Arsenal kept their place at the top of the Premier League with a dramatic victory over Luton Town, and fans are beginning to grow hopeful that they can maintain a title challenge.
Mikel Arteta’s side unexpectedly challenged Manchester City for most of last season, before an injury to William Saliba derailed their hopes of a first league title since 2004.
They are maintaining a good pace this season, although they have been criticised for seemingly dropping off in attack, in tandem with keeping the best defensive record in the league so far.
Jamie Carragher gives Arsenal title verdict
Speaking on The Overlap, Sky Sports pundit and former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher assessed whether Arsenal’s form, and their regular dramatic late winners, will be enough to carry them to the title.
“They’ve got a decent chance [of winning the league],” he stated.
“When I’ve watched Arsenal this season, last season I was probably more impressed with them. This season I can’t quite work out if these last-minute goals are a good thing.
“You’ve got to score last-minute winning goals to win a title, that’s a fact, but it feels like it’s happened so often that those games can sometimes easily go the other way.
“It just feels like every game has to go to the wire. It doesn’t feel like any game is easy.”
Arsenal’s late winners
Late goals have been a common theme for Arsenal since the start of last season, with Arteta’s side causing great jubilation on several occasions with injury-time goals.
Reiss Nelson’s strike against Bournemouth last season gave real hope that Arsenal would push on to win the league, whilst this season the Gunners have beaten Manchester United, Brentford and Luton in the dying minutes of matches.
Whilst this may not be sustainable over a whole season in general, it does not reflect poor performances from Arsenal. They were dominant in most of these games, and deserved to win in each one.
Defensive lapses of concentration, and the failure to put away more chances, meant that Arsenal have found it difficult to secure results earlier in games at times, but it shows Arsenal’s strength of character that they can continue to dig in and grab three points in tough circumstances.
Arsenal are set to face Aston Villa on Saturday in what promises to be a tough game, and Villa have won every home game since losing to Arsenal in injury time last season.
Arteta will hope for a similar result as he watches on from the stands, but after the drama at Luton, fans may hope for a less stressful ending to the game.
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