Arsenal dominant at home to Everton (and everyone else, bar ONE bogey team)

By Brian Sears

1 February 2011

Arsenal host Everton on Tuesday evening for the 19th time in the Premier League era and statisically-minded Gunners will be licking their lips. Arsenal have won more home points against Everton since 1992 – 45 points from 18 games for a whacking 2.5 points per game on average – than from any other team.

Everton head Arsenal’s list of home ‘victims’ in the Prem era by seven points. It may surprise some to find Chelsea in second place, having ceded 38 points to Arsenal on Arsenal turf in 19 games in the era.

Arsenal home fans have witnessed 14 Premier League wins over Everton at Highbury and /or The Emirates and that’s three more than against any other club. And Arsenal have already reached 46 home goals against Everton – a dozen more than against any other club. The next most pummeled club is Middlesbrough, formerly of the division, who conceded 34 goals at Arsenal in 14 Premier League games.

Highlighting Everton’s task is one reason for today’s statistics (below). But sets of data often furnish quirky reasons and trivia delights and today’s numbers produce such a delight. How about this? Forty-three different clubs have visited Arsenal in the 19 seasons of Premier League football and only one – yes, just one – of those clubs has departed with more points than they have given the Gunners on Gunners turf.

Can you guess who that club is? I’ll give you a few minutes before the ‘reveal’ at the end.

But it’s not Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool or any other usual suspect. Oh no.

Three clubs – QPR, Hull and Swindon – have shared the total Premier League points at Arsenal, but they have made only four, two and one visits respectively.

Clue: the one club to have taken away more points than they’ve left behind has made eight Premier League visits to Arsenal, all to Highbury, and two of the results ended up being 5-0 and 5-1 to the home side!

But on the other six occasions, Wimbledon (for it was they) won three and drew three thus totting up 12 points to Arsenal’s nine against Arsenal in the Premier League, at Arsenal. What a turn up for the statistical books.