September 24th 2024.
Under the leadership of Mikel Arteta, Arsenal has become known for their mastery of the "dark arts" in football. This was evident in their recent match against Manchester City, where they resorted to every time-wasting trick in the book after Leandro Trossard's sending off. Despite their valiant efforts, a last-minute goal from John Stones resulted in a 2-2 draw.
While many have praised Arsenal's heroic defending, their time-wasting tactics have also garnered some criticism, particularly from City's players. This is not the first time this season that an Arsenal player has been sent off for kicking the ball away, with Trossard's red card being more justified than Declan Rice's against Brighton.
This has sparked an interesting debate about which team is the biggest time-waster in the Premier League. According to Opta Analyst, Arsenal currently holds the top spot with an average delay time of 31.8 seconds, closely followed by Leicester and Brentford. On the other hand, West Ham is the least guilty of time-wasting with a delay time of only 23.9 seconds, followed by Liverpool and Tottenham.
This is not a new trend for Arsenal, as they were also ranked fourth in time-wasting last season. Their delay time has even increased by 2.6 seconds since 2023/24. However, it should be noted that these statistics are based on the first four games of the 2024/25 season and do not include last weekend's fixtures.
If last weekend's match against City was taken into account, Arsenal's delay time would most likely have increased even more. In that game alone, goalkeeper David Raya took an average of 45.3 seconds for each of his 12 goal-kicks, adding up to a total of over nine minutes of time-wasting.
Opta also acknowledges that Arsenal's delay time may have been influenced by the two red cards they received in their previous matches. Other teams have also increased their time-wasting tactics when playing with 10 men, such as Newcastle's Nick Pope against Southampton.
Only time will tell which team will come out on top as the biggest time-wasters in the Premier League. However, this Saturday's match between Arsenal and Leicester, currently the top two teams in terms of time-wasting, is sure to be an interesting one. Stay tuned for more news, exclusives, and analysis on Arsenal.
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