There's little doubt why Arsenal are now countless pundits' preferred choice to secure the Premier League in the current campaign.
Consider their results against West Ham and Crystal Palace in contrast with those identical matches in the previous campaign.
The Gunners have overcome all of them in the current season, but dropped 10 points across those games as they fell away in the title race in the prior campaign.
Defensive Dominance
Arsenal's defensive strength is a key reason why they are appearing strong to ultimately achieve their title target.
They stand first for clean sheets (6), goals allowed (3), opposition efforts (72), quality opportunities against (19) and expected goals against (5.3).
The center-back duo of Gabriel and William Saliba is potentially the finest in the league, with Arsenal recording a clean sheet in six of their first nine games.
Dead-Ball Excellence
Their threat from set-pieces is widely recognized, but opposition teams still struggle to stop the Gunners from these opportunities.
They have registered 11 times from set-pieces in the league, several additional than any other side, with 69% of their goals resulting from these situations.
"Arsenal can do a bit of everything now. The whole team has a intimidation presence. People are just fearful of them and it is great to see."
Title Potential
What is especially notable about Arsenal's beginning to the campaign is they have also faced Manchester United, Liverpool and Newcastle United at opposition grounds and Manchester City on home turf - and are still ahead by four points at the top.
While they maintain victories, their traditional rivals aren't faring so well. This marks the premier instance at this stage of the season since 1992 that none of Manchester City and United, Liverpool or Chelsea are in the Premier League top four.
The expectations was on boss Mikel Arteta at the beginning, having allocated around £250m on eight summer signings in search of that elusive first title since 2004.
But the investment has so far yielded results in impressive fashion, with his side among the highest scorers in the league and possessing the strongest defense, despite numerous injuries.
- Clean sheets in three straight Premier League games
- Over six hours without conceding a goal
- Only a handful of concessions in 12 games across various contests
Former players and analysts have labeled Arteta's men as a "juggernaut, looking difficult to stop" with the whole club now operating with confidence and determination.
