Arsenal: Why the Gunners have the ‘fear factor’ and are now the Premier League team to beat

It’s not hard to see why Arsenal are now many people’s favorites to win the Premier League this season.

Take their results against Newcastle, West Ham, Fulham and Crystal Palace compared to those matches the previous season.

The Gunners beat all of those teams this time around, but dropped 10 points during those games as they fell out of the title race last season.

They tied with Fulham and another at home against Palace, while they lost to Newcastle and lost at home to West Ham.

This means that Arsenal finished second for the third season in a row, this time 10 points behind champions Liverpool, showing how important these results are to the final result.

What’s most impressive about Arsenal’s start to the season is that they’ve also played Manchester United, Liverpool and Newcastle United away and Manchester City at home – and are still four points clear of Bournemouth.

While they continue to win, their traditional rivals are not doing well. In fact, this is the first time at this stage of a season since 1992 that neither Manchester City, United, Liverpool or Chelsea are in the top four in the Premier League.

Former City defender Nedum Onuoha told BBC Radio 5 Live: “It’s interesting because there are some misconceptions we have and that’s true with Arsenal. People call them free kicks and so on.”

He added: “But they are in the lead with the teams that have the most shots in the English Premier League, conceded the fewest goals, the fewest chances, and the fewest shots.”

“They are great. They are at the top of the league and they deserve to be there.”

The pressure was on manager Mikel Arteta at the start, after he spent around £250m on eight summer signings in search of that elusive first title since 2004.

But the work has paid off so far, with his team ranked second among the top scorers in the league and possessing the strongest defence, despite a number of injuries.

“Arsenal can do a little bit of everything now. The whole team has the fear factor.” Former Arsenal striker Theo Walcott added on BBC Sport. “People are afraid of them and it’s great to see them.

“It’s become normal now that they don’t concede any goals. They will have a bad situation, and last year there were a lot of draws, but I don’t think that will happen this year. There is confidence in the whole club now.”

Elaine White, the former Arsenal and England striker, described Arteta’s men as “a juggernaut, and it seems difficult to stop him.”