Arsenal fans are little different from most football fans, but there’s an added anxiety which has crept in over the years due to repeated title challenge collapses.
Everything looks like it could go well and then some misfortunate hits Arsene Wenger’s club and the house of cards comes crashing down. Arsenal’s traditional collapse was heralded this week as having arrived against Everton.
Arsenal took the lead through all-round-superhero Alexis Sanchez, but Everton fought their back to win 2-1, and Wenger was left frustrated. Mesut Ozil came in for traditional criticism, and Arsenal looked brittle where they’d once seemed strong.
Alan, who scored the last ever goal at Highbury in a charity match, is obviously keen for his beloved Arsenal to win the Premier League but has been convinced it’s not going to happen.
Speaking on this week’s Betway Insider Podcast, Alan explained: “There’s one key element to Arsenal’s performances over the last five years and that’s that whenever they’ve been bigger than 4/6 for a Premier League match, and it’s now 54 occasions, they’ve only actually won nine of those games.
“This season in all competitions when they’ve been bigger than 4/6 to win a game, they’ve only actually won one of nine.
“Now that suggests that when the going gets tough and there’s tougher games, they’re just not winning enough of those.
“It’s very clear to say they won’t win the title… from those facts and figures.”
It’s pretty damning, and shows that, for whatever reason, Arsenal hugely struggle to win games when they’re not the overwhelming favourite. Perhaps Alan is right and, until that’s sorted out, Arsenal have zero chance of Premier League success.
Listen to Alan speak about his stat, Gabriele Marcotti’s surprised reaction, and more on Betway’s Insider Posdcast.
