The two tables below show how last season’s top five Premier
League teams fared against one another and how they fared against the other 15
teams.
Despite amassing fewer points against top five opposition
than Manchester City or Chelsea, Manchester United cruised to the title 11
points clear of their nearest competitor thanks to consistent form against the
bottom 15 teams. Likewise, Arsenal managed just one win over top five
opposition, amassing 6 points fewer than Spurs, yet were able edge their North London
rivals to the final Champions League spot because of their ability to beat
teams they were expected to beat. In fact, only United had a better record
against teams outside the top 5.
Arsenal’s failure to collect points against top sides is
interesting. A critique of Arsene Wenger is that he plays the same style
against every opponent and doesn’t alter tactics based on the opposition (this
isn’t entirely fair but Wenger pays far less attention to tactics than Rafa
Benitez at Chelsea, AVB at Spurs, Sir Alex at Man United and Roberto Mancini at
City did). Arsenal’s strong record against weaker opponents and poor record
against top five opponents suggests they’re able to win games when they have
superior talent but struggle when the opposition is equally gifted or better.
Tactics employed are often the difference when top sides with similar levels of
talent match up with one another so Wenger’s less than fastidious approach to
preparing for the unique strengths of each individual opponent could be costing
Arsenal valuable points. Wenger is undoubtedly a great man manager and one of
the best developers of players the game has known but it would be interesting
to see how Arsenal would fare for a season with a more astute tactician in
charge (Wenger’s transfer dealings are a subject for another blog post).