There may still be some doubt about Arsenal having the fire power to consistently score enough goals to challenge for the Premier League title this season, whether that is fair or not, but apart from that the Gunners are showing all over the pitch that we are extremely strong.
There are a few Arsenal stats going around the football media at the minute that should have every Gooner excited and optimistic about the season ahead and although statistics do not tell the whole story by any means, they are generally a pretty good indicator.
So it is interesting to see that the stats website Squawka.com has the Gunners as the top ranked Premier League team, based on our all round performance in attack, defence and possession. Our score of over 2000 is way more than almost every other, with Man City the only team close on 1,921 in second place. And that table showed the situation after four games so we will almost certainly have incresed our lead at the top.
The website also shows that in Francis Coquelin, Arsenal have the highest rated defensive midfielder in the Premier League. The player table shows the Frenchman having won more tackles and take ons than any other and with a better percentage rate of success, despite the fact that he has played around 70 minutes less than any other player in the top 10. And just to show that Wenger may have known exactly what he was doing in the transfer market, Schneiderlin is way down in 18th place.
Finally we can look at the stats from the Stoke game on the creative side of things. While Santi Cazorla´s great game produced an amazing 90 percent pass success rate, six chances, six take ons and four shots, which keeps him top of the creative charts, he was outdone on the day by Mesut Ozil who managed to create a whopping eight chances even though he was subbed off.
That was the third clean sheet in a row as well and with Alexis, Walcott and Giroud having very good scoring records, apart from this season so far, you would have to say that Arsenal look well set to challenge for the title. Who needs signings?