‘People are afraid’ – why ‘juggernaut’ Arsenal are team to beat

Why are Arsenal currently the most popular team’s favorite to win the Premier League this year is not hard to understand.

Compare their performances at West Ham, Fulham, and Crystal Palace to those at the start of the campaign.

The Gunners have defeated them all this time around, but they lost 10 points in those contests as a result of their inability to win the title last year.

A draw at Fulham, a draw at Palace, a loss at Newcastle, and a West Ham defeat at home.

The result showed how crucial such outcomes are to the outcome, as the Gunners finished second for the second consecutive season with a 10-point deficit over champions Liverpool.

Arsenal have also faced Manchester United, Liverpool, and Newcastle United away from home, and Manchester City at home, and are still four points clear of Bournemouth at the top of the table. This is even more impressive because they have already won four games in a row in Bournemouth.

Their traditional rivals aren’t faring as well, despite continuing to win. It is the first time in the Premier League top four since 1992 that none of Manchester City, United, Liverpool, or Chelsea have been there at this time.

It’s interesting because Arsenal has some common misconceptions, which is true. Former City defender Nedum Onouha referred to them as “set-piece FC” and all that, according to BBC Radio 5 Live.

“But they are up there with Premier League teams with the most shots and the fewest goals conceded, the fewest chances conceded, and the fewest shots,” they said.

They are fantastic, they say. They are the best in their field, and they deserved to be.

Mikel Arteta, who had spent around £250 million on eight summer signings in search of that elusive first title since 2004, was under a lot of pressure at the beginning.

However, despite a number of injuries, the business has already paid off in style, with his team having the league’s second-best defense and second-best scorers overall.

Arsenal has the ability to do “some of everything.” Fear factor exists throughout the entire team. Theo Walcott, a former Gunners striker, added to BBC Sport. It’s amazing to see that people are afraid of them.

“They’re starting to feel normal that they don’t concede goals,” he said. They will experience a bad patch, and there were too many draws last year, but I don’t believe that will occur this year. The entire club is now believed.

The key to Arsenal’s success in achieving their title goal is the defense’s ability to defend them.

With Liverpool, Chelsea, and Manchester City losing, Arsenal had “a big opportunity,” according to Arteta, who stated that he valued the victory over Palace above any other victory this year.

“We are where we are [in the league], and it is a credit to us because we’ve been very, very consistent,” he continued, adding that “let’s keep doing a lot of things that we’re doing really well.”

There are things that can be improved, as well, to increase our margins.

His team leads the league in terms of defensive clean sheets (6), goals conceded (3), shots faced (72), shots on target faced (19), and expected goals against (xGA 5.3).

The ball was smacked off of Eddie Nketiah’s head and into keeper David Raya’s hands, which only gave Palace one chance to score on goal.

Arsenal have kept a clean sheet in six of their first nine games, more than any other team this season, and Gabriel’s central defensive pairing, who is arguably the best in the league, is undoubtedly the best.

Saliba’s fitness is a concern as he was forced to play half-time, but since joining the team from summer, Cristhian Mosquera has shown an elite centre-back.

In each of their last three Premier League games, Arsenal has allowed three goals in 12 games this season while maintaining a clean sheet in each of those three games, a 385-minute run without conceding.

“Arsenal can play anyone and get results,” is the pattern. Arsenal believes they have a chance and will take it, and the champions of the past don’t concede many goals. Walcott remarked.

“The teams you’d expect to win have had poor results this weekend.”

Although opposition teams are well aware of their threat from set-pieces, they are unsure of how to stop the Gunners when given the chance.

They have won important victories in sets-piece matches against Manchester United, Newcastle, Fulham, and Atletico Madrid, or Gabriel opened the scoring for them when it appeared there was no way out.

In addition to having two of the league’s top takers in Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice, opposing managers have praised Arsenal’s quality from corners and free kicks.

In the league, they have scored 11 goals from set-pieces, two more than any other team (Chelsea), and 69% of their goals have come from them in the years 2025-26.