Arsenal were almost invincible when they took the lead last season and were at their strongest at the end of games — that is the assessment of Arsène Wenger.
The dust is settling on the 2006/07 Premiership campaign. Just before its conclusion, the Arsenal manager crunched some illuminating numbers. They demonstrated the strengths and weaknesses of his side last term.
“If you take our season, it’s simple,” he said. “In the Premiership we had the lead 16 times. We won 14 times and drew just two - the two Chelsea games — and lost zero. But we were behind 20 times in the League.
“We were the only team who scored 21 goals in the last 15 minutes. The second team scored only 14 or 15 I think. For me, that means we have the quality to push teams and kill them off. But what is linked with our conversion rate is the aggressive level at the start of the game and [the need] to be alert. That is because we have a lack of experience.
“However when we led first nobody has beaten us. Only Chelsea came back — once in the last minute and once at Emirates Stadium, where they deserve a lot of credit for their performance.”