Under Mikel Arteta, Arsenal have become masters of the ‘dark arts’ of football, as clearly evidenced during their 2-2 draw at Manchester City.
After Leandro Trossard’s sending off, the Gunners parked the bus and resorted to every time-wasting trick in the book in order to hang on to their lead.
It nearly worked, only for John Stones’ 98th minute equaliser to see the points shared.
Arsenal’s tactics have divided option, with their heroic defending almost universally praised, but the time-wasting left some – mainly City’s players – very unimpressed.
This was also the second game this season where an Arsenal star was sent off after being shown a second yellow for kicking the ball away, though it has been acknowledged that Trossard’s red was far more deserved than Declan Rice’s against Brighton.
All said, the match and the response to Arteta’s ‘dark arts’ have raised an interesting question…
Who are the Premier League’s biggest time-wasters?
The answer: Arsenal.
Opta Analyst has calculated the average time every Premier League club takes from being awarded corners, goal-kicks, free-kicks, penalties, throw-ins and kick-off, to them actually taking it.
Arsenal have the longest average delay time of any side this season at 31.8 seconds, narrowly ahead of Leicester (31.7) and Brentford (31.2).
On the opposite end of the scale, West Ham time-waste the least with a delay time of just 23.9 seconds, slightly quicker than Liverpool (24.1) and Tottenham (24.2).
Elsewhere, Man City rank 16th with a time of 25.4 seconds, Manchester United are 12th (27.6) and Chelsea 7th (29.3).
This is not a new trend, as last season Arsenal were ranked the fourth biggest time-wasters, behind only Nottingham Forest, Brentford and Aston Villa, with their delay time now up by 2.6 seconds from 2023/24.
It should be noted that these numbers are based on the average over the first four games of the 2024/25 season only, and don’t include last weekend’s fixtures including City vs Arsenal.
Premier League average delay times
Arsenal – 31.8 seconds
Leicester – 31.7 seconds
Brentford – 31.2 seconds
Wolves – 30.8 seconds
Aston Villa – 30.4 seconds
Everton – 30.3 seconds
Chelsea – 29.3 seconds
Brighton – 29.2 seconds
Nottingham Forest – 29.2 seconds
Newcastle – 29 seconds
Ipswich – 28.7 seconds
Man Utd – 27.6 seconds
Bournemouth – 27.5 seconds
Southampton – 26.9 seconds
Fulham – 26.4 seconds
Man City – 25.4 seconds
Crystal Palace – 24.4 seconds
Tottenham – 24.2 seconds
Liverpool – 24.1 seconds
West Ham – 23.9 seconds
Stats courtesy of Opta
If they did, Arsenal’s delay time would most certainly be up a few more seconds, as they took an average 42.7 seconds to restart the game at the Etihad.
Goalkeeper David Raya played a huge part through his 12 goal-kicks, each of which on average took 45.3 seconds to complete. That means in total, he wasted over nine minutes of the match.
Opta do note that Arsenal’s increased delay time this season will have been influenced by the two red cards in the draws with Brighton and City, with other sides also upping their time-wasting after going down to 10-men.
Case in point, aside from Raya vs City, the biggest time-wasting keeper this season was Newcastle’s Nick Pope against Southampton, a game where the Magpies were down to 10 for over an hour.
It remains to be seen who will top the ‘dark arts’ table come seasons’ end, with this Saturday seeing a clash between the two biggest time-wasters: Arsenal vs Leicester.