Tue | May 19, 2026

Arsenal are genuine EPL title contenders

Published:Monday | November 7, 2022 | 12:09 AM
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Aston Villa’s Leon Bailey (right) scores the opening goal during the English Premier League match between Aston Villa and Manchester United at Villa Park in Birmingham, England yesterday. Aston Villa won 3-1.
AP
Aston Villa’s Leon Bailey (right) scores the opening goal during the English Premier League match between Aston Villa and Manchester United at Villa Park in Birmingham, England yesterday. Aston Villa won 3-1.
Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka smiles after providing the assist for the winning goal against Chelsea during the English Premier League match between Chelsea and Arsenal at Stamford Bridge Stadium in London yesterday. Arsenal won 1-0.
AP
Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka smiles after providing the assist for the winning goal against Chelsea during the English Premier League match between Chelsea and Arsenal at Stamford Bridge Stadium in London yesterday. Arsenal won 1-0.
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MANCHESTER, England (AP):

Mikel Arteta is making believers out of Arsenal doubters, while his predecessor Unai Emery has unfinished business in the Premier League.

It was a good day for Gunners managers past and present as Arsenal moved back to the top of the table with a 1-0 win against Chelsea yesterday and Aston Villa stunned Manchester United 3-1 in Emery’s first game in charge. Arsenal have 34 points and Manchester City are second with 32.

The win at Villa Park saw Emery taste triumph – at the first opportunity – with his new club, something the Spaniard hadn’t achieved in his previous seven games with Arsenal. That run ultimately saw Emery replaced by Arteta.

Emery has returned to England three years later to see his former team transformed.

Arsenal’s win against Chelsea overcame the latest test of their title credentials. Victory in the final round of games before the World Cup will ensure that Arsenal are top of the table for Christmas, with the domestic calendar resuming on December 26.

The celebrations at Manchester City after a late 2-1 win against Fulham on Saturday underlined the level of threat that Arteta’s Arsenal presents to the reigning champions.

And when Gabriel pounced after 63 minutes at Stamford Bridge, it strengthened the growing belief that Arsenal can maintain a genuine challenge.

“Individually, collectively, that’s as good as I’ve seen an Arsenal team in years,” former defender Martin Keown told BT Sport. “Desire, tenacity, hunger, it’s all there. They’re ready to win.”

Arsenal fans have experienced many false dawns in the past, but a run of 11 wins from 13 games at the start of the season has set a pace that even City cannot match.

Not that Arteta is ready to publicly declare his team is in contention for the title.

“Just look at the last six years, what Manchester City have done,” he said. “With the best manager in the world, the best team in the world.

“They have shown it consistently in every single competition. We have to be very, very respectful of that.”

Emery will hope to earn the respect that didn’t always come his way when he was in charge at Arsenal.

FAILURE

A manager with nine major trophies to his name lasted just 18 months at the Emirates Stadium and was largely dismissed as a failure.

The rehabilitation of his reputation in England could not have got off to a better start, with Villa 2-0 up against United within 11 minutes. Jamaican Leon Bailey opened the scoring in the seventh minute and Lucas Digne scored in the 11th. Manchester United got a goal back in the 45th minute when Aston Villa’s Jacob Ramsay deflected a shot into his own net. Four minutes after the break Ramsay scored to lift his team to 3-1.

“I think we made the first step today,” Emery said afterward. “I am a privileged man to be here and to win against them.

“It’s only one step, and we have to achieve regularity, and we have to achieve being consistent in the next matches – at home and away. We have a lot of work to do.”

Other results: Tottenham 1 Liverpool 2; West Ham 1 Crystal Palace 2; Southampton 1 Newcastle 4.