Mikel Arteta and Arsenal extend unbeaten run as spirited Gunners see off Watford

Arsenal are officially now the most in-form team in the Premier League after defeating Watford on Sunday. For a side that lost each of its first three matches of the season, the turnaround has been remarkable.

Modern football has proven to be a cutthroat adventure and can be especially unforgiving to managers who fail to put together a consistent run of results.

Mikel Arteta, though, was fortunate to have been given the benefit of the doubt when things were rocky at the Emirates. Now, the results are beginning to reflect.

Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Watford was the Gunners’ eighth win in their last 10 matches. Nobody expected such a rich vein of form after the Gunners were thrashed 5-0 by Manchester City in late August. But with patience and hard work, they are back on track.

Gunners’ resilience pays off

Arsenal have won many matches comfortably in recent weeks but their encounter against Watford was far from an easy ride.

The Gunners’ character was tested and they had to dig deep to secure the three points. Having seen Bukayo Saka’s early striker ruled out, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also fluffed his lines from 12 yards when he missed a penalty in the 36th minute.

Arteta and his side, though, did not allow their frustrations to get the better of them and kept pushing for the opening goal.

Their resilience ultimately paid off in the 56th minute. In-form Emile Smith-Rowe slammed the ball past a sea of bodies to give Arsenal the lead. The goal came under controversial circumstances, but it was also a deserved lead for a team that had worked hard all afternoon.

Arsenal extend unbeaten run

The Gunners currently boast the longest unbeaten run in the Premier League this season following Liverpool’s shock defeat at the hands of West Ham United.

Arsenal haven’t lost since the start of September, a run which stretches to 10 matches in all competitions. They have also kept clean sheets in their last three matches.

Finally, the team is playing like Arteta always intended them to. They are decisive in possession and look very compact and structured when they lose the ball. At present, very few teams are playing better football than the Gunners.

“I think it was really important today to be clear that we were going to have moments of frustration. We expected a certain game-plan from them,” Arteta said after the win over Watford, as quoted by Arsenal.com.

“That is going to happen and you have to go through that. You have to be consistent and you have to be determined with what you want to achieve in the game," he added.

“And the type of actions that are necessary to win the game and to keep going. We never lost sight of that and I believe that's why we won the game,” concluded the Arsenal boss.

Arsenal can only get better from here after their consistent run over the last two months. However, tougher tests await after the international break. How they come out of those fixtures will determine if Arsenal are truly back among the league’s elite.