Under-fire Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has bamboozled supporters by turning to maths and statistics in an attempt to explain their poor Premier League form.
The Gunners lost 2-1 at Everton on Saturday and sit 15th in the table having not won a league game since November 1.
Arteta’s side have taken just two points from their last seven fixtures and only the current bottom three have a worse goal return than the 12 managed by Arsenal in their 14 league outings so far this season.
While those numbers make for poor reading, Arteta turned to his own sums to prove how unfortunate his team have been.
But fans were left scratching their heads as, during an answer in his press conference previewing Tuesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final clash with Manchester City, the Spaniard failed to show his working out.
“Last year we won the game against Everton with a 25 per cent chance of winning, you win 3-2,” he said.
“Last weekend, it was a 67 per cent chance of winning, any Premier League game in history, and a nine per cent chance of losing, and you lose.
“Three per cent against Burnley and you lose, seven per cent against Spurs and you lose.
“There is something else apart from that. It is not just the performance on the pitch, it is something else that needs to go our way and at the moment it doesn’t.
“Saying that, it doesn’t care because you lose and the only thing that cares is that you lose a football match and this is what we hear.”
One thing is for certain, the pressure will continue to mount on Arteta unless he can work out an equation to address results on the pitch heading into the festive fixtures.
Arteta did try to explain the logic behind his statistical analysis and believes a lack of efficiency in front of goal in recent times has seen results slide.
Back to work.— Arsenal (@Arsenal) December 21, 2020
“Every possible area that can happen in a Premier League match is considered in terms of what is really affecting results and what happens over 96 minutes,” he added.
“And it works. But then football is not like basketball where you shoot 50 times and the opponent shoots once so you win every time. It doesn’t work like that in football. It can be the opposite.
“We lost 1-0 against Burnley conceding zero shots on target from the opponent. Unfortunately that happens in football and you have to be able to control those things.
“It’s pretty tricky but I’m telling you last year we were winning games with 25 per cent chance of winning, but we were so efficient when we got into the positions.
“But if you are constantly in the 60s and 70s (per cent) long term you are going to win many more matches and this is what we have to try to do and sustain that and still improve because there is always a reason why you don’t win. That’s what we have to change.”
