A tradition returns: Arsenal's magic numbers
How far are Arsenal from clinching certain Premier League places?
Welcome back for the second year of Magic Numbers, my own twist on a heavily American concept (NBA and MLB fans are likely familiar).
I keep a magic numbers table active throughout the season. Why? I’m not really sure. There’s a lot about me that cannot be explained.
Given the club’s recent form and the fact that we’re officially into 2023, I thought I’d bust out the very first of what will be many iterations of the Magic Numbers graphic. Take a look for yourself!
What’s a magic number?
The magic number is an expression of how many points you need to clinch a finish above another team in your league. Quite literally, it’s the number of points you’d need to win to still finish above the other team if they won every single game remaining.
As you’d expect, every Arsenal win will lop 3 off every magic number, and Arsenal draws will reduce them by 1. But every dropped point by the clubs in question ALSO comes off the magic number, so these totals move a lot quicker than the regular table.
If you have more questions about this metric, feel free to reach out! Comment below or on one of my many magic numbers tweets to come.
As it stands, if I get it, City are on course to take 60 points from the final 22 games, and if we want to go past them on the final day we need to take 60 - 7 (the gap) to be over them. 97, but wil fall as games are played and points dropped?
Sorry senior moment how do I read this, is each horizontal bar the points you believe the team can secure over the remaining games? And there there to finish about Citeh for example Arsenal would need to secure a further 61 points to win the league? I don’t think I’ve got that right?