Arsenal: 4 things we’d like to see vs Watford

The 100th match of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal tenure awaits as Claudio Ranieri’s Watford make the short journey to the Emirates Stadium for Sunday’s Premier League clash.

With the Manchester derby taking place and Liverpool hosting West Ham, another welcome opportunity has presented itself for Arsenal to continue climbing up the table.

Sitting in sixth before the 11th matchweek of the season commenced, the nine-game unbeaten run has drastically altered the outlook of what seemed destined to be another horror campaign. Arteta looked on his way out after the Manchester City debacle, and here he is now aiming to win his 54th match to date.

That figure in 100 matches is only bettered by the legendary George Graham, who the Spaniard interestingly shares some qualities with – the defensive resilience against Leicester was fairly Graham-esque.

Arsenal: 4 things we’d like to see from Mikel Arteta’s side when Watford travel to the Emirates Stadium for Sunday’s Premier League clash

In the hopes of securing that milestone, Watford on home soil is one of the favourable fixtures any side in the division could ask for.

Defensively a shambles, the remarkable 5-2 win away at Everton felt like an anomaly. A crazy attacking display (and equally inept defensive showing) in the final 12 minutes saw them net four times, before they welcomed Southampton to Vicarage Road and should have conceded as many.

Arsenal should see this one through given the form they’re in. If they are to be serious about fighting for the European places in the league then nothing less than three points will suffice.

As the final game before the third international break of the campaign, what would we like to see from the side?

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1456661325883531266

1. A Positive Goal Difference

A few wins by a single goal margin after the 5-0 drubbing at the Etihad were baby steps en route to trying to claw their way back from a -9 goal difference after those three games.

Since then all the league wins have been by one or two goal margins, leaving the Gunners still sitting on a -1 goal difference.

It doesn’t require outstanding maths to work out that a win by two goals will put them back up into the positives for the first time this season. Against a Watford side who’ve conceded 18 times this season and play Danny Rose at left-back, that shouldn’t, in theory, be an issue.

This is a real chance to continue asserting some dominance; oozing some confidence and making rival sides in the division take note. Beating Leicester was a statement and following that up with a comfortable win will extend that further.

Most sides will be looking to see off Watford this season so showing that they’re no different with a healthy amount of goals to overturn the final remnants of those opening three fixtures would go down a treat.

Besides, + is nicer than -.

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