‘Factually incorrect… 2nd again' – Mikel Arteta brutally trolled for getting numbers wrong in awkward press conference
Take the Mik 'Factually incorrect… 2nd again' – Mikel Arteta brutally trolled for getting numbers wrong in awkward press conference
ARSENAL boss Mikel Arteta has been trolled by fans on social media after messing up his numbers during a Premier League title claim.
The Gunners start their season with a trip to Old Trafford against Manchester United on Sunday, where they will be hoping to avoid losing precious ground in the title race early on.
4
Mikel Arteta has been trolled by fans after fudging his numbers
Credit: Getty
4
He claimed Arsenal had the most points over the last three seasons
Credit: Getty
Advertisement
4
But Arsenal were actually second, with Man City being first
Credit: Reuters
Play Dream Team now!
Play The Sun Dream Team ahead of the 2025/26 season Free to play
Over £100,000 in total prize money
Play in Mini Leagues against your mates
Submit a team for Gameweek 1 to enter £5,000 prize draw
Play via Dream Team's app or website today!
Following three seasons of finishing as the runner-up, twice to Manchester City and once to Liverpool, Arteta has backed his team's consistency as the key to finally winning that elusive title.
Speaking to reporters, he said: "You keep digging, digging, digging and you have to be digging because one day the gold is going to be there.
"That's all the time. When I've been taught, when I've been educated, that's it."
Advertisement
The 43-year-old continued: "For three seasons we've had more points than any other team in this league, which is incredible. That's how you have all the consistency.
"Now we have to do it in a season to have one more point or the same amount of points and more goals different than any other team. That's the objective.'
However, while Arteta is a tactical mastermind at the Emirates, his numbers were a little wide of the mark.
Over the last three completed seasons, Arsenal have racked up an aggregate of 247 points: 84 in 2022/23, 89 in 2023/24 and 74 in 2024/25.
Advertisement
And while those tallies are doubtless impressive on their own merits, it is still eclipsed by Arteta's former master, Pep Guardiola.
BEST ONLINE CASINOS - TOP SITES IN THE UK
Arsenal's rise towards the top came halfway through City's unprecedented four-peat of titles between 2020/21 and 2023/24.
In the latter half of that run, City put up 89 and 91 points to claim the title, before a dramatic dip off last year saw them finish third with 71 points.
Mikel Arteta asked Arsenal stars to vote for club captain as he reveals winner 'by 100 miles'
But despite the fall off, the Etihad outfit have a higher points total than Arsenal, with 251 points.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, reigning champions Liverpool have a total of 233 in the last three seasons: 67 in 2022/23, 82 in 2023/24 and 84 in 2024/25.
Yet it is easy to suspect Arne Slot and co won't care too much considering they got their hands on silverware while Arsenal didn't.
Brainiac fans were quick to point this out in response, with one saying: "Factually incorrect - in the past 3 seasons it's City 251, Arsenal 247, Liverpool 233. 2nd again."
A second said: "Three seasons we've had more points than other team in this league… where is the title please?"
A third added: "They should stop digging and start playing football."
Advertisement
Another said: "How does this make sense to him. The team with the highest points per season wins EPL not an accumulation of points over the years.
Arsenal's transfer deals
IN Viktor Gyökeres - from Sporting Lisbon - £72m
Noni Madueke - from Chelsea - £52m
Martin Zubimendi - from Real Sociedad - £51m
Christian Norgaard - from Brentford - £15m
Cristhian Mosquera - from Valencia - £13m
Kepa Arrizabalaga - from Chelsea - £5m
TOTAL - £208m
OUT Nuno Taveres - to Lazio - £4.4m
Marquinhos - to Cruzeiro - £2.6m
Jorginho - to Flamengo - free
Kieran Tierney - to Celtic - free
Takehiro Tomiyasu - released
Thomas Partey - released
TOTAL - £7m
ARSENAL TRANSFER NEWS LIVE
"It's high time Arsenal get rid of this man cause he has absolutely lost it."
A fifth said: "Arteta out here sounding like he's giving a TED Talk for miners instead of a title race press conference."
SunSport also took a look at how some of the other Premier League sides have fared with their points totals over the last three seasons.
Completing the top four is Newcastle with 197 points, with Aston Villa closely behind on 195 claiming the final Champions League spot in this mini-league.
Advertisement
Despite the historic lows of last season, Man Utd rank 6th in this criteria with 177 points.
This is a single point more than Chelsea, who have spent over a billion pounds to become competitive again.
Savvy recruiters Brighton had quite the dip off in Roberto de Zerbi's final season, but saw their average go back up under Fabian Hurzeler for the Seagulls to hit an impressive total of 171.
Tottenham are behind them following their historically-poor league campaign last time out, with 164 points totted up - although if they had hit the 60 mark again, they would have been on over 180.
Brentford also suffered a dip two seasons ago as they adjusted to losing big names like Ivan Toney, but still jotted up a total of 154 points.
Advertisement
Premier League sides points totals over the last three seasons
We have looked at Premier League clubs points totals since the 2022/23 season to 2024/25. Here's the top 10:
Manchester City: 89 + 91 + 71 = 251
Arsenal: 84 + 89 + 74 = 247
Liverpool: 67 + 82 + 84 = 233
Newcastle: 71 + 60 + 66 = 197
Aston Villa: 61 + 68 + 66 = 195
Man Utd: 75 + 60 + 42 = 177
Chelsea: 44 + 63 + 69 = 176
Brighton: 62 + 48 + 61 = 171
Tottenham: 60 + 68 + 38 = 164
Brentford: 59 + 39 + 56 = 154
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
12 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Grealish adapted and became a Guardiola player. Now can he find himself again?
A figure toils alone at Bodymoor Heath. The light fades, but against the setting sun his silhouette is distinctive: the floppy hair, the hunched gait, the vast calves. Jack Grealish is working, honing and polishing, inventing, striving at the limits of technical excellence. He has inspired Aston Villa to promotion. He has helped them avoid relegation, establish themselves as a Premier League side. He is enormously popular. Even opposing fans admire his ability, warm to the sense he is still in some way the impish kid in the playground, revelling in his ability, having fun. That summer at the Euros he had become a cause célèbre, the figure behind whom the clamour for Gareth Southgate to release the handbrake rallied, the poster boy for the sort of pundit who wished England would just believe in talent. But Grealish wanted more. He was a Villa fan, loved the club, but he wanted to test himself at the very highest level, to compete for the league title, to play in the later stages of the Champions League. He did not want to be just the cheeky kid with the jinking feet; he had professional ambition. At which there came a flash of light, a puff of smoke, and there appeared on the heath a cadaverous, dark-haired figure – Mephistopheles, or perhaps an agent. Grealish could have all these things, the figure said, he could lift trophies, even win a treble, if only he signed a six-year contract with Manchester City. As Grealish reached for the pen, the figure murmured, almost under his breath, that there would be a cost. But by then the deal was done. Which is how we have come, four years later, to this week, and Grealish, the first £100m signing by a British club, being loaned to Everton. He has won three league titles, a Champions League and an FA Cup; the cadaverous figure has fulfilled his part of the bargain. Yet there lurks a sense that Grealish's move four summers ago has not quite worked out, that though much has been won, much too was lost. Perhaps David Moyes, a common line of thought runs, can help the lost boy rediscover his sense of joy. Looked at coldly, Grealish's career has mapped an almost perfect arc. A kid shows talent, joins his local club, prospers, leaves them for a giant, wins trophies, has one outstanding season, and then, as he approaches 30, he drops down again joining another of England's slumbering giants. How else should a career look? You would probably want that third phase to start two or three years later but that aside, this is pretty much the model. Had he stayed at Villa, there would have been corners of the internet mocking him for his lack of ambition and lack of medals, as happened with Harry Kane before he left Tottenham for Bayern. But Grealish has become entwined with a broader discussion, the doubts about the effectiveness of Pep Guardiola's methods – which itself is a broad spectrum, ranging from kneejerk hostility from instinctive nostalgists who believe simple is always good, to considered analysis that wonders whether an obsessive focus on position and possession can make a side predictable now that the world has become familiar with the basic Guardiola methods. Foremost among that second category is Guardiola himself, a manager who has maintained a state of almost perpetual evolution. That is one of the reasons he signed Grealish: to add imagination and improvisation, just as, a year later, he would sign Erling Haaland, another player who did not obviously fit his system, who might generate the friction that would generate the sparks of creativity. Or at least it appears that was the plan. Haaland resisted, refused his manager's demands to drop deep, to convert himself into a gigantic creative midfielder. Grealish did not. Whatever Guardiola originally intended for him, he soon began to craft Grealish to his philosophy. Amid the celebrations at the end of the 2021-22 season, as City came from 2-0 down to beat Aston Villa and win the title, Grealish, whose candid nature is part of his charm, spoke of how inhibited he at times felt by Guardiola's demands; his dribbles per game had dropped by 40%. The system had, perhaps inevitably, changed him more than he had changed the system. Manchester City's Jack Grealish (left) and Manchester City's Erling Haaland speak during training session at the City Football Academy, Manchester. Picture: Peter Byrne/PA Wire. The following season was Grealish's best at City. He won the treble. He scored five goals in the league and set up another seven. Guardiola trusted him in the biggest games; he started every knockout game in the Champions League. Teammates nicknamed him the Rest Station because you could give him the ball and take a couple of seconds breather, knowing he was not going to give it away. His dribbles per game rose by 7%. Grealish adapted. He became a Guardiola player. But the next season he started only 10 Premier League games. The one after that, last season, he started seven. Dribbles per game dropped by 56%. When City were chasing a goal in the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace, Guardiola preferred to turn to Claudio Echeverri, a 19-year-old Argentinian who had never played for the club. And with that it was over. Injuries have not helped, but neither has his lifestyle – and Guardiola implied a link after Grealish suffered a recurrence of a groin injury in February last year. Very few modern footballers have been pictured quite so often in the company of alcohol. That is not to say Grealish has led a life of hedonism, or even of a footballer of 30 years ago, but neither is he one of the 'obedient little schoolboys' – to use Zlatan Ibrahimovic's term – favoured by Guardiola. Whether that is how he has always lived or whether he lost some hunger after winning the treble, only Grealish can know. Perhaps he could tolerate the restrictions only so long. But he is still young. If he can remain injury-free, there could be a glorious third act to his career, perhaps even a trophy at a club that would really appreciate it. And if he could rediscover that sense of joy while doing so, if he can make the Faustian deal a temporary contract, what a career that would be, beginning and ending as a popular schoolyard player, with a curious trophy-winning interlude in the middle. Guardian
The Irish Sun
12 minutes ago
- The Irish Sun
Jurrien Timber admits Arsenal ‘don't know what to expect' from Man Utd ahead of Premier League opener
ARSENAL star Jurrien Timber reckons the Premier League fixture computer was in a mischievous mood when it picked Gunners' first six matches. Last season, Mikel Arteta's men had to face Tottenham and Manchester City early on. 3 Jurrien Timber has discussed Arsenal's tough start to the season Credit: Getty But this time it is even tougher as Sunday's Old Trafford battle with Manchester United is just the start of a seriously tricky opening set of games. Advertisement After Leeds at home next Saturday, Arsenal visit champions Liverpool, are at home to Nottingham Forest and Manchester City, followed by a trip to Newcastle. Defender Timber grinned: 'It is a tough beginning, isn't it? I think last season we had a tough start. 'It can go both ways. If you start well, it can be amazing. That is the challenge. 'Personally, when the programme comes out for the first time you think, 'oh, that is a tough start'. Advertisement 'And then, for a whole week you are just talking about Manchester United. Not the game against City. It is so far away. The whole week has been about Manchester United. Not even Leeds or Liverpool. 'United have got some good players. They have a great squad and great manager. 'Last season we had a tough game away there and it will be tough again on Sunday — but also because they have new players, you don't know what to expect. 3 Advertisement BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS 'That's the thing with the Premier League that I find so impressive. 'Every team is getting stronger every year. United were 14th last year and you look at that team and think, 'how is that possible?'. Everyone is expecting a lot from them. Mikel Arteta asked Arsenal stars to vote for club captain as he reveals winner 'by 100 miles' 'Chelsea are looking amazing and there are so many good teams, it is going to be tough for sure. 'That's why it is so important to focus on ourselves and believe in what we can do. Advertisement "We can't look at too many teams and what is happening around the league. I don't think that would be good for us or for anyone.' After finishing as runners-up three years in a row and adding Viktor Gyokeres, Noni Madueke, Martin Zubimendi, Christian Norgaard, Cristhian Mosquera and Kepa Arrizabalaga this summer, Timber admits the pressure is on Arteta's players. The Dutchman, 24, said: 'Arsenal have shown that we will always be fighting for the title. Also every year they are trying to strengthen the squad, this summer as well. Arsenal's transfer deals IN Viktor Gyökeres - from Sporting Lisbon - £72m Noni Madueke - from Chelsea - £52m Martin Zubimendi - from Real Sociedad - £51m Christian Norgaard - from Brentford - £15m Cristhian Mosquera - from Valencia - £13m Kepa Arrizabalaga - from Chelsea - £5m TOTAL - £208m OUT Nuno Taveres - to Lazio - £4.4m Marquinhos - to Cruzeiro - £2.6m Jorginho - to Flamengo - free Kieran Tierney - to Celtic - free Takehiro Tomiyasu - released Thomas Partey - released TOTAL - £7m ARSENAL TRANSFER NEWS LIVE 'We have an amazing group and a group to do amazing things. We will give everything, like every season — this season is not going to be any different. 'You can tell we are close, it is just that last step. There is nothing more you can do than just fight for it all the way. Advertisement 'We have the manager for it, we have the team for it, we have the club for it. 'That is why everyone is so excited to give it all because we know we have the chance. 'You always need a bit of luck but in the end last season we just weren't good enough. Liverpool were better so we are trying to make that difference this season. 'You play so many games and you have to stay so sharp. You also need a big squad of players with so many games coming. 'It's not just the league, it's the Champions League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup. It's fun and exciting and I can't wait to start again.' Advertisement
The Journal
an hour ago
- The Journal
Manchester City begin title quest with convincing win against Wolves
The 42 ERLING HAALAND AND new signings Tijjani Reinders and Rayan Cherki combined as Manchester City thrashed Wolves 4-0 in their Premier League opener. Haaland struck twice either side of a fine effort from Reijnders, and substitute Cherki added a late fourth, as City began their quest for a seventh title in nine years in convincing fashion at Molineux. Reijnders also had a hand in both of Haaland's goals in what was a particularly impressive introduction to life in the English top flight. Whilst it may be premature to suggest City have found the ideal replacement for Kevin De Bruyne, it was a very promising showing from the Dutchman. His presence brought dynamism to a City side that also raised eyebrows in other areas. Most notably, goalkeeper James Trafford was handed a debut and Ederson – described as 'number one' by manager Pep Guardiola this week despite speculation over his future – was missing from the squad altogether. The club, however, later confirmed the Brazilian's absence was due to illness, with the 31-year-old suffering from gastroenteritis. John Stones returned in defence for his first appearance since February and another new recruit, Rayan Ait-Nouri, featured against the club he left in the summer. It was an emotional occasion for Wolves as they paid a series of tributes before and during the game to Diogo Jota, their former striker who died last month following a car accident. Advertisement A Wolves tribute to Diogo Jota. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo The visitors assumed control early on but did not create a clear-cut opening until the 19th minute when captain Bernardo Silva crossed for Haaland but the Norwegian, having to stretch too much, headed over. City had some moments of alarm as Wolves got behind the defence. Marshall Munetsi thought he scored when he headed past Trafford from a Matt Doherty cross but he was clearly offside. A chance also appeared to open up for Jean-Ricner Bellegarde but again the flag was raised. City took charge of the game after two moments of brilliance from Reijnders in the space of three minutes. The Netherlands international, whose outings at the Club World Cup may have helped him settle, played a delightful lob over the defence for Rico Lewis and his pull-back presented Haaland with a simple tap-in. Moments later the former AC Milan midfielder applied the finishing touch himself with a superb low strike across goal after Andre Gomes lost possession to Oscar Bobb. Jorgen Strand Larsen spurned a good chance to pull one back after the break when he side-footed narrowly wide and the same player also forced Trafford to palm over. Haaland increased City's lead just after the hour following more incisive work from Reijnders, who received a long ball from Trafford and exchanged passes with Bobb on the right. He continued his run and pulled back for Haaland to sweep home from the edge of the area. Cherki, having been on the field just eight minutes, added to Wolves' woes when he drove in from distance nine minutes from time after combining with Nico O'Reilly. Written by Press Association and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won't find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women's sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here .
