Some things in sport never change.
Romelu Lukaku scoring against West Ham. Tennis fans saying Andy Murray is British when he wins but Scottish when he loses. Americans describing tied games as ‘like kissing your sister’. And the list goes on.
Another one of these quirks is Arsenal’s apparent inability to thrive in November. And we’ve got the numbers to prove it.
We’ve already detailed Arsène Wenger’s phenomenal record around Christmas and New Year, but now Redditor ‘hypothesist’ has provided a month-by-month breakdown.
As you can see, the Gunners’ points-per-game average drops to 1.6 in the 30 days after Halloween, and in no other month is it below 1.85.
November 2015 was a particularly bad month for Wenger, with the North London club winning just one of their five games in the Premier League and Champions League.
They began the month with a crushing 5-1 defeat away to Bayern Munich before escaping with a point at home to Tottenham thanks to Kieran Gibbs’ second-half goal.
Defeat at West Brom followed, and – while they got back on track in Europe against Dinamo Zagreb – Arsenal ended the month by losing Laurent Koscielny and Alexis Sánchez to injury in a 1-1 draw at Norwich.
And, as the stats would suggest, those aren’t the only November setbacks suffered by Wenger’s team.
November 2014
A Sánchez goal looked set to earn the Gunners a win over bogey team Swansea City, but the Swans struck twice in four minutes to turn the game on its head.
Stu Forster/Getty Images
November 2013
They lost to David Moyes’ Manchester United. Enough said.
Alex Livesey/Getty Images
November 2010
A 2-0 North London Derby lead quickly became a 3-2 deficit, with Younes Kaboul netting the winner.
Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
November 2009
A miserable 3-0 home defeat to Chelsea which left Arsenal 11 points off the top of the Premier League after just 13 games.
Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
November 2008
Three defeats from four in the league, including a torrid afternoon against Tony Pulis’ Stoke City.
Clive Rose/Getty Images
November 2006
Just four points from five league outings, starting with Wenger facing off with West Ham manager Alan Pardew.
Phil Cole/Getty Images
With Arsenal level on points with league leaders Manchester City, now is as good a time as any for them to buck the trend.
First up, they face a trip to Bulgaria to face Ludogorets. After that there’s the small matter of another North London Derby, and things don’t get much easier with matches against Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain also on the horizon before Wenger’s men finish the month at home to Bournemouth.
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