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The Gunners secured a significant victory against Brentford on Saturday to send them top of the Premier League table, and their eighth consecutive league win to start 2024 offers nothing but promising signs.
Arsenal secured a 2-1 victory over Brentford at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday after Kai Havertz headed home in the 86th minute in North London to settle the derby.
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20:41 - 09.03.2024
Deja vu: Kai Havertz's goal saves Ramsdale’s blushes as Arsenal moves top of the table
Arsenal did a remarkable job against Brentford as they sealed a late win to move one point above Liverpool.
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23:55 - 04.03.2024
Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta Beats Ferguson, Mourinho, Wenger to Premier League Milestone
Arsenal have been flying under Mikel Arteta and are challengers for the Premier League title for the second season running
Arsenal 2-1 Brentford
The Gunners were not at their free-flowing best at times, but the home side went ahead through Declan Rice in the 19th minute only to be undone just before the interlude by Yoane Wissa, who capitalised on an egregious Aaron Ramsdale mistake to send both teams level at half-time.
Mikel Arteta’s men huffed and puffed after the break, dealing with several stoppages in play, delayed Brentford restarts in the second 45 minutes, and Ramsdale pulling off a couple of significant saves to deny the Bees from going 2-1 up at the Emirates.
Eventually, Havertz came up trumps to score for the fourth Premier League game running after diverting Ben White’s cross past Mark Flekken to send Arsenal top of the table until Liverpool host Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday, where a draw keeps Arteta’s side atop the standings at the end of gameweek 28.
Arsenal’s momentum is promising for Premier League ambition
Arsenal’s win was their eighth consecutive triumph to start 2024, and while Saturday’s win was not as comfortable as previous successes, it was possibly the most important.
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Arteta’s men had previously defeated Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest, Liverpool, West Ham United, Burnley, Newcastle United and Sheffield United before hosting the off-form Bees, and they recorded another league triumph to send them above Liverpool and Man City.
Success over Thomas Frank’s men saw the Gunners become the fourth side to notch eight straight Premier League wins to start a calendar year, matching Manchester United in 2009, Liverpool in 2020 and Man City in 2021. Strikingly, the previous three sides to have done likewise won the title.
Manchester United’s winning start to 2009
Sir Alex Ferguson’s men claimed a third straight Premier League crown at the end of the 2008-09 season, aided by an extended winning streak at the start of 2009.
The Red Devils won nine consecutive matches that positioned them for the crown at the campaign’s culmination, and successive losses to Liverpool (4-1) and Fulham (2-0) in March 2009 were not detrimental en route to another league success for Ferguson.
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Liverpool’s winning start to 2020
While Man United competed with Rafael Benitez’s Liverpool in that 2008-09 season, the Reds would claim their first-ever Premier League crown over a decade later. By the turn of 2020, Jurgen Klopp’s men were title favourites as Man City could not sustain any momentum in the 2019-20 season.
While the Merseyside club won exactly eight games to start 2020, they were already in a comfortable position, having won the previous 10 Premier League matches, thus notching 18 consecutive victories altogether.
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Manchester City’s winning start to 2021
Unlike Man United (nine) and Liverpool (eight), Pep Guardiola’s men did likewise but went on to notch 13 straight wins to start a calendar year en route to reclaiming the Premier League crown in the 2020-21 campaign.
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The Cityzens endured an underwhelming start to that season, notably beaten 5-2 by Leicester City at the Etihad Stadium in September 2020 amid a run of four wins in 11 league matches. City won their final games of 2020 and claimed 13 more triumphs to start 2021 as they ended 14 points clear of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Red Devils at the end of that season.
What comes next for Arsenal?
Having matched the feats of both Manchester clubs and Liverpool, it remains to be seen if Arteta’s men claim the Premier League title at the season’s culmination. Arsenal do not return to league action until the end of the month when they take on Guardiola’s Cityzens at the Etihad on March 31.
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