Arsenal edged Leeds United 1-0 at Elland Road over the weekend, taking their points tally to 27 from just 10 games. In the process, Mikel Arteta’s men created a new club record of nine wins in their first ten league matches- a feat that has never been achieved by the Gunners (not even by Arsene Wenger’s legendary Invincibles!) in the Premier League era.
There was an element of luck about the victory- Arsenal’s winner came after a poor pass from Leeds’ Rodrigo, Patrick Bamford had a goal disallowed and also missed a penalty. Bamford was even given a second penalty in stoppage time with referee Chris Kavanagh sending Gabriel off, but VAR intervened, much to the Gunners’ relief. The penalty decision was reversed and Gabriel’s red was downgraded to a yellow.
However good teams make their own luck, and that’s precisely what Arteta’s men managed at Elland Road over the weekend. It would’ve been all too easy for them to fall apart following their loss to Manchester United in GW6– as has been the case with Arsenal teams in the recent past, but Arteta’s charges are made of sterner stuff and have bounced back superbly, winning seven in a row across all competitions since that 3-1 defeat to the Red Devils.
In an interview to bookiesbonuses.com in May earlier this year, Swedish great Anders Limpar- a former AFC player himself, said that the Gunners were on the right track under Arteta as manager and expected them to be challenging the likes of City and Liverpool for the title in due course. His prediction appears to have come true, given Arsenal’s fantastic start to the new campaign.
A lot of credit must obviously go to Arteta and his summer signings- Gabriel Jesus in particular has been excellent. The likes of Saliba and Granit Xhaka look hungry this season. Arteta hasn’t been shy to implement changes- he’s moved Ben White to right back and even played Tomiyasu ahead of Kieran Tierney at LB against Liverpool, and was vindicated as the Japanese star kept Mo Salah quiet.
A four point gap has opened between the Gunners and City following the latter’s 1-0 reverse at Anfield. It was a frustrating evening for Pep Guardiola- the usually reliable Erling Haaland was unable to find a way past Alisson Becker in the Reds goal, and when City did manage to find the back of the net (through Phil Foden), it was reversed by VAR. A swift counter-attacking LFC move following an attacking City free kick saw Salah score the winner, with Joao Cancelo making a costly error. The Portuguese went to intercept the ball and failed, and Salah made no mistake in his 1v1 against Ederson.
The LFC win is massive- it’s sent a message out to the rest of the league that City are beatable, and Arsenal will themselves believe that this could just end up being their season, if they continue playing in the same vein they have so far.