Betfair Official Blog

Arsenal got the Chelsea monkey off their back last Sunday, the 1-0 win their first over the Blues since 2003/04 - and confirmation of the shift in the balance of London power this season.  The authority in this particular London match-up has resided firmly with the Red side of North London for a long time, Arsenal not losing to Spurs, home or away, in 16 games since 1999/00 - and never in the Premiership on their own patch.

It's part of a lamentable Spurs record away to the Big Four, where they must go back to Anfield in 1993/94 for their last victory - and confront a measly yield of 3/33 points over the last two-and-a-half seasons. Consolation might come from the point taken from Liverpool on Spurs' last Big Four excursion (and how close they came to winning) - but the precedents augur very badly for Juande Ramos' team.

That said, they won their first league away game at Portsmouth at the weekend - and followed it with another victory at Eastlands in the Carling Cup midweek, keeping their first away clean sheets in the process. They can also draw on memories of a similar scenario last season, not winning until their ninth away game (also at Manchester City) but then going on to lose only another three times in their remaining 11 away games (W4-D4-L3).

However, respective London derby records add to the case for the home win. Whilst Arsenal's record has diminished marginally since 2005/06 (the Gunners have been beaten in consecutive visits by West Ham), Spurs have lost more away games in the Capital since 2003/03 than any other club (W5-D6-L15). Indeed, Ramos doesn't bring an especially good record in derby encounters from Spain - losing and drawing on his two visits to Real Betis in his time at Sevilla and W1-D3-L3 in away derbies across his four managerial posts.

To bang the final nail in the Tottenham coffin, Arsenal generally take confidence from their victories over the Big Four - winning 16/18 games at home immediately after a victory over their closest rivals. Thirteen of Arsenal's 26 home games against bottom-half teams since the start of 2005/06 have yielded four goals or more.

Spurs have only kept three clean sheets in 17 outings this season (home and away) and have conceded in 8/9 of their away games. In fact, in the 28 away fixtures they have played since the start of the 2006/07 season, they have only managed to stop three opponents from scoring - two of these clubs ended up going down, the other was Pompey last weekend.

Spurs are one of only four clubs currently in the Premiership (Fulham, Man City and Reading are the others) who have never scored more than once at Arsenal during Arsène Wenger's tenure. In the Frenchman's reign, they have managed just five goals in 11 games - second worst to Coventry (one goal in five) amongst teams who have played at least five games. Arsenal have had a half-time lead in 22 of their last 32 home games (69%) against bottom half teams - going on to win all of them. Arsenal have salvaged points in 13 of their last 14 home games, when they have conceded first.

If Arsenal don't score in the first half at the Emirates, they tend to do so late. When they haven't scored before the break, 11 of their 20 second-half goals have come in the final 10 minutes, including all four this season.

Since the start of the 2004/05 season, when Arsenal score in the first half at home, 85% of their games have had +2.5 goals, 63% +3.5 and 33% +4.5 (the rest of the league averages 64%, 39% & 18% respectively).

	Arsenal				Head to Head		Spurs
	Last 5 home	Last 19 home	Last 38 all	Last 5 v opp A form	Arsenal home	Arsenal all	Last 5 away	Last 19 away	Last 38 all	Last 5 v opp H form
Played	5	19	38	5	5	10	5	19	38	5
Av Match YC	5.6	4.1	3.9	2.4	3.2	3.9	3.6	3.5	3.3	2.0
Match RC	1	5	8	3	2	1	0	1	5	2
Av Team YC	1.6	1.4	1.5	1.0	0.6	1.2	1.8	1.6	1.3	0.8
Team RC	0	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	2
Av Opp YC	4.0	2.6	2.4	1.4	2.6	2.7	1.8	1.8	1.9	1.2
Opp RC	1	4	5	3	2	1	0	1	3	0
Av Match FG	50	33	33	43	25	23	39	34	30	58
Av Team FG	50	46	50	51	42	49	57	45	41	71
Av Opp FG	68	58	55	53	68	42	44	46	50	74
Av Match Cnrs	8.6	11.5	10.8	11.0	8.6	9.6	10.8	12.0	11.3	10.8
Av Team Cnrs	5.2	7.5	6.4	7.2	4.8	4.5	5.4	5.4	5.8	4.4
Av Opp Cnrs	3.4	4.0	4.3	3.8	3.8	5.1	5.4	6.6	5.5	6.4