So, like many of you I’m sure, I’ve been thinking about all these goals we’re seeing The Arsenal score lately. I mean, they’re positively flying in these days. Can you remember the last time we scored less than two? I can’t. I don’t want to. All I know is that we are sitting upon one almighty collective purple patch, with goals coming from more players than I care to even guess at. Two centre halves with four and five goals each? And this early in the season? I love it.

Nutty as I’m wont to be, I do odd things now and then, such as… crack open a spreadsheet. I did that today, and dumped the latest EPL table figures in there. Then I went and did some of that data sorting hoodoo that it does to see where we sit in regards to the rest of the league in average goals per game, goals against, both home and away, etc. The results are pretty interesting. So, I share…

Unsorted – This is where we sit, in 3rd place with a game in hand. Not a bad place to be.

Unsorted

Average For – Sort the table on average goals for, and we shoot right to the top. Just where you’d expect us to be, #1.

Average Goals For

Average For Home – When you sort by goals for at Ashburton Grove, we remain at the top of the pile, a entire one goal higher than Chelsea, with Liverpool in second.

Average For Goals Home

Average For Away – And again, sorting by for goals in enemy territory, we still remain tops, but with Chelsea creeping up on us.

Average For Goals Away

Quite a testament to our goal scoring ability so far this season. And, bear in mind… this is Premiership stats only. I’m frightened to think what these numbers would look like if all competitions were included. So, with our ability to find the nylon firmly in hand, let’s have a look at our ability to stop our opponents from doing same to us.

Average Against - Here’s where we rank when you sort the table by Average Goals we’ve let slip by. Ouch… we slide down to 7th place. Amost twice as many as Chelsea have let in.

Average Goals Against

Average Against Home – It gets a little better, we slide back up into 3rd place, with only Chelsea and oddly enough Birmingham only allowing in fewer at home.

Average Against Goals Home

Average Against Away – Ruh-roh… I see a problem here, Scoob. We plummet down to 13th place in the table! Are the defense sleeping in uncomfortable bus seats too much? Of course you expect to let more go in when you’re away, but it’s still interesting to see which teams are doing better and worse than us when it comes to protecting the net away from the fortress. I mean, Portsmouth, FFS! Rooted to the bottom of the table, hold 7th place in this sort. Amazing.

Average Against Goals Away

So, this was fun for me and I thought perhaps some of you might find interesting as well. Just a little something to pass the time awaiting the match at Wolves tomorrow.  I’ll be raising my glass in hopes of three points and getting a jump on either Man U Or Chelsea. I hate to say it, but I think it might be better for us if the Red Devils win that one. It brings the current league leader a bit closer, and it’s always fun to watch Assley Hole lose.