Narrative: The tension between Statistics and Romance

This Sunday, Arsenal lost 2-1 to Tottenham Hotspur. In this season and the last, the results have been exactly the same. Arsenal beat Spurs 5-2 at home, and Spurs won 2-1 at White Hart Lane. Cumulatively, the score is 12-8 to Arsenal. Many arguments have been made by Spurs fans that the balance of power has shifted in north London, or that the pendulum has swung in favour of a Spurs team who have improved somewhat under the management of Andre Villas Boas.

Voices in the crowd: Vaughters and Wenger

Since the early hours of Thursday morning and the last instalment of Bleeding Edge, some smarter than average bears have had their say. Arsene Wenger and Jonathan Vaughters are two of the more interesting and insightful voices in football and cycling respectively and equally forward thinking in their approaches to team management. The point that both unifies and sets them apart from their peers is their willingness to speak out with little regard for the way the wind is blowing.

You've got to start somewhere...

… so this seems as good a place as any.

Let’s begin with a little bit of autobiography shall we?