Can Arsenal’s defence lead them to title glory?

It appeared obvious Arsenal would need to improve their attack if they wanted to have a better chance of winning the Premier League this time around, despite having the best defense and scoring 17 fewer goals than champions Liverpool last year.

But because they only conceded three goals in their first eight games this term, giving them a three-point lead in the standings, their already impressive defense has advanced to a level that it might not even need to score many more goals in the end result.

Arsenal’s attack may get better as the season progresses, with Martin Odegaard, Noni Madueke, Gabriel Jesus, Noni Madueke, and Kai Havertz among the creative players currently injured.

Will their defense, however, be sufficient to win the top flight trophy for the first time since 2004?

Only six of the 33 Premier League winners have conceded the fewest goals and not scored the most goals (18%).

What might be different from Arsenal’s defense this time around since they have been at the top of their respective defense for the past two seasons and still managed to finish second?

Even though it’s still early, we’re not just looking at them having the best defense of any Premier League campaign, but also one of the best.

If they were to hold that record for the entire season, they would let in just 14 goals, breaking Jose Mourinho’s title-winning Chelsea side’s incredible record of 15 in 2004-2005. Their current rate of conceding just 0.38 per game.

In fact, Mikel Arteta’s men are almost on par with that amazing team, scoring 71 times and conceding 14 goals, compared to Chelsea’s 72 and 15 respectively, with their current rate of 1.88 goals per game.

That would result in Arsenal scoring two goals more than the 69 last year, but allowing just 20 goals less than the 34 at the time of the year.

Despite their mightily impressive stature, it will take a herculean effort to match the incredible defense of Chelsea 20 years ago.

To match the three goals Chelsea had conceded after 11 games, they must keep clean sheets in their next three games against Crystal Palace, Burnley, and Sunderland.

Not only that, but a large portion of Mourinho’s men only allowed 15 in the league that year was because they didn’t add another one until March 5th, 2005, in a 3-1 victory over Norwich, after conceding twice in a 2-2 draw at Arsenal on December 12.

At the time, that 10-game league clean sheet record was held, but Manchester United’s streak of 14 in 2008-2009 was later broken.

Arsenal won their first Premier League title under Arsene Wenger by going eight games without conceding between January and March 1998.