Champions elect? 10 outrageous stats that show how dominant Arsenal have been in 2024
Arsenal have well and truly shut up their doubters with a series of exceptional performances that will have Liverpool and Manchester City anxiously looking over their shoulders in the Premier League title race.
Mikel Arteta’s side came under heavy scrutiny at the end of 2023, losing back-to-back games against West Ham and Fulham before exiting the FA Cup at home to Liverpool in their first outing of 2024.
But since returning from their winter break, Arsenal have returned with a renewed confidence.
They’ve been nothing short of perfect in the league so far this calendar year, winning all of their matches while producing a series of statement performances that show they’re more than capable of lifting the Premier League trophy come May.
“I’m really happy with the performance against a Newcastle team who are really really good,” Arteta told the BBC after Saturday’s 4-1 thrashing of Newcastle.
“The boys were really good, really aggressive and we deserved to win the game. They [Newcastle] have a lot of resources to create issues but we continued in the same way, we maintained our rhythm and it was a joy to watch the team play.
“We are really happy, we have to continue to do the things that we are doing well. There are still things that we can do better and we are bringing big players back from injury so that is a big boost.
“Against Porto, we were ourselves with the ball but not without the ball. It was a big lesson and you learn a lot from those moments.”
Here are 10 statistics that underline just how good Arsenal have been since in the Premier League in 2024:
– Arsenal have a 100% win record in the Premier League in 2024. The Gunners and Leeds United are the only two clubs in the top four tiers of English football to boast that record. Never before in their history have Arsenal kicked off a calendar year with six successive wins.
– The aggregate score over their last six league outings this calendar year is 25-3. Their massive uptick in form now sees them boast the best goal difference in the top flight. Only Liverpool (63 to Arsenal’s 62) have scored more, and no side has conceded fewer.
– They’re the first side in Premier League history to score 25 goals from the first six games of a calendar year.
– Arsenal’s underlying numbers are just as impressive. They’ve allowed a rate of expected goals against of just 1.88xG against in total over their last six Premier League outings. To put that in context, the next-best defensive record over the same period is Manchester City – 6.77xG over their last six games. Liverpool conceded 3.5xG in their 3-1 defeat to Arsenal alone.
– Arteta’s men have conceded just 12 shots on target against them over their last six matches. To put that in context, Manchester United have conceded 32 shots on target over the same period.
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QUIZ: Can you name Arsenal’s XI from Mikel Arteta’s first match as boss?
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– Before Joe Willock’s late consolation goal for Newcastle on Saturday, Arsenal scored 17 goals since they’d last conceded one. That was their longest run of unanswered goals in Premier League history.
– Arsenal have become the first side in Premier League history to score two or more goals in seven successive halves of football – the second half against Liverpool and both halves against West Ham, Burnley and Newcastle. Don’t bet against them extending that record when they face bottom-placed Sheffield United next Monday.
– Declan Rice has notched four assists and one goal in his last six Premier League appearances. Bukayo Saka has notched seven goals and one assist.
– Saka has become the first Englishman to score in five successive Premier League appearances for Arsenal since Ian Wright in 1994. It’s not even March and the 22-year-old has already bettered his total goal contributions from the entirety of last season.
– Arsenal have scored more goals from set pieces (19 – not including penalties) and more goals from corners (13) than any other Premier League team in 2023-24.
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TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every Arsenal player to score under Mikel Arteta?