There have been more goals than ever before in the Premier League. And despite the relative glut this weekend, many less draws. Plus, more players than usual are getting on the scoresheet. We look at these anomalies and the possible reasons why…

1. More goals than ever before

There have been 2.95 goals per game this season, as opposed to a Premier League average of 2.48. Many blame the new Nike ball (T90 Ascente); goalkeepers hate it, as it moves so late, and it also encourages players to shoot more. Tactics are also having an effect – the likes of Wigan and Burnley are attacking and going at sides, which although meaning they score more also means they concede more. Birmingham are arguably the only truly defensive side in the division (apart fom Chelsea). Plus, taking the lead from Liverpool, full backs have been more attacking, leading to more goals for their side – and the opposition. The Times goes into some depth with their analysis of this.

2. Less draws than normal

There have been only eight draws this season so far – and there were four this weekend. It’s staggeringly different from normal – are tactics again to blame? More gung-ho sides playing for the win? Or is it just a statistical anomaly that will rectify itself before the season is out? Fanhouse UK explore this further.

3. More players than usual getting on the scoresheet

When Vedran Corluka headed in Spurs’ second against Bolton it meant every single one of Tottenham’s outfield players had scored. Arsenal had six different goalscorers in their 6-2 win over Blackburn, bringing their season’s total to fifteen. Even Hull got in on the act, scoring twice in a game for the first time this year. This could be a direct result of more goals (after all, more goals probably mean more goal scorers) but also a result of tactical changes. Defenders seem more willing to attack, not only Glen Johnson-esque full backs, but also marauding centre backs like Thomas Vermeulen, Arsenal’s top scorer. So goals themselves are spread more.

I thought they were interesting anyway…

Time is tight this busy Monday but having a ‘weekend preview’ as the top story is just irritating. So instead we’ve used Football 365′s ever excellent ‘winners and losers’ feature. Cheers…

The original story can be found here.

Winners

Wigan
Defeat for Chelsea, history for Wigan, relief for the chasing pack and welcome credibility for the other half of the Premier League. All in all, quite some afternoon at whatever Wigan’s stadium is now called.

Perhaps their relegation rivals will not have cheered the result so ecstatically as the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal but Wigan’s bottom-half peers can still take heart from their first defeat of a Big Four team at the 35th time of asking.

Before this weekend, the only matches to truly inspire had been top-of-the-table clashes. With Burnley’s victory over Manchester United reliant on a penalty miss and already a distant memory, here was welcome proof that the bottom-half clubs needn’t be mere cannon fodder but could still step forward into the limelight by giving a heavyweight a proper fight.

To their credit, Wigan looked capable of toppling their illustrious opponents even before the game’s critical moment. Petr Cech loses any sympathy for ridiculously asserting that, “I don’t think it should have been a penalty,” when his trip on Hugo Rodallega was blatant, but it remains a ridiculous anomaly of the rulebook that a single offence, even when made with the best of intentions, can carry a three-pronged punishment. Dismissal, penalty and suspension: it is too much. Cech will have until the end of October to reflect on the excess of that triple whammy.

Yet while their goalkeeper was somewhat unlucky, Chelsea were not. Didier Drogba’s 46th-minute equaliser was the result of their first meaningful attack and a rare howler by Chris Kirkland. As Roberto Martinez observed: “The sending-off changed the perception of the game but it would be very unfair to say we beat Chelsea because of that decision. The performance from the first minute to the last deserved that.”

Liverpool
Has the Anfield nut been cracked? Seven home draws were Liverpool’s undoing last season but just two of those setbacks occurred after February and the new season has started with resounding wins over Burnley, Stoke and Hull – precisely the sort of teams that frustrated Pool a year ago into stalemate.

The change can be explained in just one word: Goals. Not only have Liverpool scored four more goals than any other Premier League club since the start of the season but their last ten league matches at Anfield have provided 34 goals.

Rafa Benitez claims that the difference is a consequence of altered belief rather than altered tactics. Yet it cannot be denied that this is a different Liverpool team to any seen previously under his tenure with Benitez encouraging a more adventurous outlook by deploying two attacking full-backs and adopting a horses-for-courses policy of dropping Steve Gerrard back into midfield – as he did on Saturday at Javier Mascherano’s expense – in order to accommodate another attacker. The results have been emphatic: This season, Anfield has been treated to15 goals in four games whereas in their opening five home fixtures for the 2008/09 campaign Liverpool produced just eight.

There will, inevitably, be a price to pay for this increased aggression. But the overall benefit of the Glen Johnson trade-off demonstrates the value of aggressive risk-taking: The right-back’s defensive vulnerability will on occasion be exposed but just how many teams will be capable of exposing his weakness? The number is less than the amount of goals Johnson will either create or score himself.

After a sticky start, Liverpool are positively moving forward. At Stamford Bridge next Sunday we’ll discover just how far they have come.

Fernando Torres
Much more of this and the ‘two-man’ Liverpool team will become a one-striker outfit. Hull’s defending may have been indefensible but Torres’ hat-trick was another faultless exhibition of centre-forward play. He may not have a trademark trick but his ability to step off either foot is one of the secrets to his phenomenal success. He glides past so many defenders not merely because of the quickness of those feet but because it is impossible to predict which way he will turn.

Manchester United
And much more of this and Ryan Giggs will be crowned the new Cristiano Ronaldo. In two games, the Welshman has claimed five assists – more than any other player has managed all season. The inspiration against Manchester City a week ago, he was the game-changer at Stoke after replacing the dreadful Nani with an hour played to create both of the visitors’ goals.

Yet behind the awe at the longevity of both Giggs and Paul Scholes will be concern that United are still reliant on their old-stagers. Nani, the hoped-for ‘new Ronaldo’, flopped at Stoke, with Sir Alex Ferguson’s observation that Giggs “added intelligence” to “that side of the pitch” a particularly damning indictment of the 22-year-old’s display. Patience is surely running out in what is the winger’s third season at the club.

Scholes’ excellence at Stoke was less obtrusive but the statistics do not lie. Of the 260 passes he has attempted since August 16, 251 have been completed. Another telling statistic is that, despite suspension and the need for regular rest, he has started twice as many games as Michael Carrick this league season and his relatively-regular pairing with Darren Fletcher is the closest United have to a first-choice midfield partnership.

Scholes turns 35 in November and Giggs 36 in the same month. To keep relying on both is a dangerous business. Sooner rather than later, Ferguson must find replacements for both, but the bittersweet evidence of Saturday is that he is no nearer to completing that task than he was three years ago.

Ben Foster
What a fuss about literally nothing: Stoke managed just a solitary off-target shot in the entire 90 minutes on Saturday.

Arsenal
For a side renowned for their passing game, Arsenal can be incredibly inaccurate on occasion. Fulham did not even have to hassle the visitors out of their stride on Saturday night because Arsenal, and their captain in particular, were just as prone to surrendering possession even when a white shirt wasn’t in nearby attendance. A statistical revelation of their staggering inaccuracy is that just four of the 18 shots they attempted were on target. And it’s not as if the Gunners are long-range shooters. At a rough count, just one of those 14 off-target efforts was taken from outside the penalty area.

Fulham’s superior accuracy deserved better and Arsenal’s victory was thus dependent on their fourth different goalkeeper in as many months of action actually producing some saves and two touches of class from Robin van Persie. In last season’s corresponding fixture, he missed a golden opportunity a couple of minutes before Brede Hangeland scored what transpired to be the winner. This Saturday, he improved his Premier League record to 41 goals in 85 starts with a lovely left foot control, right foot shot combination. He’d be among the absolute elite if he’d also scored with half of the 18 shots from which he has hit the woodwork since last August.

The Dutchman is a difficult character to fathom and he caused a stir before the game by admitting he has previously “exaggerated” his fall. Still, at least he’s honest enough to admit a degree of dishonesty and he remains one of the few players in the current Arsenal squad who possesses both mental strength and a football brain. In the absence of any other credible candidate – Thomas Vermaelen is too new, Manuel Almunia too vulnerable, Gael Clichy too locked into decline – Van Persie looks destined to be the club’s next captain if and when Fabregas departs next summer.

Bolton Wanderers
Five of their seven points have been won with goals scored after the 86th minute.

Tottenham Hotspur
Harry Redknapp may have his faults but false modesty isn’t among them. “That’s why I’m the manager,” the Spurs boss declared gleefully after Robbie Keane had vindicated his controversial retention with the first four-goal haul of his professional career against hapless Burnley.

An alternative viewing from White Hart Lane was that any of the club’s strikers would have vindicated their selection against a defence as incompetent as Burnley’s and Keane wasted almost as many gilt-edged chances as he scored. Redknapp suggested that the “key factor” was “movement against Burnley’s two big central defenders” but a key was hardly required when any sort of ball directed towards the centre of their defence found Burnley hopelessly unlocked. The headline writers may have been deceived by Keane’s haul but his critics were not.

Louis Saha
To realise just what a player Saha could have been, just appreciate the player Saha has been despite all the many injuries. Since his transfer to England, Saha has produced 92 league goals in 232 appearances – 66 of which were as a substitute.

Gabriel Agbonlahor
Five in five for the Villa striker after just one in his previous 18. But is it not somewhat disconcerting that confidence makes such a difference to his game? Even when in form, feast or famine players are always just a couple of games away from a rut.

Sunderland
When Steve Bruce remarked after Sunderland’s 5-2 victory over Wolves that “the side’s mentality has to change,” one of the shortcomings he probably had in mind was the decision of Darren Bent to let Kenwyne Jones take the Black Cats’ 48th-minute penalty because “of the look he was giving me”.

“It won’t happen again. Darren is one of the best penalty takers in the country,” responded a furious Bruce. “If Kenwyne had missed there would have been hell to pay. It’s something kids do with their mates.”

Bruce’s irritation with the incident will have been compounded by his ignorance of the events until after the game. As he superstitiously turns his back whenever his team takes a penalty, Bruce wasn’t even aware that Jones took the spot-kick and finished the match thinking that Bent had scored a hat-trick.

Losers

Chelsea
Carlo Ancelotti’s grace in defeat impressed but not his admission that “we did not play well and I don’t know why”. Managers are paid to understand and know these things. The Italian’s subsequent confession that he was “surprised” by how well Wigan played may, though, provide the explanation for his side’s below-par outing.

A football team is often said to perform in the image of the manager and Chelsea’s on-field complacency was the mirror of Ancelotti apparently making the fatal mistake of underestimating their opponents.

Aston Villa
A messy, annoying, unnecessary defeat to end a period of encouraging revival. The decision that downed them, with Richard Dunne penalised for an unwitting handball, was poor but the brevity of such a review flatters Villa.

Against a side low on confidence and reduced to ten men for the final 22 minutes, luck, bad or otherwise, shouldn’t have still been available as a decisive factor with 60 seconds remaining.

Burnley
100% at home, 0% away from Turf Moor. Burnley are yet to score a goal on their travels, let alone collect a point.

Almost all teams fare better on home soil than they do away but it is the absolute of the Burnley contrast that makes it worthy of remark while condemnation stems from their penchant for talking up the effect of the intimidating atmosphere at their own stadium. But, like Stoke, who boasted of the Britannia Stadium being “a horrible place for visiting teams” on Saturday, they cannot have it both ways.

If visitors to Turf Moor and the Britannia are to be belittled for shrinking in a supposedly-hostile environment, then what are we to conclude from their own regular disappearances away from home?

Portsmouth
Some of the details in their seven matches to date defy belief.

Phil Brown
And that, surely, is part of the problem at Hull City. It’s not Hull that are being talked about but their manager.

The club has almost become subservient to the Phil Brown story with the man himself, no stranger to third-person references, doing most of the writing. “I can’t expect any favours from Liverpool,” he declared on Friday before talking up the “biggest week of my career” and openly admitting that his job was on the line. In fairness, he did not hide after his side’s 6-1 demolition but perhaps he should have described it as something other than “a demoralising result for me”.

Enough is enough. No other club, not even Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United or Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal, has taken second perspective. Either Hull come first or an unhappy ending up will surely be theirs and his final chapter.

Cesc Fabregas
An additional point about Fabregas, warranted by the sheer staggering wretchedness of his overall display at Craven Cottage.

The Spaniard’s performances have declined, without exception, in every match since he suffered a hamstring strain on the opening weekend of the season at Everton. Having limped through the Champions League encounter at Celtic three days later he was, incredibly, still selected to start the home meeting with Portsmouth on August 22. Predictably, the injury was duly antagonised and he was withdrawn at half-time before missing the trip to Old Trafford. Even more incredibly, he was, like Andrey Arshavin, then released for international duty despite being evidently injured.

At least, unlike Arshavin, he did not return in an even worse condition, but it now seems highly probable that Fabregas is suffering for not being given the period of extended recovery the injury required and may even still require. At the next international break, Arsenal should try saying no for once.

Pete Gill

There have only been 46 games so far this season but already there are some notable – or perhaps anomolous – statistics. Courtesy of Football365, here are the most salient in a club-by-club format…

Arsenal
*Tomas Rosicky’s first outing in 20 months also included a goal. Dating back to his last games in the winter of 2007/08, the midfielder has scored three goals in his last five matches.

*Arsenal have lost six of their last seven matches played in the city of Manchester. The exception was May’s draw at Old Trafford that saw United crowned as champions.

*Only Liverpool, Fulham and Manchester United produced more shots on target this weekend than Arsenal registered at Eastlands (seven) while no side had more shots off target (12). According to the Match of the Day statistics, Manuel Almunia failed to make a single save in the game while Shay Given successfully completed five.

Aston Villa
* Emile Heskey has seen just ten minutes of league action since the opening weekend of the season. Villa have also won all of their games since dropping the England forward following the defeat to Wigan.

* Sunday’s 85th-minute match-winner Gabby Agbonlahor also scored an 87th minute winner at Birmingham in the last derby Villa played at St Andrew’s.

* Both of Villa’s centre-halves against Birmingham, Richard Dunne and James Collins, were making their debuts, while left-back Stephen Warnock was making only his second appearance for his new employers.

* Villa have already used 20 players in four league games. They used only 21 in the whole of last season.

Birmingham City
* The second city derby was littered with thirty fouls – the highest such figure in the Premier League this weekend.

* Birmingham have failed to win any of their last six meetings with Villa.

* In five games, Birmingham have scored just one goal from open play – Lee Bowyer’s tap-in at Tottenham.

* 25,196 attended the first Birmingham derby in two years. St Andrew’s capacity is 30,016.

Blackburn Rovers
* Only two Blackburn players have played every minute this season: Paul Robinson and Gael Givet.

* Since Sam Allardyce’s appointment as their manager in December, Blackburn have lost just two games at Ewood Park.

Bolton Wanderers
* Gary Cahill scored the winner on his 50th start for Bolton – exactly twice as many as he made at Aston Villa.

* Bolton enjoyed just 36% of possession at Fratton Park. The next lowest figure in the league weekend was Burnley’s 39% and Man City’s 40%.

* The win at Portsmouth was the club’s first away victory in 2009.

Burnley
* Along with Birmingham, Burnley are the joint-lowest scorers in the league having scored just two goals.

* Burnley have played four of their first games against sides that finished in the top five last season.

* The replacement of Christian Kalvenes with Andre Bikey from the side that faced Stoke on the opening day of the season accounts for the only change that the Clarets have made to their starting line-up so far.

Chelsea
* Having beaten Stoke in January with an injury-time goal from Frank Lampard, both of Chelsea’s goals at the Britannia on Saturday occurred in injury time.

* Lampard is one of seven players credited with three goalscoring assists this season. The others are Didier Drogba, Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas, Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson and Shaun Wright-Phillips.

* Chelsea last failed to win a league game eleven matches ago when they were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Everton on April 22.

* The Blues have trailed in three of the five games they’ve won this season.

Everton
* A scorer at Fulham from a free-kick at which he was marked by the 6ft 2 Dickson Etuhu, the 5ft 10 Tim Cahill has netted more headed goals than any other player in the Premiership since 2002.

* The defeat at Fulham was the first fixture in a run of seven games featuring three different competitions in 21 days for Everton.

* Yakubu’s appearance as a substitute was his first in the league since November.

* Everton are currently conceding at a rate of 2.5 per game having had the league’s sixth-best defence in 2008/09.

Fulham
* On the 17 occasions that Fulham and Everton have met in the Premier League, the home side has won 16 times.

* Paul Konchesky’s only other goal for the club was against West Ham in January.

Hull
* Hull have scored one goal in each of their five league outings this season.

* This time last year they were fourth in the table.

* Hull have lost ten of their last fifteen league matches, winning just one.

Liverpool
* Yossi Benayoun has scored three hat-tricks in his Liverpool career having also netted trebles in the thrashings of Besiktas and Havant and Waterloo.

* Liverpool have scored 33 goals in their last ten home matches.

* Their tally of 25 shots against Burnley was the highest of the weekend.

* Having started only 14 of Liverpool’s 38 league games last term, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres have started all five to date this season.

Manchester City
* City have made their best start to a season since 1961 while Saturday’s attendance of 47,339 set a new stadium record for a football match.

* Despite winning all four of their games so far, City have, according to The Times, made 15 shots fewer than the combined total of their opponents in those games.

* City were credited with registering four shots on target against the Gunners by the BBC and five by The Guardian. Their total of three shots off target was also nine fewer than that of their opponents.

* Emmanuel Adebayor has scored in three of the last four meetings between City and Arsenal. He didn’t play in the other.

* Of the City team that beat Arsenal by a three-goal margin last November, Micah Richards, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Stephen Ireland were the only survivors on Saturday.

Manchester United
* United are now unbeaten in 20 games against Tottenham.

* Scholes’ red card was the ninth of his career. Of the eight that have occurred in United colours, seven have been issued in the past five years.

* United have deployed a different defence in each of their five league games so far and used four different central-midfield partnerships.

* United would be ninth in the league table if all matches ended after 45 minutes.

* Just thre players have started all of their five league games: Ben Foster, Patrice Evra and Wayne Rooney.

* Ryan Giggs’ goal ensured he remains the only player to score in every Premier League season. One more goal will take him to the 150th mark and equal the haul of Ruud van Nistelrooy, currently eighth in the club’s list of all-time scorers.

Portsmouth
* Four of Pompey’s five defeats this season have been by a single goal.

* Their fans are remaining loyal: Each of their three home games this season was watched by between 17 and 18 thousand specatators.

* From the team that faced Middlesbrough on September 13 last year, only David James featured against Bolton.

Stoke City
* With five minutes added on at the end of the first-half and eight for the second, Saturday’s game at Britannia lasted 103 minutes.

* Two of the five home defeats inflicted on Stoke since their promotion have been by Chelsea.

Sunderland
* Sunderland scored with all four of their shots on target against Hull.

* Saturday’s attendance of 38,997 was bettered at only Anfield and Eastlands.

* Lorika Cana has made more fouls than any other player so far: 17. His tally of three cautions is also unbeaten.

* Three of Darren Bent’s four goals have been scored before the 20th minute.

Tottenham Hotspur
* Jermain Defoe and Wayne Rooney are the current league topscorers with five goals apiece.

* During the last international break, Fabio Capello observed that “When Jermain Defoe plays in the second half, he scores goals.” In fact, five of Defoe’s last seven league goals have occurred before the half-time interval.

* Spurs are yet to keep a clean sheet in any of their fixtures this season.

* In his 19 league appearances for Liverpool, Robbie Keane scored five goals. In his 19 league appearances since rejoining Tottenham, Keane has scored six times.

West Ham
* Having drawn two successive blanks on their travels, the Hammers have scored just one goal in their past three games.

* Their team at Wigan included eight Englishmen.

Wigan
* Saturday’s attendance at the JJB of 17,142 was the lowest of the weekend.

Wolves
* Wolves scored 16 goals in their first five Championship matches last season. In the Premier League this term, they’ve managed just three.

We’re back into Premier League football this weekend after the international hiatus. There are already strong cases for ‘must have’ players, even after only four games. Here we take a look at the most compelling…

1. Jermaine Defoe

Back at Spurs after his stint with Portsmouth, Defoe has started the season like a runaway train. He has four goals in his first four matches, and is in the best form of his career. With excellent service coming from the likes of Modric and Lennon, he could be a real challenger to Torres and Drogba at the top of the goalscoring charts. Manager Harry Redknapp is not known as a tinkerman either, so if Defoe keeps scoring, he will keep playing.

2. Glen Johnson

Johnson has already amassed 31 Fantasy Premier League points, second only to Didier Drogba. He is fantastic going forward and has scored twice and gained two assists in his first four matches. Only one clean sheet so far – but this is Liverpool, that will change, and once it does he will be un-unpickable. I am aware that isn’t a word.

3. Ryan Shawcross

Alex Ferguson tried to buy him back, Liverpool tried to snatch him on deadline day – that shows the esteem the young Stoke defender is held in. Sir Alex must be ruing ever letting him go. Stoke have kicked on admirably after a strong first season in the top-flight, with the signings of Tuncay and Huth a big statement of ambition. They are generally tight at the back, particularly at home, and Shawcross is also a threat from set-pieces. Furthermore, at just 4.9m, he is fantastic value.

Well that was disappointing. And we had to suffer that twat on Sky Sports News who sits there with 10 mobile phones pretending people are calling him and he knows what’s going on.

Here are the confirmed moves on a muted transfer deadline day…

Hassan Yebda – Benfica to Portsmouth (season-long loan)
Tal Ben-Haim – Manchester City to Portsmouth (undisclosed fee)
Eidur Gudjohnsen – Barcelona to Monaco (undisclosed fee)
Radanfah Abu Bakr – Caledonia AIA Fire to Swansea (undisclosed fee)
Danny Collins – Sunderland to Stoke City (£2.75m)
Dmytro Chygrynskiy – Shakhtar Donetsk to Barcelona (£22.1m)
Miguel Torres – Real Madrid to Getafe (undisclosed fee)
Henrique – Barcelona to Racing Santander (season-long loan)
Darren O’Dea – Celtic to Reading (six-month loan)
Xisco – Newcastle to Racing Santander (season-long loan)
Kerlon – Internazionale to Ajax (season-long loan)
Leigh Bromby – Sheffield United to Leeds United (undisclosed fee)
Ben Watson – Wigan to QPR (six-month loan)
Richard Dunne – Manchester City to Aston Villa (£6m)
Grant Leadbitter and Carlos Edwards – Sunderland to Ipswich (combined fee could rise to £3.95m)
Jerome Rothen – Paris St Germain to Rangers (season-long loan)
Ivan Klasnic – Nantes to Bolton Wanderers (season-long loan)
Zheng Zhi – To Celtic (unattached)
Johnny Heitinga – Atlético Madrid to Everton (£6m)
Ibrahima Sonko – Stoke City to Hull City (season-long loan)
James Collins – West Ham to Aston Villa (£5m)
Mike Williamson – Watford to Portsmouth (£3m)
Niko Kranjcar – Portsmouth to Tottenham (undisclosed fee)
Teemu Tainio – Sunderland to Birmingham City (season-long loan)
David Nugent – Portsmouth to Burnley (six-month loan)
David Elm – Kalmar to Fulham (undisclosed fee)
Radanfah Abu Bakr – To Swansea (unattached)
David Carney – Sheffield United to FC Twente (undisclosed)
Borja Valero – West Brom to Real Mallorca (loan)
Adam Barton – Preston to Crawley (loan)
Dominic Collins – Preston to Crawley (loan)
Alvaro Saborio – FC Sion to Bristol City (loan)
Evander Sno – Ajax to Bristol City (loan)
Claude Davis – To Crystal Palace (unattached)
Hameur Bouazza – To Blackpool (unattached)
Jack Wilson – Hibs to Doncaster (free)

No. No it’s not.

There is just no way Spurs will last the pace. They have been cut from 200/1 to 30/1 after an impressive start – that’s a huge over-reaction from the bookies. They will be the Villa of last season, a bright start fading away at Christmas as teams get wise to them and fatigue sets in.

They have a decent side, sure – but not a title winning squad.

Their first eleven is impressive – Gomes, Corluka, Assou-Ekotto, King, Woodgate, Modric, Palacios, Lennon, Huddlestone, Defoe, Crouch – but how often will that centre back pairing be fit? How much can Gomes really be trusted? Can any side with the behemoth that is Tom Huddlestone in centre-mid actually last any sort of pace? How long will Defoe’s hot-streak last? How many times will they actually field that eleven anyway? And so on.

There is some back up – Chimbonda, Dawson, Bale, Bentley, Jenas, Keane, Pavyluchenko – but the majority of those seem to be disillusioned and potentially on their way out of the club. That is the problem with teams of Tottenham’s stature – genuinely classy players are happy to be rotated (or back up) at the likes of Man United (Tevez excepted!) but not at the likes of Spurs. Their first eleven can compete, but not their squad. It’s the same story with Villa, with Everton – and would be with Man City, if they didn’t pay all their players twice as much.

Challenging the top four, that should be Tottenham’s aim. No more, no less. Fifth would be an achievement. And 30/1 is just ridiculous!

The North London derby – Tottenham vs Arsenal

First Half

Spurs seemed to be spurred on by the re-arrival of their new captain Robbie Keane and were chasing every 50-50 ball with a sense of purpose from early on in the game. In the first 20 minutes neither team seemed able to stamp their authority on the game and the heat maps showed a game spread wide and deep across the pitch.

Spurs started to gain some stride and the edge in possession as the half progressed, Woodgate finding space in their air on a few occasions, and Modric finding support in Keane and Palacios seemed to step his game up a level.

The pivotal moment of the second half came out of the frustration of Eboue who having been carded earlier on for talking back to the referee received his second yellow and marching orders after a retaliatory kick after a Modric foul.

Spurs tried to step the game up a gear but rather than slowing the pace and looking for holes they opted to continue the high paced push forward perhaps running on energy more than strategy and while they had a few opportunities Arsenal survived to regroup at half time.

Second Half

As expected Spurs were dominant in the second half in terms of possession and position, holding the ball comfortably in the midfield and up the flanks. However with Arsenal dug in in defence they struggled to find a way through and create meaningful chances. Modric had two of the closest attempts in the second half both of which come from a rare counter attack.

Arsenal in the guise of Van Persie were able to trouble the home side on occasion but the opportunities on both sides were rare in the second half. Spurs surprisingly found more space upfront in the first half against a full Arsenal Side than they were able to find in the second against 10 men.

All credit to the Arsenal defence and Almunia for holding on for the draw. No doubt both teams left White Hart Lane a little disappointed – Arsenal will have wanted 3 points to stay in the chase for Europe and Spurs fans will be bitterly disappointed to not have capitalized on their dominance.

A draw – but in somes ways both teams will have felt they lost.

The above commentary, heat maps, and Football Statistics are Provided by ScoreGrid.com in Partnership with Nandos

1. ‘Arry weaved his magic again last night as Spurs comprehensively outplayed Liverpool, recording a 4-2 victory. Where would they be if he had been there all season?

2. Elsewhere, hilariously, Chelsea lost on penalties to Burnley. I don’t think anyone can claim to have predicted that.

3. Its been revealed that Didier Drogba may face police sanction for launching a coin into the crowd in said game. Hopefully they will put him down.

4. Ruud van Nistelrooy has been diagnosed with knee ligament damage, putting him out for the rest of the season. We wish one of the finest goalscorers of our generation a speedy recovery.

5. Keep an eye on these youngsters; the Guardian’s 20 to watch for the future. Most of them probably play for Arsenal.