21 matches (1.3 gpg)
10 – That’s 10% of Arsenal’s total goals haul
353 – Arsenal created 353 shots for teammates this season
104 – Arsenal created 104 shots for teammates in this 8 game streak (29% so, they aren’t creating more… but…)
39 – Arsenal have 39 Assists this season
18 – Arsenal have 18 assists in this streak (46%)
10 – Arsenal have scored 10 set play goals this season
5 – Arsenal have scored 5 set play goals during this streak (50%)
Most of the other team stats (clearances, tackles, etc.) are within normal range for this set of games. Arsenal are simply scoring more and keeping clean sheets (5 of their 10 this season).
Key Players in the Streak
13 – Alexis has scored 13 League goals for Arsenal this season
4 – of those goals were scored during the streak
11 – Giroud has scored 11 League goals this season
5 – of those goals were scored during the streak
7 – Cazorla has scored 7 goals this season
3 – of those goals were scored during the streak
63 – Sanchez leads Arsenal with 63 chances created
7 – and he has 7 Assists this season
4 – but he has 4 Assists in the streak
61 – Cazorla has created 61 chances this season
7 – and like Alexis he has 7 Assists
3 – and three Assists in the streak
36 – Ozil has been out injured for most of the season and has only created 36 chances (remember this is League play only)
5 – and he only has 5 League Assists
4 – but he has 4 Assists in the streak
5 – and he has only played in 5 of the 8 matches
West Ham Match Stats
After a rather strange first encounter between the two teams where Arsenal were forced to play Flamini and Coquelin in midfield and as a result conceded possession, Arsenal resumed normal service against West Ham today.
The Gunners hoarded 68% of the possession (591 passes of 862)
had 76% of the ball in the opposition final third (157 of 207)
took 73% of the shots (19 of the 26)
had 90% of the total shots on goal (9 of 10)
and scored 100% of the goals (3-0)
As I wrote in my match preview, West Ham are a bit of an odd team in defense. They concede possession and they also don’t really try to win the ball back, preferring to control space almost entirely rather than controlling the ball through defense or offense. They did this again against Arsenal, attempting 2 fewer tackles than Arsenal (Hammers were 18/30 and Arsenal were 17/32) and only getting 10 interceptions to Arsenal’s 26.
Arsenal did, however, have the Hammers under considerable pressure and that shows in the clearances stats: Arsenal only made 17 clearances and West Ham made 54.
Oh, and Arsenal’s penetration was deep. Deep in the box. In the box. Penetrating. They took all 19 of their throbbing shots in the box. They Hammered the West Ham box.
Ramsey was my Man of the Match
95 – Led all players with 95 touches
4 – Shots
2 – Shots on goal
1 – Goal, his first since Galatassaray on December 9th
64 – Led Arsenal with 64 passes
32 – Led Arsenal with 32 passes in the final third
5 – Created 5 shots for teammates
1 – Had an assist
4 – Won 4/5 tackles (tied with Coquelin and both of them behind Monreal’s 5/6)
And finally…
I made a comparison matrix between Özil, Fabregas, Alexis, Cazorla, and Hazard.
Here’s a preview:
I think the last stat is probably the most telling.
@7amkickoff
And its Arsenal,
Arsenal FC !!
We’re by far the greatest team the world has ever seen!
I think the best thing is we don’t concede from the first shot on target anymore.
haha, I remember those days. I think you mean we don’t dominate the whole half without scoring and then let the other team get one on their first attempt of the game.
I think Ospina has been a good part of that turnaround.
Here’s another comparison regarding our Coq…
http://goo.gl/eUPHKb
Who on Earth still thinks we need to buy a DM, we have arguably the best DM in the world playing for us right now. I’m overjoyed for him.
Because we had the TGSTEL.
We are looking very strong, looking forward to a title challenge next year if we keep the squad together, we must have a chance without the World Cup hampering our start of our season.
COYR!
But theres Copa America .. Alexis going there so no preseason with the team either.
This is not Chelsea of last year, or Man Utd the year before. We are not a one man team
Who was Chelsea’s man last season?
They were Hazard FC.
Oh, guess he was probably their best player but always thought he was a little over-rated until he actually started producing consistently this season, maybe I just didn’t give him enough credit due to him constantly looking like he needs a punch in the face.
But so too Caudrado, Willian, Oscar, and Ramires. Too bad Costa decided to play for and not Brazil. Love to see him getting kicked into the Andes.
True, however recent performances show that we can do well without him performing up to his best so I’m sure we could deal with him out of the squad for a few games.
Ramsey back on form is immense for us, especially with the Coq to back him up. And our strikeforce, which is immense.
Glad to see him back, looking forward to him scoring at Wembley again.
I think Ospina’s contribution is overlooked. He’s rarely been spectacular but his few mistakes have cost us hardly any goals at all.
I think back to Everton at home where he mopped up after Gabriel’s mistake. I don’t think I’m being too harsh on SZCZ given his portfolio, when I suggest that there is a very good chance we would have been down to 10 men had that happened and he been in goal.
I would love to see some comparative stats on the two.
In fact here is a comparison using the same site as 7am uses above…
http://tinyurl.com/og8h687
Pretty definitive if you ask me.
OSPINA > SZCZ in every regard.
While I agree Ospina has been the better ‘keeper so far, you would need to average Szczesny’s stats out over 9 games to see how hey line up or Ospina’s over 17.
How quick people forget. Golden glove winner and one of our most consistent performers last season and as soon as he goes through a bad patch he worse than Ospina “in every regard”. His performances haven’t been great and Ospina deserves his chance (although Szcz had a less defensively competent team in front of him) but can we not just make reactionary decisions like this?
would you go after Cech or Lloris to replace them? I’m sure they want to stay in London (Cech anyway).
Or continue to let Ozzy and Szcz battle it out and keep each other on their toes?
I can see Szcz becoming a distraction by next season if he has not claimed the #1 shirt back by then.
How can you say it’s being reactionary when its based solely in fact? I’m not saying ospina is the better keeper, only that he’s been the better keeper this season, by far.
Last seasons performances won’t win us any points this season. As well as SZCZ played he’s been poor this season and has rightly been usurped.
Just look at last season stat when Szcz won the glove. Ospina was still far more umpressive for ogc nice and had the highest save to shots ratio in Europe. He conceded less goals per game than Szcz despite having sh*t loads more to do, His nickname was “the wall” and I dont understand how Arsenal fans know so little about Ospina? Been fantastic for both club and country previous to Arsenal. I was thrilled when we signed him, a proper world class keeper, yet the reception on our forums and in the blog was rather cold and abit Meh,… Read more »
I like Ospina but boy do I get nervous on set pieces. He isn’t convincing at set pieces.
Last season was last season. Szcz seems to have gone to pieces and he makes me nervous every time he’s on the pitch, he isn’t very convincing at set pieces at the moment. Ospina is calmer, has better reflexes and his distribution is spot on most of the time. I like him a lot and I think he’s learning every game, so could end up being awesome!
Ospina’s biggest weakness is he has that continental keeper affinity for punching the ball, and he doesn’t always do it well. If you look at most of his errors they come from not holding onto the ball when he should have.
I’m not even bothered by the punching. The only thing that annoys me is his insistence to not throw the ball out early no matter what.
There was a point during the gave vs West Ham when Ospina took so long to release the ball after gathering it that Ramsey got rather annoyed.
Maybe someone can find a gif of it.
Key stat for the winning home is the return of the Coq which gave balance stability and insurance to the back 4 and all the players they know coq is there to keep them safe and play without handbrake.
Let’s finish the season as strongly as possible; who knows?
I mean, it is not long ago City was 11 or 12 points ahead; look what has happened in 8 weeks…never say never.
Our next 4 league matches, Newcastle and Burnley away, Liverpool and Chelsea at home will give us a clearer picture, 12 points and who knows..
Can’t agree more.
Here’s a gut-
feel prediction – if (and it’s a more than medium-sized if) – we beat the Scousers and Chelsk, we’ll definitely finish 3rd and possibly even 2nd.
6 points from Chelsea, if they lose against Soton tomorrow… with a game to play at home against them. Just saying.
They do have two games in hand…but we are much closer than even the most optimistic gunner would of thought possible….just saying 😉
If we started the season in the same form, we could have been gunning for the league.
If we started the season in the same form we’d be winning the league easily. If you win every game it is mathematically impossible not to win the league.
Saw a comparison between Giroud and Costa. Turns out they have the same goals/90 mins, and Giroud has a much better assist/90 min this season. Giroud has a better clearance rate. Who would have thought. Maybe Giroud is finally *gasp* world class.
https://twitter.com/geoffarsenal/status/576829954329042944
Last season, my colleagues scoffed when I said that Giroud was just as good as Rooney. This season, I say he is even better.
One thing Chelsea players have going for them is over confidence in the little ability they’ve got. That’s why they are so into all the theatrics. When it comes down to player by player comparison, methinks Arsenal players by far better. Our players need to, while not becoming arrogant, become real confident in themselves and what they can obviously bring to the table. We’ve got it, more than we need.
It’s difficult to judge Rooney on this season seeing that LVG has (pretty ridiculously) put him at CM and last season he was playing under Moyes. What can’t be underestimated is how much Giroud has improved this season, but he still needs a 20 goal season before we can really call him world class. He’s been as good as Costa really, with the added bonus of not being a cheating twat.
When next Wenger is giving the squad a team work talk, he should send Ozil to the next room where someone will teach him a little about selfishness
Thought the Hams would offer more today – Song looks to be above their level and he acquitted himself well today.
The matrix indicates just why Fabregas’ assist numbers have dried up. When they say going to Chelsea can “wreck” this or that player, there’s one of the clues right there.
I remember watching the Fabregas ‘dive’ on MOTD quite vividly and I’m pretty sure that’s the only time I’ve seen a Chelsea player receive an undeserved yellow card for diving.
fabregas is a cunt, and he has been for a while. Don’t defend the fucker
Don’t hate Fabregas. He dragged us into Champions League places time and time again at an incredibly young age and under an enormous amount of pressure. He showed more passion for the club than any other player I’ve seen, in terms of his single-minded desire to improve and win. Yes, he’s changed, but I don’t really begrudge him that. He built himself up to legendary status at Arsenal, and while his current actions are undeniably damaging that status he still has a long long way to go before his existence as a footballer can be considered to have had a… Read more »
They had the respect they deserved when they were here and we were cheering for them. Now they play for our rivals and get the respect that our rivals deserve. This is Arseblog, not Cescblog. The past is the past, no point dreaming and holding candles to players who forced their way out of the club for ‘bigger and better’. Any legend worth his salt STAYED to help the club become bigger and better, not leave the moment they were wanted elsewhere by a bigger club. Henry, Vieira and Bergkamp are legends, they stayed and turned us into one of… Read more »
I don’t ever remember seeing a Chelsea player get an undeserved yellow for diving, including Cesc.
of course, Alex song is above their level…..he is a renegade arsenal product remember?….and you dont get to play in the arsenal first team unless you are technically sound.
Lovely graphics. Fantastic job!
full disclosure: that comparison matrix is from Squawka
Great to see Ramsey going back to basics today and having a solid game! He plays so well with Özil in front of him and a player he can trust behind him (a la Le Coq and Arteta) that let’s him go forward. The game was fantastic but was so great to see a resurgent Ramsey!
Fabregas has a history of fading throughout the season. Doing very well in the first half or three quarters of the season then fizzles out or lose form according to an analysis I read. This happened for us, barca and now Chelsea.
This was also cited in Barca’s ‘farewell’ message to Fabregas.
Which was one of the cuntiest things ever to be put into print. Really showed what Barca is actually like when going gets tough. Classless.
I can’t believe Ramsey sometimes. It’s as if he has turned a switch on and brought back his last seasons form instantly. i think he played well today to warrant his selection for Monaco game.
I think Ramsey is now fully match fit. Having Ramsey back and playing well has also improved how Giroud is contributing. His link up play with Ramsey yesterday was really good and it also helps in his link up play with the other forwards.
I can’t help but feel Ozil is kind of awesome. I mean, I’m drunk, but fuck, I love him.
All three goals were too confusing for the West Ham defense, i think. Looking at the first two goals, i was like “How the hell?”. Monaco’s mean defense, away from home, improbable turnover, etc etc are there, but again, these are the games we suddenly step up for. 3-0 at half time against Milan, 2-0 at Munich? 3-0 against Monaco with what we’ve seen yesterday is anything but impossible. And how did Ramsey get back to last season’s form all of a sudden? With Ox’s injury, his sudden rise is the only thing we could have hoped for. Happened just… Read more »
We’ve secured 3rd place for this weekend and city dropped points. Could not give a rat’s tit what happens in today’s games.
I wish we had 11-16 more matches to properly show off!
Hold on a minute…:-)
COYG!
“Arsenal have won 8 straight home League matches since 2005” – Wrong.
I think you’ve forgotten Spurs game.
home league matches…duh. I thumb myself down 🙂
24 points out of 57 shows how inconsistent the first 21 games were
we lost the title in the start of the season drawing and losing some matches which we had to win, but lets face it the start of the season we were crippled by injuries which we saw moneral playing CB for 2 months giruoud out ozil out walcott out wilshere and ramsey arteta debuchy also out with players fatigued coming from the world cup which had to play, and we didn’t have coq at that time.
Agreed – but you have to ask WHY we didn’t have Coq? And why Jenks was also out on loan? And why Verm wasn’t replaced? And why Kozza was played till his Achilles went sproinggggg!
Also those horrid long-shot/first-shot-in-anger goals we kept conceding (often against the run of play) really hurt us… And – whilst we’re looking pretty awesome now, Mr Wenger remains accountable for those dark, defenceless days.
maybe we didn’t have coq because he didn’t show much in preseason knowing that we have so many midfield players, and when we recalled him he also knew that he will play and said to himself i will die know on the pitch and fight to keep my place which exactly did and in the process surprised everyone at the club and wenger, and we fans never believed that coq will make it and be regular player for us.
Nobody could have predicted Coquelin’s form, not even Coquelin himself. We had Arteta and Flamini and we were set with that. So that’s a moot point. Jenks was out on loan because we had Debuchy who got crocked and then got crocked again. We had Chambers and Bellerin (who is playing very well lest we forget) waiting in the wings for the position, Jenks had a very topsy turvy season and his loan has done him wonders. Can’t argue with that. Wenger is at fault for not sorting out a back up CB, he probably thought he could use Chambers… Read more »
Incisive statitical analysis, again, 7amkickoff ………thanks
This clearly debunks the myth from the tv pundits that fabregas is the best buy of the season in the premier league.
It also shoves it right back in the mouth of those Ozil hating pundits, that like to single him out for blame, any time we have a poor result….surprise surprise!….he actually outperforms their favourite, fabregas, in every category!
i have always believed in Ozil’s ability, ….and Cazorla’s….and Alexis’s……these set of performance stats just proved it!
Fabregas plays deeper than Ozil though, so it’s not comparing apples to apples.
And Chelsea are a more defensive team, but still it bears out what most people see on the pitch (everyone can see what Ozil does now, right), Cesc underperforming and Ozil ripping it up in his own particular way.
Cesc would have been the best buy of the season… for us. We could have exercised our 50% buy-back clause and THEN flogged him to Jose for a tidy profit to watch him fade as the season wore on (which he clearly did vs Saints today).
Now that would have indeed been satisfying, and profitable.
Another convincing win another happy set of fans.
I can’t wait for next season’s title challenge with this sort of form 😀 COYG!
Ozil’s ability has never been in doubt.
When things are going well he’s a joy to watch, it’s when we need players to dig deep he’s comes up short.
His performances are improving, he seems to be in the best form of his Arsenal career, but he can still do better.
That’s a tough thing to quantify though, as if he’s doing his job well when we need him to dig deep, it doesn’t look like we’re digging deep as we’re doing well. It’s why people have a billion reasons for things going wrong but never as many for why they went well.
Coquelin has to be included in key players in this run in my opinion
Szcz deservedly dropped, cost us too many goals and smoking in the dressing room is just taking the piss. In a team that has the potential to self destruct defensively, ospinas calmness and authority is very welcome. Szcz could do well to observe and learn to grow up a bit bcos he has the attributes to be better than ospina, he just needs the mentality to match. Very impressed with giroud recently, playing a level above what I thigh he was capable of… hope he can be out match winner when we really need him. .. In Monaco… I’ve got… Read more »