Another win. Another clean sheet. And now top of the table. It's early days, but if Arsenal can keep up this pace, and stay as solid as they have been at the back so far this season (10 matches in all competitions; just three goals conceded) then it could at last be our year.
Whilst unspectacular, this was a pretty routine victory over a West Ham side who - despite being pretty poor in Premier League terms - had somehow managed to beat Arsenal in the previous two corresponding fixtures. And this result, backing up the laying to rest of the Geordie demons last week, meant another of last season's wrongs had been righted.
And although this was a routine victory, there is still enough meat on the bones to point out a few matters of interest. So I'll crack on with those. And there is no better place to start than the team selection.
Which featured something of a surprise, as Arteta (hitting a personal milestone with this being his 300th game in charge of The Gunners) veered away from his preferred 'double pivot' as he plumped for Declan Rice as the lone 6 against his former club, with Odegaard and Eze as dual 10s ahead of him. A really attacking line-up was this; and something that the crowd was relishing prior to kick-off.
However, here's the thing; I'm not sure that it entirely worked. Odegaard dropped back regularly to pick up the ball, whilst Eze stayed closer to Gyokeres up top, but without an extra man coming from deep to disrupt the opposition it was occasionally difficult to find room against Nuno's now trademark 8-1-1 (!) formation. Saying that, Arteta had clearly targeted the left hand side of West Ham's defence, and looked to overload that area with Timber, of all players, often finding himself the furthest man forward.
In truth there wasn't much opportunity to build up a body of evidence for the twin 10s, as Odegaard's early clash of limbs with Summerville firstly restricted him and then forced him off within the first 30 minutes (thus, by the way, creating a dubious record as the first man to go off injured three times in the first half of a home Premier League game). He left the ground with his knee in a brace, and has by all accounts done some damage to his medial cruciate ligament. It may be some weeks before we see him again; but at least it's to the anterior cruciate ligament; which would have meant months out.
Interestingly, whilst Arteta could have gone for Nwaneri to replace the skipper he went for the safer option of Zubimendi. I'm not sure if this is a reflection of a fall from grace for the youngster, but it's clear that the signing of Eze has drastically cut down on his playing time. But what the change did mean was that Rice was suddenly free to make some of his familiar forward runs, and he started to drag the West Ham midfield around. With Timber's presence - plus the occasional overload from Calafiori, of all people (nominally playing left back but with license to pop up wherever he fancied) - in forward positions on the right, and Rice pushing forward on the left, West Ham were really suffering as they were completely suffocated. Zubimendi himself was superb, and now appears to be completely acclimatised to the Premier League. What a player he is!
In truth, Arsenal should have been ahead long before the moment that they finally took the lead. Odegaard had split the lines early on to find Timber, who got a decent shot away. Then a delightful through ball slotted to Saka from wide right by the skipper led to a scramble in which Gyokeres could have scored, and Eze should have; the latter's stab at the ball from just 7 yards sending the ball over the bar with the net gaping. Eze put his head in his hands in disbelief; and he wasn't alone in that.
Following the withdrawal of Odegaard, it was Zubimendi's sublime ball over the top of the West Ham left back that saw Saka break free and slot the ball into the far corner - but he was unfortunately half a yard offside at the point of release. The Saka's cross saw Gyokeres' header misdirected, and Trossard's subsequent follow-up blocked. The pressure was building, but it was all getting a little frustrating.
The well-deserved breakthrough came in the 37th minute. Zubimendi's clever through ball found Eze, the latter's shot was blocked into the path of Declan Rice - who had been suffering dog's abuse from the very supporters who used to worship him by the way. The finish from 12 yards out looked routine, but it was far from that; keeping half volleys down with the instep when the ball is coming to you at pace is no easy feat. And no, he didn't really celebrate as he could have done. But he gave the West Ham fans a series of dirty looks as he ran behind the goal towards the Ashburton Army.
There was still time before the half finished before - via another through ball slid past the hapless Diouf (this time Saka to Timber) - that the ball fell to Calafiori on the edge of the box. The Italian's right foot (yes, right foot!) shot rebounded off the post and onto Areola's back, but failed to bounce back over the goal line. It was literally all Arsenal.
Second half, and more of the same. Rice, marauding onto the left wing, crossed for Gyokeres, who probably ought to have slid the ball home.
Big Vik could do with a goal as a reward for all the effort he puts in. And Arsenal continued to give West Ham little or no hope by dominating possession; without the need to play in anything higher than second gear. It wasn't enthralling, but hopefully saving energy in October will pay dividends in April and May.
The coup de force was delivered just after the hour when another chip by Zubimendi exposed Diouf once more. He had allowed Timber to get onto his wrong side, and brought him down for a penalty so clear that even Howard Webb couldn't deny it. The foul started outside the penalty box, but continued inside it - 100% a penalty.
We wondered if Saka might hand the ball to Big Vik, but on his 200th appearance for the club Little Chili kept the ball for himself - and slammed it into the net with the goalkeeper going the other way. That's 100 goal Premier League contributions from Starboy (55 goals and 45 assists) since his debut. I do love that young man!
Arsenal remained on cruise control throughout the rest of the game, with the only concern the withdrawal of Rice with what appeared to be some soreness in his back. Apparently, it's nothing serious, and he'll be off with England this week.
Other points of interest:
- there seems to be more space - even against a low block - for the wingers to work in this season. I wonder if that's because a 'proper' centre forward is causing defenders to have half an eye on him a lot of the time
- xG, in so much that it can be seen as a comparative measure, stands at 12.22 to 4.38 over the Premier League season so far. 1.52 of the 4.38 were actually at Old Trafford! What it does certainly show is remarkable solidity bearing in mind the quality of fixture that Arsenal have got out of the way in their first 7 games. And this was another game with 60%+ possession. Arsenal are barely giving the opposition a sniff!
- despite the remarkably deep bench, Arteta is still without Hincapie, Havertz, Madueke and Jesus (and now Odegaard). What he's going to do if they're ever all fit at the same time I simply cannot imagine. But what I can say is this; he can, has and will rotate his squad, and on that basis -especially looking at the quality of player available - there simply can't be any excuses this season
- With Liverpool and Arne Slot suffering something of a crisis, Manchester City still flawed despite possessing the Haaland Cheat Code, and a relatively favourable series of matches to come, this could be a chance to open a gap at the top of the table
Look, let's see. There's another of those interminable Interlulls now, and then we're back with matches against Fulham, Palace, Brighton, Burnley and Sunderland.
Time to keep our fingers crossed for some clean bills of health, and then to kick on. COYG!
