Sunderland vs Arsenal

May 10, 2008 by

The final game of the season. Yet it is a game which will be drowned out by 7 other games with more riding on them — the two title race games, along with games with the three teams trying to avoid relegation plus Everton and Villa’s quest for 5th spot (Everton are 3 points ahead of Villa and only need a point;both teams are locked with a goal difference of 20). The Spurs – Liverpool and Boro vs Man City games are the ones which might be on the same length as the Sunderland – Arsenal game as getting the least attention. Sunderland are safe, so no pressing need for them to put on a good show. And since Arsenal are not going for the title, Roy Keane’s boys won’t get a chance to spoil any Gunners plan. (speculation: this need might go back to the love that Keane shared with Arsenal during his friendly encounters with Vieira).

Point totals:

Arsenal won’t finish higher than third, but the goal of 83 points is something that would be nice to achieve. Arsenal finished the 2004/05 season with 83 points and ended in 2nd place but the next two seasons only brought 67 and 68 points in back to back 4th place finishes. So in a way 83 points and 3rd place is an improvement on the past 2 seasons but that consolation is tinted a bit considering that Arsenal lead the league for most of the season.

As it stands 87 points might be good enough for the title tomorrow. If so, then that is the least point total since the 2002/03 season when Man Utd took the title with 83 points. In 2002, Arsenal took the title with 87 points with an unbeaten away record.

Here are the point totals of the 1st and 2nd place teams since the league scaled down to 20 teams:

  • 1995/96: Man Utd (82), Newcastle (78)
  • 1996/97: Man Utd (75), Newcastle (68, goal difference 33), Arsenal (68, gd 30), Liverpool (68, gd 25)
  • 1997/98: Arsenal (78), Man Utd (77)
  • 1998/99: Man Utd (79), Arsenal (78)
  • 1999/00: Man Utd (91), Arsenal (73)
  • 2000/01: Man Utd (80), Arsenal (70)
  • 2001/02: Arsenal (87), Liverpool (80)
  • 2002/03: Man Utd (83), Arsenal (78)
  • 2003/04: Arsenal (90), Chelsea (79)
  • 2004/05: Chelsea (95), Arsenal (83)
  • 2005/06: Chelsea (91), Man Utd (83)
  • 2006/07: Man Utd (89), Chelsea (83)

    • But ofcourse, point totals are only dictated by the pace of the teams at the top. If the top teams run away with the league and chalk up win after win, then the bar could be set higher than even 90 points (something that has happened three times already with totals of 95 & 91). That would be quite scary because as it stands the margin for error is pretty slim already. On the other hand if teams start putting better results against the top teams then the point total needed for a title might come down.

    When Sunday Comes…

    Line-ups, scores, predictions of Sunday’s game? For the final time this season, over to you guys…