Much has been made about costs in football today and while we agree that they are out of control, the witch-hunt which has been undertaken by parts of the media against Arsenal these days has gotten out of hand.

So, are Arsenal fans fleeced more than fans of other clubs? Not so it seems.

The only category which Arsenal come out on top is for season tickets and this neglects to mention that Arsenal season ticket holders get seven games more than other clubs so but this fact is rarely ever reported. That doesn’t mean that Arsenal season tickets aren’t ridiculously high, but they aren’t as high as they are made out to be.

In fact, based on the highest season ticket prices, which have been used for the chart below [Arsenal £1,955, Sp*rs £1,845] – that averages out at £75.19 per Arsenal game but £97.10 per Sp*rs game. To put it another way, if Arsenal’s season ticket offered the same number of games as Tottenham, it would cost £1,428 – that’s £417 less than Sp*rs.

Arsenal’s cheapest matchday ticket it £26 while at Sp*rs it is £32, at Chelsea £41, Everton £31, Manchester United £30, Liverpool £39, Norwich £30, Reading £37, Southampton £28, Swansea £35, and West Ham £36.

Arsenal do, however, offer the most expensive matchday ticket coming in at a whopping £126 with the next highest being Chelsea at £87.

Research in addition to that shown below has shown that the cheapest day out available at Arsenal [ticket, programme, pie and tea] is £34.30. That’s cheaper than at Chelsea where it’s £49.60, Everton £38.90, Liverpool £47.30, Man City £35, Manchester United £38.60, Norwich £38, Reading £45, Southampton £36.20, Swansea £42.80, Tottenham £41.20, and West Ham £44.50.

None of this information will make fans feel any better about the prices they are forced to pay out on a regular basis, but when you add this to the report which FourFourTwo compiled which showed, on average, away fans are charged more to go to games at Chelsea than Arsenal, you begin to see that there might just possibly be an agenda in the press when it comes to Arsenal and prices.

Thanks to @Di_Elle for the heads up and @Visually for the image