Ruthlessly Efficient Arsenal Can Finally End Premier League Drought

For several years, a popular beer brand ran an advertising campaign in the UK imagining the perfect weekend.

The implication was that the beer was the “best in the world” and just about the only ingredient that could make an already ideal couple of days even better.

So ubiquitous was the advertisement that the phrase “[the brand] don’t do weekends, but if they did” has become part of the British lexicon.

As far as ideal weekends go, the one just gone ticked every box for Arsenal.

The Gunners beat Crystal Palace 1-0 on Sunday courtesy of an Eberechi Eze goal in his first meeting against the club he left in the summer for £67.5m ($90.6m) to move four points clear of Bournemouth at the top of the Premier League after nine games.

Better still for those of an Arsenal persuasion, defending champions Liverpool slumped to a fourth consecutive Premier League defeat as they lost 3-2 away to Brentford on Saturday night.

Less than 24 hours later, Manchester City came undone at the hands of Aston Villa in Birmingham for the third consecutive season, with Matty Cash scoring the only goal of the game.

Chelsea, the last team other than City or Liverpool to win the league, also lost, with Sunderland scoring a late winner to secure a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge.

Fifth-placed City are already five points behind Arsenal, with Liverpool a point and two positions further behind. Chelsea are ninth, a whopping eight points behind their London rivals already.

A perfect weekend, indeed.

Is the Premier League title race over?

At this point, it is probably worth introducing a number of disclaimers.

The clocks have only just gone back, we are not even a third of the way into the Premier League season and there are still 87 points to be won over the course of the campaign.

Anointing a champion before Halloween is an exercise in futility, as Arsenal know all too well.

Second in each of the past three seasons, the Gunners have developed a reputation as nearly men under Mikel Arteta.

They squandered an eight-point lead over City in the 2022-23 campaign and racked up 89 points the following term, the third-most by second-placed team in the history of the Premier League.

The big prize, however, has remained frustratingly elusive.

And yet, this is arguably as good a start as Arsenal could have hoped for to finally end their wait for a first Premier League crown since 2004.

“We are where we are,” Arteta said on Sunday. “It’s a credit to us, because we’ve been very, very consistent knowing the difficulty of every match as well.

“It is early and doesn’t mean anything other than, ‘let’s keep doing a lot of things like we’re doing really well.’ But there are things to improve to give us better margins.”

Earlier this season, as Liverpool opened up a five-point lead over Arsenal, Arteta was criticised for an overly cautious approach but it’s a philosophy that is paying off.

The old refrain of “One-nil to the Arsenal” rang around the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, as Arsenal secured their third win of the season by the same scoreline.

Can it be sustainable? One-goal wins could easily become frustrating draws – last season Arsenal won 1-0 on five occasions and drew 1-1 seven times, fine margins that could prove decisive in a tight title race.

Can Arsenal defensive record continue?

Similarly, the Gunners have conceded just three goals in nine Premier League games this season and have by far the best defensive record in the league.

They have allowed just one shot on goal over the past three games and haven’t conceded a league goal in almost a month, frankly ludicrous numbers.

Better still, only City and Tottenham with 17 goals have scored more goals than Arsenal’s tally of 16.

If there is an element of concern for Arteta is that of those 16 goals, only five have come from open play, the fourth-fewest of any Premier League team.

Viktor Gyokeres has scored five goals in 13 appearances in all competitions, but only three of them have come in the league with the Swede, an $86m move from Sporting Club in the summer, still finding his feet in England.

Conversely, the Gunners have scored a league-high nine goals from set pieces, offsetting the absences of Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke and Martin Odegaard.

Injuries have derailed Arsenal’s title quests under Arteta in the past, but the feeling is the Spaniard now has a deep enough squad to cope with key absences.

Arsenal’s total spending this summer could exceed £270m ($365m) if all the potential add-ons are triggered, comfortably surpassing the £199.3m ($269.4m) they spent two seasons ago.

Arteta, in short, has built a squad that has all it takes to compete – and win – on multiple fronts.

But for all their defensive solidity and set-piece prowess, Arsenal still have a long way to go to dispel their reputation as a side that goes missing when the going gets tough.

Two years ago, Arteta’s men looked to be cruising to the title as they held an eight-point advantage over City on April 1, only to pick up three points from their next available 12 as they finished five points behind the eventual champions.

But Arsenal look to have learnt their lesson so far and have been ruthlessly, if unspectacularly, efficient.

Their style may not win plaudits, but it could well win them a title as Arteta suggested after they capitalised on Liverpool’s and City’s defeats on Sunday.

“It was a big opportunity as well, with the things that happened during the weekend,” he said of the win over Palace.

“It’s very early, we’re still in October. The emotional state is really high but there are a lot of thing to get better.”

Next month should paint a clearer picture of Arsenal’s title chances, as they face high-flying Sunderland away on November 8, before back-to-back London derbies against Tottenham at home and Chelsea away with a Champions League fixture against Bayern Munich sandwiched in between.

Were they to enter December still firmly at the top of the Premier League league, it would be hard to dispel the feeling this may in fact be Arsenal’s year.

If not now, when?