Doing the Double

This week our statistician looks at Arsenal's record of beating teams home and away in the same season.

On Monday night Newcastle United became the eighth different side Arsenal have beaten home and away in the Premier League this term, and the Gunners could yet make that nine before the end of the season.

The full list of sides that Arsenal have done the double over in 2013/14 is Fulham, Sunderland, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Cardiff City, Tottenham, Hull City and Newcastle - the last five all without conceding a goal.

Arsenal still have to face Norwich on the last day, having beaten them 4-1 earlier in the season.

This is the highest number of league doubles Arsenal have recorded in a season since 2007/08 (nine) and in total the Gunners have managed it 132 times in Premier League history - an average of six per season.

Arsenal have 'doubled' 40 different sides (89 per cent of the total teams to appear in the league), with Everton, Man City and West Ham on the receiving end most often (eight each).

The only teams Arsenal have not beaten home and away in the same Premier League season are: Bradford City, Burnley, Sheffield United, Swansea City and Swindon Town.

Since the league was established in 1992/93, Arsenal have always beaten at least three different teams home and away - the club record for the most doubles in a season is 10, from 2004/05. That is also an all-time record for the club in all-league football, joint with the 1930/31 season, though there were 22 teams in the division back then.

In each of Arsenal's 13 title-winning seasons they racked up at least four doubles.

The last time Arsenal didn't do the double over any teams in the league was way back in 1923/24, when the Gunners finished 19th in the First Division.

One of the teams Arsenal beat twice this campaign was Hull City, who the Gunners will meet again in the FA Cup final on May 17. A word of caution though - history shows that completing the league double is not necessarily an indication of recording another win in the final.

Manchester City beat Wigan home and away last season, yet lost the final, while the previous year Liverpool won both league games against Chelsea, but lost at Wembley. Also, in 2004/05, Manchester United won both league fixtures against the Gunners, but it was Arsène Wenger's men who lifted the FA Cup that May.

Indeed only twice in the past 15 years has a team won both league games and then triumphed in the FA Cup final against the same side.

Looking purely at Arsenal's record though, the only previous time they have gone into an FA Cup final on the back of two league wins against the fellow finalists was 1998, and that year Wenger's men beat Newcastle 2-0 at Wembley.

Also, when Arsenal have gone into the FA Cup final unbeaten in the league against the finalists, they have always gone on to lift the cup (1930, 1979, 1998 and 2002). 

No side beat Arsenal home and away in the league this season - the eighth time that's happened in the past 16 years.

Since the Premier League began in 1992/93 Arsenal have been defeated twice by the same opposition 21 times, and just 12 times since Wenger took over nearly 18 years ago. Only three different teams have managed it in the past 10 years - Chelsea, Manchester United and West Ham United.

Man United have in fact done it four times so far, the same number as Liverpool, who were the last side to do it to Arsenal during a championship-winning campaign. In 1997/98 Liverpool won 1-0 at Highbury in November, then 4-0 at Anfield in May, though the Gunners had already wrapped up the title by then, and had an FA Cup final to prepare for.

Prior to that Derby County beat Arsenal twice during the 1988/89 title success.

Since Wenger took over in 1996/97 the Gunners haven't been beaten home and away by more than two different teams in the same season.

Since Arsenal were promoted to the top flight in 1919, the highest number of doubles suffered in a season was seven, way back in 1923/24, and there haven't been more than four occasions during a season since 1975/76.

Not surprisingly, most of the teams Arsenal earn maximum points against in a season finish in the bottom half of the table. Since the league was reduced to 20 teams in 1995/96, 73 per cent of Arsenal's 113 doubles have come against sides that finished 11th or lower, and the average finishing position of those 113 teams was 13.5.

From those 18 seasons since 1995, the Gunners beat the bottom-placed team home and away 12 times, and 33 of the doubles were recorded against sides that finished in the relegation zone.

Last season Arsenal did the double over each of the relegated sides, and the average finishing position of the six teams that the Gunners beat home and away last term was 15.2, suggesting that it was the higher-ranked teams that Arsenal dropped more points than usual against.

The story is similar this season. The current league positions of the eight teams we have 'doubled' in 2013/14 are:  6, 9, 11, 13, 14, 17, 19 and 20 for an average of 13.6.

Eight times since 1995/96 Arsenal have completed the double over other teams that finished in the top four, including once beating the eventual champions home and away. That was in 2006/07 when the Gunners beat Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford before a 2-1 home win against them in the January.

That remains the only time that Arsenal have completed the double over a side that eventually finished above them.

All stats correct as at April 30, 2014