"It's Arsenal's to lose"....?

 

That's what everybody seems to be saying,... after Arsenal's relentless start to the new season: 4 straight - and relatively comfortable - wins, 8 goals scored, only 1 conceded.

A title defence - particularly after a first title victory following a long, long drought - is usually the 'difficult second album' of the football world, a very challenging thing to pull off successfully. And I confess I had been very sceptical about Arsenal's prospects over the summer. I wasn't impressed by their summer transfer business. I was dreading another season of the dour 'anti-football' which had won them their success last year. I fretted that Arteta's extreme conservatism would shackle them to a more-of-the-same approach - which, this time, at least some of their rivals would surely find a better counter to.

But in fact Mikel seems to have accepted that, against the increasingly effective deployment of 'hybrid marking'/low-block defensive schemes, it has become essential to look more to individual creativity to unlock openings in the final third. (There may be an element too of the referees' tightening up on wrestling in the box meaning that the set-piece route to goals that he relied upon so heavily last season is just not going to work nearly as well this year.)  Arsenal, much to almost everyone's surprise and delight (not least their own fans'!!), appear to be playing a much less cautious, more expansive style of football this year; goals from open play once more appear to be flowing in fairly freely for them. And, after a couple of seasons blighted by injuries - as well as by Arteta's over-anxious strictures about never giving the ball away - we've suddenly seen both Odegaard and Saka revitalised, playing some of the most thrilling and dangerous football of their careers.

So, yes, things are looking very promising for Arsenal at the moment.

And the odds on them claiming a second successive title are very much improved by how poorly their rivals have started the season. Chelsea are scoring for fun, but conceding very nearly as many through a porous defence; City are still struggling to adapt to the new Maresca regime; Liverpool have been even more inconsistent and disappointing; Manchester United are currently looking as though they might start floundering in mid-table again; while Villa, reeling from the loss of several of their best players, look as though they might plummet all the way to the relegation end of the table.

Some of these, at least, should rally sooner or later, and clearly have the player talent to cause Arsenal some problems. And one or two 'dark horses' could also emerge on the fringes of the top-of-the-table scrap: Bournemouth and Brighton have shown a lot of promise in the opening games.

But at the moment, yes, Arsenal are looking very, very good - head-and-shoulders above the rest of the field.

It's a long old season, and much could change. I wouldn't yet be placing a bet on Arsenal winning at a canter; they could yet suffer a collapse of some sort, at least for a portion of the season. And I would expect City and Chelsea, certainly, and maybe Liverpool, to be able to mount some sort of a challenge. But for now, Arsenal are very strong favourites.

[I'll try to put out an extensive discussion of where everyone's going to finish tomorrow.]