Arsenal's Dominant Start: Three Wins, Three Styles
Three league games, three wins, three very different statements of intent. Arsenal’s title defence has not just begun well; it has begun with a kind of quiet dominance that leaves very little room for doubt. The only thing missing, from their perspective, is Manchester City dropping points.
What stands out is not the perfection of the record but the variety of the performances. Coventry City were subdued with a controlled, almost cold-blooded win. Aston Villa were ground down in a tight contest that flipped in the 15 minutes after half-time, when Arsenal simply turned the screw and refused to let go. Then came Chelsea: a far more open game, a first goal conceded of the season, a genuine test of nerve – and still, for long stretches, it felt like Mikel Arteta’s side would find a way.
They did, and they needed everybody. Even when Chelsea pushed late, when Estevão carved out the chance that seemed destined to spoil Arsenal’s perfect start, David Raya flung himself across goal and clawed the ball away. It was a save that did more than protect three points. It underlined another edge in this team: even if you work your way through them, even if you engineer the shot you want, you still have to beat a goalkeeper with a taste for the spectacular. That wears on opponents.
Arsenal carried menace from everywhere. Set-pieces brought danger. Open play brought more. They looked capable of hurting Chelsea in multiple ways, even on a day when Declan Rice, their outstanding performer last season, never quite hit his usual level. His late, cynical trip on Morgan Rogers – nowhere near the ball, purely to halt a break – was ugly and went unpunished, the sort of foul that feels increasingly out of step with how the game wants to present itself. Treat that as a red-card offence and it would not be hard to justify.
The broader picture, though, is of a side playing with a freedom that was often absent under the weight of expectation. Three straight second-place finishes, the constant talk of “when” rather than “if” they would win the title – that pressure seems to have lifted. The football looks lighter. So do some of the players.
Martin Ødegaard is the clearest example. Hampered by injuries last season, he finished the league campaign with just a single goal. Already this year he has two in the league and another in the Community Shield, and he is playing as if someone has taken a weight off his shoulders. Where some players come back from a World Cup looking dulled by the experience, or struggle to re-engage with the relentlessness of domestic football, Ødegaard has emerged looking sharper, braver on the ball, alive to every angle.
His finish against Chelsea captured that. Composed, precise, but also imaginative – the sort of goal that comes from a player who sees possibilities others do not. His combinations with Kai Havertz were at times exquisite, the pair of them slipping into pockets of space that did not seem to be there a moment before, twisting passing lanes into existence and, ultimately, fashioning the winner. In a side that last season built a reputation for sheer physical force, watching two such delicate, elusive footballers link up felt almost surreal, like watching sprites dance across the ramparts of a fortress.
Ødegaard is not alone in looking reborn. For Bukayo Saka, last season felt like the bill arriving after years of overuse. He is only 25, yet Sunday marked his 205th league start, on top of a heavy workload with England. That sort of mileage usually catches up with a player. There were questions around his condition at the World Cup, not helped by the confusion of Thomas Tuchel leaving him out of the semi-final only for Saka to score a hat-trick in the third-place game.
Right now, those worries have faded. In these opening weeks he has looked close to his most electric self, darting infield from the right, committing defenders, whipping in corners that seem to carry danger every time they leave his boot. The old snap is back in his game.
On the opposite flank, another story is taking shape. Riccardo Calafiori has quickly become one of the early revelations of Arsenal’s season. His understanding with Christos Tzolis is already promising when they surge forward together, even if there are still some defensive wrinkles to iron out on that side. Calafiori, who opened the scoring in the Community Shield, offers threat from dead balls but is even more valuable when he steps through the lines, breaking past the first press. Against deep, stubborn defences, that kind of vertical running becomes a weapon.
Chelsea, for their part, are not the soft touch they were earlier in the campaign. Xabi Alonso has tightened them up, particularly through midfield, where they were far too open against Fulham and Brighton. It is easier to look compact against teams less inclined to dominate the ball, but there was structure and discipline in their shape that had been missing. With no European fixtures clogging their schedule and with other contenders likely to feel that strain later in the year, Chelsea have the profile of a side that could grow into a serious threat.
The problem, for them and for everyone else, is that Arsenal are already operating at a level that leaves little margin for those catching up. Arteta’s team are not just playing with authority; the calendar has broken kindly as well. Villa away and Chelsea at home have both come at a time when those sides are still working out their patterns, still searching for rhythm. Arsenal, by contrast, look like they never stopped.
Yes, it is early. The first international break has not even arrived. Seasons twist on injuries, on bad bounces, on one wild afternoon in the rain. No side can afford to assume anything in a league that punishes complacency as ruthlessly as this one.
But right now, with three wins, three different performances, and a squad that looks both hardened and refreshed, the question around Arsenal is no longer whether they can defend their title. It is whether anyone can stop them wrapping it up with games to spare.
