Sunday’s win over Tottenham Hotspur delivered some brilliant entertainment, much-needed relief for Arenal fans and a chance to smack Tottenham back into place.
But it also delivered a ton of really interesting facts, stats, oddness and idiots in the media.
Here are 8 bits of awesomeness, wtfness and hahahaness that caught my eye as I made my way around the interweb today:
Spurs are really Spursy
If you think the term ‘Spursy’ means to fall apart when it’s all going your way, then you’d be right.
No other team in the Premier League has lost from a winning position than Spurs have to Arsenal.
Brilliant.
The Daily Star are on drugs
In their player ratings, the Daily Star gave Eric Dier, who was at fault for three goals and 6-pass Dele Alli the same rating as Lucas Torreria and Hector Bellerin respectively which was 2 more than Rob Holding and one more than Xhaka.
Plus…
They certainly weren’t on sensitivity training
This is how the Daily Star opted to cover a banana skin being thrown at Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
While others in the media are still trying to gaslight fans…
The media are still gaslighting
The Telegraph’s Jeremy Wilson called Arsenal losing their one-nil lead “a crisis of their own making.”
Really Jeremy, really?
Even Mark Clattenburg came out and said that NEITHER Tottenham goal should have stood. He called Eric Dier offside (although that doesn’t forgive Leno’s awful keeping) while we all know Son dived with no contact despite the media’s determination to gaslight us all.
Former referee, Keith Hackett, even reinterpreted the laws of the game to show that, even if Holding didn’t touch Son, it was still a penalty.
“On first view,” Hackett wrote, also in the Telegraph, “I thought it was a penalty, as did Mike. Holding slides in front of his opponent and appears to catch him. Mike was excellently positioned, took his time and pointed to the spot.
“However, television replays showed Holding did not touch Son, with the Tottenham forward going to ground far too easily.”
That all sounds perfectly reasonable. Then he adds, and I swear I am not making this up, “But what makes this decision so difficult is that you could argue it is still a penalty, even though no contact has been made. Law 12 states that a direct free-kick is awarded if a player makes a challenge “considered by the referee to be careless, reckless or using excessive force”.
Holding’s tackle was daft, but it was not careless, reckless or using excessive force as they are meant in the rules of the game and Hackett knows it. He tries to explain, “Holding’s challenge was desperate and, as a result, careless. He made no contact because Son took evasive action rather than because he took any care to avoid his opponent.”
But we all know this is total bull. Son did not ‘take evasive action’. He dived. He was not trying to avoid Holding, he WANTED to be caught by the Arsenal defender. Holding, therefore, did not ’cause’ Son to go down, he did that all by himself.
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The definition of ‘careless’ in the rules is to protect players from dangerous tackles, not daft ones. By Hackett’s logic, any player sliding in to block the ball that misses both ball and man is a free-kick.
While we’re talking conspiracy theories…
Conspiracy theories aren’t just for politics
No sooner had it been announced that Mesut Ozil wasn’t in the squad for the game against Tottenham did the rumours start flying that he had stormed out of training after being told he wouldn’t play. I called bull on that then, and I still feel it’s nonsense. Ozil is a top-level professional, not a baby.
However, that wasn’t even the wackiest theory of the day. Apparently, his back problems, if you believe he has them, could all be coming from the amount of time some randomer has decided he plays Fortnite.
I’m not sure what’s worse, the theory, or the fact that it’s being called a ‘great’ one.
Arsenal players are brilliant on social media when they’re happy
The players were tweeting en masse after the final whistle, here’s a roundup in case you missed any:
https://twitter.com/seadk6/status/1069562326406303744
https://twitter.com/Bernd_Leno/status/1069494089853349889
https://twitter.com/LacazetteAlex/status/1069310004816166917
https://twitter.com/Aubameyang7/status/1069308636864880641
https://twitter.com/LTorreira34/status/1069300609793355777
https://twitter.com/alexiwobi/status/1069295167696445443
https://twitter.com/seadk6/status/1069278097529282562
https://twitter.com/MesutOzil1088/status/1069267445419073536
https://twitter.com/MustafiOfficial/status/1069265338297171969
https://twitter.com/RobHolding95/status/1069262306410930178
https://twitter.com/emimartinezz1/status/1069261854881521664
Some other tweets you might like
https://twitter.com/7amkickoff/status/1069320572587274240
https://twitter.com/GoonerGirl1969/status/1069286041356509184
https://twitter.com/srslade/status/1069276609797083136
https://twitter.com/nellypop13/status/1069273535397416960
Finally, ahead of Manchester United v Arsenal on Wednesday night…