LONDON — The numbers have told a consistent story all season, and now the performances are matching the data. Arsenal have been the Premier League’s best side through the first 24 matches, a status underlined by their expected goals differential, which ranks third in the division while they sit atop the actual table. They’ve lost just twice in league play since September, and their response to adversity has been the most telling indicator of their growth. Last year, a trip to the Estadio Metropolitano for a Champions League semifinal might have exposed their limitations. This time, with 45 minutes played against Atletico Madrid, the tie was following an Arsenal blueprint quite nicely.
The difference is plain enough when you compare the two campaigns. Last season, Arsenal might have looked threadbare without Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, William Saliba, and Gabriel Jesus, while losing Martin Odegaard to injury in the first half would have been a crisis. This year, they looked dominant without them. The summer recruitment has been transformative: Gyokeres arrived as the best player in Portugal, Eze has brought guile and balance, Zubimendi already looks at ease in the Premier League, Madueke’s direct running is causing all sorts of problems, Christhian Mosquera looks exceptional, and Piero Hincapie was named in the squad only days after keeping Lionel Messi quiet on international duty. The collective impact has been immediate, with all three goals against Nottingham Forest directly involving summer recruits.
Defensively, Arsenal have constructed a fortress. The central pairing of Gabriel and William Saliba is arguably the best in the league, and Arsenal have kept a clean sheet in six of their first nine games, more than any other team this season. They’ve now gone 385 minutes without conceding in the Premier League, having let in just three goals in 12 games across all competitions this season. It’s a foundation that allows Arteta’s tactical adjustments to flourish, and it’s why they’re now many people’s favourites to win the title. Arteta himself said he valued the win over Crystal Palace more than any other victory this season, and with Liverpool, Chelsea, and Manchester City all losing that weekend, Arsenal had a big opportunity with the things that happened around them.
But the real question Arteta faces is how to improve a team that is already winning. Winning the title has answered the question that haunted Arsenal for the previous three seasons, but posed another: how do you push further? Some of that can be done on the training pitch — the sweeping changes in Arsenal’s performance and medical departments speak to the manager’s rapacious hunger for progress. And then that has to be supported by the ambition of the club, which is there. This performance, albeit against an underwhelming City side in the Community Shield, was a reminder of the strength of Arsenal’s existing squad. As Arteta put it, if there is the right opportunity and the club is able to do it, they will do it.
The second half on Wednesday night in Madrid was as tough as it has got for Arsenal this season, yet they emerged with a draw that leaves the tie perfectly poised for the return leg in London. “We knew when Atletico went through, it was going to be a big battle and it was a really hard game; they’ve got a really good side and of course we wanted to come here and win the game,” said Martinelli. “We’ll take the draw, of course we could have done things better but it’s the semifinal of the Champions League, so the opponent is going to be really good and we’ll take the draw, go to London and we want to win the game to go to the final.” With the Premier League exceedingly likely to earn a fifth Champions League spot this season via the coefficient table, and Villa at 46 points sitting as close to first-place Arsenal (53) as sixth-place Liverpool (39), the margin for error remains thin. But Arsenal are no longer just contenders — they are the team everyone else is chasing, and they’re only getting better.
