Arsenal: Hold the horses with title talk

Arsenal have now won six successive games in the Premier League and are being mentioned as possible title challengers. Let’s just hold the horses a little.

Arsenal are in the midst of a terrific run of form, at least as the results suggest. Sunday’s 5-1 dismantling of Fulham was the Gunners’ best performance of the year, vaulting them above Spurs and into fourth place, just two points behind the triumvirate of league leaders. It highlights a productive period throughout late August, September and now early October that has seen Unai Emery roundly praised for his work.

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The position in the table, allied with draws for Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City in recent weeks, when playing one another, has led to some suggesting that this is now a team capable of actually challenging for the title.

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As this piece in the London Evening Standard states by Tony Evans, the flat-track bully Gunners, a name credited to them because of the quality of the opposition — only one, Watford, currently sit in the top ten — that they have beaten in this recent run of form, are title contenders, ‘Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola are suddenly looking over their shoulders. The title race is on and Arsenal fans can dream again.’

Now, I am all for hope and positivity, especially after a run as productive and enjoyable as the one that Emery has masterminded. But perhaps we should not be too quick to anoint this team as title contenders just yet. There is a far bigger gap than just two points between them and the true elite of the Premier League.

If you wanted to claim that this new standing in the league vindicates Arsenal as top-four challengers, then I could very easily accept your argument. Not only do they now sit in fourth, but Manchester United, despite a resurrectional win against Newcastle United at the weekend, are in turmoil and Spurs, while winning, have not started the quickest either and look terribly tired. The top four is very much a feasible target for this team.

But there is still a substantial difference between Spurs, Arsenal and Man. United and Liverpool, Chelsea and Man. City. The quality of the midfields, for example, are vastly divergent. The defensive shape, structure and organisation is far more secure, particularly in Liverpool and City’s case given their dominance of possession. The control that they can exert on a match, even when pressured, is far superior.

As the opening two games in the season proved, there is still a chasm between Arsenal and the top three. The very fact that none of the league leaders has been defeated yet is indicative of their superior resilience, consistency and quality.

So let’s just pump the brakes on title talk just yet. This has been a very productive period indeed and Emery and his players should be confident and hopeful for the future. But there is a long way to go and they still have some convincing to do. Title contenders they are not, not yet, anyway.