Arsenal Fan Claims 'Horrible Anomaly' In Fixture List 'Damaged' Season

One Arsenal fan has blamed a 'horrible anomaly' for the team's woes in the Premier League and their inability to finish in the top four.

Ahead of the season no one would have expected Arsenal to finish in the top four, and qualify for next season's Champions League.

By the end of the campaign however, their failure to finish above Tottenham Hotspur can only be seen as a failure, considering their four point lead ahead of the final three games.

Granit Xhaka blamed his teammates lack of testicular fortitude for their team's loss to Newcastle United, having lost to Spurs just days before.

However, it appears the reason the Gunners will be settling for the Europa League next season is actually because of the fixture list.

One fan has put together a thread explaining his conspiracy about how the club were handed a list of fixtures that didn't 'scream fair,' and how it damaged their season.

🚨The new @premierleague fixtures are going to be announced on June 16th.

How they roll out can greatly impact a season in a league in which fine margins can be so, so important to success.

This thread will talk about a statistical anomaly that damaged Arsenal last season.

🧵

— Le Grove (@LeGrove) June 6, 2022

Fixtures are compiled via 'advanced programming technology' combined with human intervention.

There are 'Golden Rules' that are coded:
🪙A team will never have more than two H or A matches in a row
🪙A club will never start or finish the season with two home or two away

— Le Grove (@LeGrove) June 6, 2022

So what have we learned?

1⃣The fixture list is not totally random.
2⃣The algorithm has conditions that shapes output.
3⃣Human intervention is also prevalent in diminishing the pureness.

For good reasons.

— Le Grove (@LeGrove) June 6, 2022

Back to Arsenal:

Out of Europe for the first time in 25 years, you'd hope that one advantage would be to play one of the 7 European teams between Sept and Nov.

There are 6 fixtures during that time.

How many teams did we play?

Zero.

That seemed like a horrible anomaly...

— Le Grove (@LeGrove) June 6, 2022

So for every 100 times you run this 'random' process for fixtures that have a manual input between the Premier League and experts in fairness, @Atos, the probability of Arsenal facing ZERO teams after a European day out is just 3.4%.

Near impossible odds if you were a gambler.

— Le Grove (@LeGrove) June 6, 2022

How did AFC end up with the 3.4% roll of the dice in their first non-European season in 25 years?

How did the fixture list look so unfavourable?

We started the season against a promoted side in a new stadium, then we played the CL champs, followed by the EPL champs.

Painful.

— Le Grove (@LeGrove) June 6, 2022

Concluding point? The data doesn't scream 'fair'

I would hope the EPL & ATOS double-check their work this season, because a 3.4% anomaly like this doesn't look good.

Let's hope June 16th is less freakish. Two bad fixtures lists would be a pattern.

That would be a conversation

— Le Grove (@LeGrove) June 6, 2022

For one, anyone stating that something that happens 3.4% of the time is 'impossible,' hasn't exactly got a grasp on the word 'impossible.'

Sure, it's unlucky not to face any of the rest of the 'big six,' who also ended up being the top six come the end of the season, after a European week, especially when Arteta's side had no European football.

But the team from the Emirates Stadium also didn't play any of their fellow top six during the busy December and Christmas periods, other than a New Year's Day fixture with Manchester City.

Their next game in the league was supposed to be against Spurs, two weeks later, but thanks to their controversial delay, due to Covid, they didn't play their local rivals until May.

Had they played on the original date of the fixture then Son Heung-min wouldn't have been available, as it was the South Korean played a huge part in the game.

He won the penalty that led to Antonio Conte's side's opener, assisted the second and scored their third, he was also fouled twice as Rob Holding was sent off for two yellow cards, with Arteta blaming the ref for his side's loss.

You can be sure if Arsenal finish outside the top four next season that they'll be something new to blame, just not sure what exactly yet...