The Premier League has only reached the half of October, but the most recent round has been of great significance in the title race.
After a run of five consecutive wins at the start of the season, defending champions Liverpool suffered defeats against Crystal Palace and Chelsea, leading to Arsenal losing the top spot. The gap is only 1 point, but given the Gunners' impressive performance under the leadership of Mikel Arteta, Liverpool's bust is also understandable.
The 1-point gap does not say much, but clearly, in the early stages of this season, Arsenal is showing superior strength and has almost no weaknesses. The challenge now for them is to do what Liverpool did a year ago: maintain the top position for the rest of the season.
The Gunners had a challenging start when facing Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle and Manchester United. However, their league lead is built on a solid foundation with an excellent defence.
The "Gunners" have only conceded 3 goals in 7 matches, despite having to face strong teams, thereby possessing the best defensive record in the Premier League.
On the attack front, the Emirates team is gradually regaining form after criticism for being too dependent on set pieces. Despite being doubted after a 1-0 defeat to Liverpool, Arsenal are currently third in the Premier League in terms of xG, with 12.2.
They also had 43 touches in the opposition box - more than any other team. And if set-pieces are ruled out, Arsenal are seventh in xG from live kicks, at 6.2. However, in reality, scoring only 5 goals from 6.2 xG shows that Arsenal can improve their finishing ability to better take advantage of opportunities in the open game.
Basically, increasing the strength of the squad has helped Arsenal reduce their dependence on any individual. Losing Bukayo Saka and William Saliba is no longer too serious for them, although the biggest challenge could come in the next few weeks.
With Martin Odegaard sidelined with a knee injury, Eze will need to break through and recreate the impressive form he showed at Crystal Palace last season.
Although Arteta never wanted this situation, injuries helped Arsenal in some ways. This has created opportunities for new recruits or reserve players to play. Arsenal are now entering the season with a strong mentality, no longer having to worry too much about losing a key player.
Arsenal used to lead and were considered a strong candidate for the championship predicted by experts in previous seasons. However, they all ran out of steam at the key stage and missed the throne.
This time, everything could be different. In the race for the championship full of mistakes, Arsenal is the team that makes the fewest mistakes and stands out the most. They are proving to be the best team in the league this season.
The season is still very early to conclude the championship. However, Liverpool led from round 10 onwards last season, and Arsenal are likely to hold the lead even earlier this season. With a solid start to the 2025-2026 season, it seems that they will not easily lose the top spot.
