Arsenal have been a revelation so far this season. After a trio of second place finishes in the Premier League, Mikel Arteta and his players have a steely determination that they can get the job done this time. They have been an impressive force in all areas of the pitch, but it has been their ability to keep clean sheets and restrict sides to few chances that has really set them apart from the competition so far. After 16 matches in all competitions, the Gunners have conceded just three goals! That’s an average of just 0.19 goals per game.
On Saturday, 1st November, Arsenal visited Burnley, which would have been viewed as a tricky game not so long ago. But the visitors made light work of the hosts, winning 2-0 and restricting Scott Parker’s men to three shots, none of which was on target! Goals from Viktor Gyokeres and Declan Rice were enough to secure victory and, at the time of writing, the Gunners are sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League table, six points ahead of Manchester City and seven above current champions Liverpool. And they’ve been able to maintain their excellent form in Europe too.
Arsenal Maintain 100% Champions League Record
Continuing to build momentum 📈
View the gallery from our 3-0 win at Slavia Prague 👇
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) November 5, 2025
Tuesday’s trip to Slavia Prague was never going to be Arsenal’s toughest fixture in this year’s Champions League. But with Gyokeres, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz and Noni Madueke all missing out through injury, it was a potential banana skin. Arteta, perhaps wary of a slip, opted to play midfielder Mikel Merino as the main striker, and – as it has previously – it paid off handsomely as the Spaniard netted two of Arsenal’s three goals.
Slavia Prague did have their moments and even managed a shot on target! Just the one, though, as the Gunners controlled proceedings and rarely looked in any serious trouble. Bukayo Saka got the opener for the visitors, dispatching a penalty in the 32nd minute after a handball by Lukas Provod. Merino added his goals after 46 and 68 minutes, and Slavia could find no response, despite reasonable claims for a late penalty being ruled out by VAR.
The 3-0 victory meant the Gunners achieved an eighth clean sheet in a row, the first time they’ve managed that since 1903! The question now will be how well the north Londoners can maintain the standards they’ve set. Will the pressure begin to tell, as it appeared to in recent seasons, or will Arteta guide his club to glory?
Can the Gunners Keep the Momentum?
Arsenal’s next game comes on Saturday, a potentially challenging visit to Sunderland. Given the Black Cats have been performing well above expectations this term (they are currently in fourth place in the table), Arteta and co will be taking nothing for granted. But for all their fine results, Régis Le Bris’s side don’t score a lot of goals, and they are the lowest scorers in the top half of the table with just 12 goals from their 10 games. On the flip side, they have a pretty mean defence, although not quite on Arsenal’s level! We anticipate a tight match but one that the Gunners should emerge from with another three points and, most likely, yet another clean sheet.
After that, they host their north London rivals Tottenham at the Emirates. Spurs have had a very mixed bag of results this term, but are currently in sixth position in the table. They suffered a dismal 1-0 home defeat to Chelsea last weekend, when they managed just a single shot on target (which doesn’t bode well for when they visit the Gunners).
But Thomas Frank got a positive response from his troops in the Champions League as they put Copenhagen to the sword, winning 4-0 on home turf. We would expect Arsenal to get another win, however, as Spurs don’t quite have the consistency or invention to get the better of their rivals at the moment.
Arteta’s side then have a couple of potentially crucial matches, first at home against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, and then away to Chelsea in the Premier League. If the Gunners come through those two with their winning run intact, they really could be on the verge of something special this season. Of course, all good runs come to an end eventually, but once the aforementioned injured players return to action, Arteta will have so many options at his disposal, they won’t fear any opponents.