Arsene Wenger says it’s miles too early to predict who will win the Premier League, however, he believes Arsenal’s performances in 2015 prove they are heading in the right direction.
The Gunners are currently two points behind league leaders Leicester with two fixtures left of 2015 and have racked up an impressive 78 points from a possible 108 since their New Year’s day defeat at Southampton.
Pleased with the improvement his squad have made the boss spoke positively about a title challenge heading into 2016.
“The only the thing I can say is 2015, if you look back and try to analyse it, we have been consistent,” he told his weekly press conference.
“We have had quite a positive year and stabilised our defensive record and improved our record against the strong teams in the Premier League so it looks like we are on the right train going the right way.
“We have been top of the league in previous years and I think football is pragmatic. Nobody can predict what can happen in the next 17 games for example, and you just want to go with the same attitude and spirit.
“The real pressure is not to go down,” he continued. “All the rest is positive pressure. I believe that football is down to performance. In the media it quickly becomes a bit intellectual. Who will win the title? Nobody knows. I’ve worked for a long time in the game and nobody can tell you who will win the title.
“It’s down to being pragmatic, putting the effort in to win your next game and worrying about your performance. That gives you a chance over a longer distance to maybe achieve your goals. At the moment, it’s miles too early to say who will win the Premier League. We’ve played 17 games – we’re not even at halfway.”
___
Arsenal’s 2015* in numbers
Premier League (14/15)
P 19
13 W
3 L
3 D
42 points
Premier League (15/16)
P 17
11 W
3 L
3 D
36 points
Premier League 2015 total
P 36
24 W
6 L
6 D
78 points from possible 108
__
FA Cup
P 6
6 W
__
Community Shield
P 1
1 W
__
League Cup
P 2
1 L
1 W
__
Champions League (2014/15)
P 2
1 W
1 L
Champions League (2015/16)
P 6
3 W
3 L
__
Total = 53 played (36 wins, 11 losses, 6 draws)
*two games remaining.
Seems the numbers on premier league 14/15 are wrong. It says played 19 but with 15 wins 3 draws and 3 losses and that would mean we should have played 21
Something wrong with the maths here; in 14/15 we either played 21 (which would be W15, D3, L3) not 19 (or the WDL numbers are wrong); and that we played 38 not 36 over the calendar year.
I am a genuinely awful at adding up. I made a mistake.
I have corrected it.
I feel ashamed.
On the plus side (geddit?) you were right on the Community Shield figures! 😉
Don’t be so hard on yourself, Maths can be difficult..
So no chance of you doing a By the numbers piece anytime soon?
Your grammar’s bad, too.
But your articles are a great read!
Blimey…Merry Christmas to you too.
😉
My sentiment from the other night.
Merry Xmas Arseblog and let’s all hope we have a fucking, ruddy good new year!!
You try writing a blog with 365 boilk mornings.
Thanks Arsenal and Arsene! It’s looking good!
Hate to be that guy, but Unless my hungover maths is shambolic, the numbers dont add up for 14/15 season – 3+3+15=21 not 19 no?
See above.
Missed the game against spurs we won in the league cup!
Sorry to be pedantic but we beat Sp*rs in the League Cup this year. Got to be worth a mention right?
Let’s go again in 2016 and finally end our title drought!
You have a typo there: Premier League (14/15) is 42 points.
The math is wrong for 14/15 PL.
15 + 3 + 3 = 21 but total played is 19.
Its 1 draw. Total points for the entire year becomes 82.
My favourite stat:
FA Cup
P 6
6 W
I imagine it’ll be much the same stat for 2016 as well.
“Wenger pleased with positive 2015 (inc. slightly blx’d stats)”
🙂
for perspective, in 2015 we’ve played 2 games less than an entire season, if we win the next two games our point total for the equivalent of a PL season would be 84 last 5 Pl seasons 10/11 68pts 11/12 70pts 12/13 73pts 13/14 79pts 14/15 75pts Looking better, but just barely is 84pts enough to win the title? 10/11 ManU 80pts 11/12 City 89pts 12/13 ManU 89pts 13/14 City 86pts 14/15 Chelsea 87pts Not usually enough, but getting closer?! Nevermind that Arsenal usually play better over calendar years rather than over a season. I think Arsenal are improving and… Read more »
Actually, 84 points is usually enough to win the title, as most of those winners had a significant margin by the end of the season.
Or to put it another way: over the past 10 seasons, 13 teams reached 84 or more points, and 9 of those won the title. So based on the past 10 seasons, getting 84 points gives a 9/13 chance of a title win.
We have Cech now…how many points/season did Terry say he would save for Arsenal? ;->
69?
Oh please let’s not get pedantic about facts and figures here. What is of prime importance is that we go into the Christmas period feeling positive. Lets see how it all finishes and end up January by soundly trouncing the chavs. Ta ever so Arseblog by the way for the great articles and live blogs all year and for allowing us the privilege of reading the Gentleman’s missives without which my week would be sadder. I do have one moan though. Mrs Blogs actually did a better job of the live blog so can you please ask her to do… Read more »
Love it when Mrs Blogs’ does the live blog.
R.I.P. Don howe. One of our greatest servents.
“Pointless” permutation at the moment. Massive point would be the consistency issue but plenty of room for improvement still. That said, we can get better. We need to watch midfield not because the pair holding at the moment are poor, they are doping everything needed and finding their own equilibrium WITH the team. But depending on Coqzorla’s return dates, it is very thin without Arteta fully fit or Rosicky (both likely on the last season) I’m sure the gaffer will have one eye on the treatment table and the other in the transfer market. Considering as mentioned Arteta and Rosicky… Read more »
‘“The real pressure is not to go down,” …. That’s a real pressure for many in this league, including the specialists in failure at chelski. Never crosses our minds st all with Arsene at the wheel…….
Le Boss unleashing his new “Red Steel” look
I will confidently say Arsenal will be champions of the league come May. But i have one worry. The press and pundits wont give us our due credit. If you have noticed, they are bracing themselves for an Arsenal win by undermining our success so far. They say, other teams are not playing well. Other teams are not stable but i beg to differ. City have the same manager and have invested a lot of money on their squad. Chelsea started the season as champions. made investments on their squad (however questionable) but they are given a pass because their… Read more »
C’mon gunners! Keep winning games and we’ll be just fine. No need to worry about numbers.
Merry Christmas to all….