1999
Fans of HBO’s The Wire will remember Marlo Stanfield (portrayed by actor Jamie Hector) as the leader of a crew responsible for numerous slayings throughout David Simon’s West Baltimore. So perhaps it was fitting that today the role of stone-cold killer fell to Hector-doppelganger Eddie Nketiah (born in 1999).
2015
While Gooners everywhere are rejoicing over our bright start to the 2020/21 league campaign, many are already asking, “Can we really beat Liverpool for a third time in a row next Monday?” If you believe in asterisks (i.e., ignoring our wins over the defending champions in July’s Community Shield and in August’s league match, which, in fairness to Liverpool, was played after they had already secured the title), then the last time we beat Liverpool in a proper league match was a 4-1 romp at the Emirates in April 2015. Our goal scorers that day included Hector Bellerin, Chelsea’s Olivier Giroud, Lee Dixon favorite Mesut Ozil (even the unflappable Arlo White thought about not answering Dixon’s question during today’s match about Ozil’s whereabouts – see “Can’t Catch A Break” in my previous post), and Inter Milan’s Alexis Sanchez.
2018
In the 2019/20 season, Arsenal’s 48 “big chances created” ranked just 12th in the league and was our lowest figure since the 2016/17 season. And once again today–despite having nearly 63% possession–the Gunners were outshot by the Hammers 14 to 7 (surprisingly, West Ham ranked 9th in big chances created last season). While it’s been widely publicized that since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang played his first match for Arsenal in February 2018 he has scored more goals than anyone in the Prem not named Mohamed Salah, sadly the Gunners have not had a player register in the top ten for big chances created since Ozil in the 2017/18 season. Auba’s prolific scoring–even without the presence of a perennial big chance creator like Kevin De Bruyne or Andrew Robertson–makes him all the more remarkable and highlights the importance of his recent new deal. The need to create more chances is also why the signing of Willian was prioritized (as he tied for 8th in big chances created last season) and why hopefully additional creative options in the midfield are on the way.