Arsenal's empty Emirates: Why were there so many empty seats in the stands against Sunderland and is under-fire Arsene Wenger to blame?


A large section of Arsenal's support chose to stay away from the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night due to a range of reasons. 

Supporters were said to be turning their back on Arsene Wenger in a public display of disregard towards the Frenchman. 

However what were the other factors for such a poor attendance? Here, Sportsmail answers the key questions...

 

How many supporters did Arsenal say were at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday?

According to Arsenal, 59,510, which is just a few hundred below their 60,272 capacity.

Clearly, there were nowhere near as many as that there.

Our reporters at the Emirates estimated up to 20,000 were absent at kick-off, before a further 5,000 slowly but surely filtered in.

There were plenty of empty seats during Arsenal's 2-0 win over Sunderland on Tuesday night

There were plenty of empty seats during Arsenal's 2-0 win over Sunderland on Tuesday night

So why the 59,510 figure?

Arsenal announce 'tickets sold' for their home games rather than a bums-in-seats attendance.

It takes into account season ticket holders, leaving a figure that is not a true reflection of how many are there.

Tuesday night's fixture felt like a friendly, according to some.

What did Arsene Wenger say?

'It's Tuesday night against Sunderland,' Wenger said. 'Everybody expects us to win and I didn't count the number of people who were in the seats.

'We have to focus on our job and not look at how many people are in the stands. When you're a football player, you ideally want to be playing in a packed stadium, but we are quite spoiled with that at Arsenal.

'Overall, it's a Tuesday night and people may think Sunderland is an easy game and that's why there were less people.'

Arsene Wenger is adamant fans stayed away because Sunderland are already relegated

Arsene Wenger is adamant fans stayed away because Sunderland are already relegated

Why are the supporters staying away?

Fan groups have been calling for a boycott amid Arsenal's struggle to secure Champions League football.

It is also safe to say there are a fair few who want Wenger to leave. Those 'Wenger Out' banners are often visible – both in the stands and in the sky.

The uncertainty over Wenger's future is not helping.

The Arsenal manager is only contracted with the club until the end of May, so an announcement is imminent.

Why do Arsenal give it as tickets sold?

The practice is employed up and down the country.

The Premier League are content to leave the decision to the discretion of each club.

It is believed to be the simplest way for clubs to calculate attendances. The number of season ticket holders never changes, after all.

Fans who stayed away from the north London club missed Alexis Sanchez net a double

Fans who stayed away from the north London club missed Alexis Sanchez net a double

Can you get the real attendances and not just tickets sold?

Yes. The Metropolitan Police and other services need to know the true attendances for safety reasons, and they are often attainable via a Freedom of Information request.

Give me an example?

It was in 2014 when an FOI request showed that more than 170,000 seats were left empty during Arsenal's games at the Emirates the season before.

Who else does it?

Manchester United have done it.

In 2013 it was reported that the club were adding as many as 24,000 fans on to crowd attendances compared with the actual number watching games at Old Trafford, according to police data.

Bolton and Charlton have also come in for criticism in the past too.