Eberechi Eze\u2019s goal against his former side<\/a>.<\/p>\nArsenal now have a handy buffer of more than one game at the top of the table, and look the most likely of the contenders to run away the title.<\/p>\n
That is mainly thanks to their set piece brilliance.<\/p>\n
If the table was done off open play goals, the Gunners would be fifth with seven less points than the 22 they have after nine games.<\/p>\n
The 11 goals they have scored via set pieces is more than eight other teams in the league has scored in total this season.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile at the other end of the pitch, they have conceded just three goals so far this campaign.<\/p>\n
On average, Mikel Arteta\u2019s men are letting in a goal once every three matches.<\/p>\n
They have also kept six clean sheets.<\/p>\n
The numbers show why Sky Sports\u2019 Gary Neville is very optimistic on their title chances.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has got to be their year,\u201d Neville said. \u201cI\u2019ve had Arsenal to win the league the last three years – now four.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey aren\u2019t miles better than last year but are repeating levels of consistency and that\u2019s all they are going to have to do this year to win the league. They aren\u2019t going to have to get 100 points, or even 90.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigh 80s will win the title – they can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cArsenal are reliable, you can trust them. They don\u2019t concede goals,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t have a sensational forward, but they\u2019ve got a battering ram who is as honest as the day is long and that can work for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is your title, Arsenal. I\u2019ve never really felt that sure before, it\u2019s so early in the season, but it really is. That\u2019s not being overconfident, or placing pressure, they must feel it themselves. This is the moment Arsenal can get back on top.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chance is there for them; they have to take it.\u201d<\/p>\n
West Ham facing relegation threat | 00:59<\/p>\n
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE CHERRIES?<\/p>\n
No one would have believed that almost a quarter of the way through the season, Bournemouth would be sitting second.<\/p>\n
The Cherries were gallant last campaign finishing ninth, but they lost three of their back four with Ilya Zabarnyi leaving for PSG, Milos Kerkez for Liverpool and Dean Huijsen for Real Madrid.<\/p>\n
Dango Ouattara also left, the winger is now at Brentford, and those departures coupled with expected bounce back seasons from the likes of Manchester United and Tottenham were supposed to seem the slide into the bottom half of the table.<\/p>\n
Now, Andoni Iraola\u2019s side are dreaming of a Champions League place.<\/p>\n
The comfortable saw off last season\u2019s surprise packet, and this season\u2019s soap opera, Nottingham Forest 2-0 at home on the weekend.<\/p>\n
That result took their points tally to 18, boasting five wins, three draws and just one loss, which came on the opening night of the season at Anfield.<\/p>\n
Up front, Antoine Semenyo, who is second to Erling Haaland in the golden boot race, and Eli Kroupi have been outstanding with six and four goals respectively.<\/p>\n
Sky Sports\u2019 Jamie Carragher said Bournemouth should be daring to dream of European nights on the English south coast next season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were lot of teams last season, Nottingham Forest being one of them, where you\u2019d expect the drop off. We haven\u2019t seen that from Bournemouth,\u201d Carragher said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you talk about the players they lost, you have to look at the clubs they went to \u2013 giants of European football. That shows how good they are.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo replace them and to find themselves in the position they do now is something special.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the two-year period since Bournemouth got that first win under Iraola, I think that is the best coaching performance over that time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not in the days where the best teams win every week like we were four or five years ago [in the Premier League].<\/p>\n
\u201cIf that\u2019s the case, like it was a lot last season, it gives other teams a chance of European football. Bournemouth just missed out last season, so did Nottingham Forest in the Champions League.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis could be the season where one of those teams gets a Champions League position and why can\u2019t it be them?\u201d<\/p>\n
Kerr 1st Matildas appearance in 725 days | 02:38<\/p>\n
SUNDERLAND REFUSE TO DIE<\/p>\n
Sunderland were the most surprising winners of the weekend as they defeated Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n
Chemsdine Talbi\u2019s stoppage time winner was the latest remarkable moment in Sunderland\u2019s dream return to the Premier League after an eight-year absence. <\/p>\n
Black Cats fans, who watched their club in the third tier of English football as recently as three years ago, must be pinching themselves that their team is in the top four.<\/p>\n
Sunderland\u2019s tally of 17 points is the most by a promoted team in 17 years.<\/p>\n
Former Arsenal and England forward Paul Merson was full of praise for them on Sky Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are brilliant on the counterattack. They defend well, and the goalkeeper is good. They have legs all over the pitch,\u201d Merson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the second half, l can\u2019t remember the Chelsea goalkeeper making a save.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were outstanding. There is no chance they are getting relegated. They will cause teams problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the key cornerstones of their early success has been experienced defensive midfielder Granit Xhaka.<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old former Arsenal captain, who was signed from German outfit Bayer Leverkusen during the summer transfer window, has made an excellent return to the Premier League with Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris hailing Xhaka in his post-match press conference on the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s vital, crucial because the balance is really positive and Granit is the captain, so he sets the standards every day,\u201d Le Bris said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so important when you start a new career, you can be really talented, really skilled, but you don\u2019t know what the standards are to succeed at the best level, so he sets this example every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the pitch, he\u2019s a really good footballer and he likes and enjoys driving the behaviour of the squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s like a second coach on the pitch, and I think he\u2019s really well connected with the young lads as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sydney FC triumphant return to Leichardt | 00:59<\/p>\n
\u2018BEST WEEK IN THE JOB\u2019: UTD MANAGER TURNING THE CORNER<\/p>\n
Manchester United picked up a third straight win to briefly climb into the top four.<\/p>\n
Brighton had been a bogey team for United in recent times, but Ruben Amorim\u2019s side prevailed 4-2 at Old Trafford to perhaps show that they have turned a corner.<\/p>\n
Once other matches were played, they ended the weekend in sixth.<\/p>\n
The Red Devils\u2019 \u00a3200 million attacking trio ($408 million) of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko are starting to gel with only five teams having scored more goals than the 15 United have scored across nine games.<\/p>\n
Club great Gary Neville was worried about Amorim\u2019s future before the most recent international break, but has been impressed by United\u2019s turnaround in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that it feels like his best week in the job,\u201d Neville told Sky Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think where we\u2019ve all been with it, I wouldn\u2019t have been surprised if we talked about him losing his job. I was thinking he was under massive pressure after going into the international break in October. I felt as though that change could be imminent.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the victory at Anfield shows you how things can turn around and then obviously this was so important today.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not out of the woods yet and it\u2019s certainly not time to get carried away but I think Manchester United are now where they thought they probably would be.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll slip down a couple of places after the rest of the teams play and they\u2019ll end up in sixth or seventh but that\u2019s where I think everyone thought they would be.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, look, this has been a very important week for the manager and for the club and you can see the celebration at the end there was more than just a little bit of relief that, yeah, we needed this badly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Young gun scores hat-trick for Jets | 00:54<\/p>\n
NO HAALAND, NO CITY<\/p>\n
Manchester City slipped up away at Aston Villa with a 1-0 defeat as Erling Haaland\u2019s streak of scoring for club and country ended at 12 games.<\/p>\n
City now sit in fifth, six points behind Arsenal, as a long-held fear about their form came to fruition in Birmingham.<\/p>\n
Haaland\u2019s dominance has paper over several cracks, with the remainder of Pep Guardiola\u2019s attacking options failing to fire.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaaland has been brilliant; pretty much unstoppable. He already has 11 league goals. City\u2019s next highest scorer? Own goals,\u201d The Telegraph\u2019s chief football correspondent Jason Burt wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo of them by Burnley\u2019s Maxime Est\u00e8ve. Then Phil Foden, Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki and Matheus Nunes all have just one. It has been more than three matches since someone not named Erling Haaland scored for Guardiola\u2019s side.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guardiola stayed upbeat post-game, saying that they played well despite the disappointing result.<\/p>\n
Bernardo Silva meanwhile said that they were poor defensively, and highlighted that as a great issue than their attacking headaches.<\/p>\n
Those combination of factors led Sky Sports\u2019 Jamie Carragher to issue a harrowing verdict on their season.<\/p>\n
\u201cVilla just looked too powerful and quick for them. Manchester City have always been the most technical team in the division, but it looks like they lack physicality,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course they\u2019re missing a little bit of quality as well – they don\u2019t have the wide players they once did. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust like Liverpool, I don\u2019t see them having enough to go on and win the Premier League.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After three straight runner-up finishes, the title might finally be Arsenal\u2019s to lose with the reigning champions \u201cin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[145148,12033,53035,6236,64,63,689,145145,34674,12045,78343,145144,145125,55835,85324,6257,145131,145124,17062,145142,68850,19061,145122,145150,113702,145146,1208,6240,2057,122482,145140,24181,6246,59917,145129,145133,78342,50609,145126,145137,145134,88525,1613,13504,2022,144828,11999,6255,8316,673,3583,677,8244,113123,92962,145127,4873,145141,145123,145138,145143,1532,141448,145136,144835,2643,41663,53077,85,145149,62895,145139,10987,145132,7663,145128,53249,144832,26124,20432,145130,92326,145135,3586,12812,145147],"class_list":["post-243469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-alexander-badolato","tag-alexander-isak","tag-arsenal-football-club","tag-aston-villa-football-club","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-battering-ram","tag-bayer-04-leverkusen","tag-benjamin-sesko","tag-bernardo-silva","tag-bogey-team","tag-boss-loses-plot","tag-brighton","tag-central-coast-mariners","tag-champions-league","tag-champions-league-cherries","tag-chief-football-correspondent","tag-city-of-birmingham","tag-city-stadium","tag-coaching-performance","tag-coaching-staff","tag-crisis-time","tag-defensive-midfielder","tag-disappointing-result","tag-dream-return","tag-england","tag-english-football","tag-europe","tag-european-football","tag-factors-led","tag-florian-wirtz","tag-football-news","tag-gary-neville","tag-german-outfit","tag-golden-boot-race","tag-international-break","tag-jamie-carragher","tag-jason-burt","tag-jetsa-league","tag-league-goals","tag-league-matches","tag-liverpool","tag-liverpool-football-club","tag-london","tag-man-utd-power","tag-manchester-city-football-club","tag-manchester-united-football-club","tag-mikel-arteta","tag-new-south-wales","tag-northern-europe","tag-oceania","tag-panic-button","tag-paul-merson","tag-phil-foden","tag-placing-pressure","tag-post-match-press-conference","tag-promoted-team","tag-regis-le-bris","tag-relegation-looming","tag-relegation-threatpremier","tag-ruben-amorim","tag-sean-dyche","tag-set-piece-brilliance","tag-shock-contender","tag-sky-sports","tag-soap-opera","tag-soccer-match","tag-sports","tag-stoppage-time-winner","tag-straight-runner-up-finishes","tag-straight-victory","tag-summer-transfer-window","tag-surprising-winners","tag-talking-points","tag-teams-problems","tag-teams-win","tag-third-straight-premier-league","tag-title-chances","tag-transfer-window","tag-turn-corner","tag-turning-point","tag-ugly-fan-clash","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales","tag-young-gun-scores"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761200708_112_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n