Numbers don’t add up for Arteta

LONDON (AP):

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has turned to math and statistics in an attempt to explain the team's poor Premier League form.

The London club lost 2-1 at Everton on Saturday and sits 15th in the standings, having not won a league game since November 1.

"Last year we won the game against Everton with a 25 per cent chance of winning, you win 3-2," Arteta said yesterday. "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," he continued. "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."

Data analysis is playing an increasingly important role in football, but Arteta's comments may not calm the nerves of Arsenal fans.

Arteta's side has taken only two points from its last seven games, and only the current bottom three have a worse goal return than the 12 managed by Arsenal in their 14 league games so far this season.

Arsenal plays Manchester City in the quarter-finals of the League Cup today.