‘They’re all floating on confidence’: Martin Keown says Arsenal’s incredible start to the season has acted as ‘a kind of elixir’ on the club as they mount an unlikely Premier League title challenge
- Martin Keown believes that Arsenal are ‘floating on confidence’ at the moment
- Arsenal have lost just once from 12 matches in all competitions so far this season
- They used midweek Europa League fixtures to rotate their side extensively too
Arsenal legend Martin Keown believes that the Gunners are ‘floating on confidence after a brilliant start to the season that sees them on top of the Premier League table.
The north London outfit are one of the form teams in Europe, and have been in brilliant form, beating Liverpool 3-2 on Sunday in a statement win, and Keown described the mood around the club as ‘a kind of elixir’.
He also noted that although the club would like to be in the Champions League already, the Europa League allows them to give ‘vital minutes’ to certain players.
Martin Keown believes that Arsenal are ‘floating on confidence’ at the start of the campaign
Keown told BT Sport: ‘It just feels at the moment like there are obviously quality players and there’s something about what’s happening around Arsenal – a kind of elixir. They’re all floating on confidence.
‘It’s just great to see and you’re going to need those players throughout the season. It’s going to be you know, okay, it’s all going very well now but you need quality and really (the Europa League) is a breeding ground.
‘This competition is perfect, ready made the Europa League. We can put people in – (Takehiro) Tomiyasu got vital minutes the week before he plays a man marking job against (Mohamed)Salah.
Mikel Arteta has used the Europa League to spread the workload across his Arsenal squad
‘So it’s working really well for them. If they’re in the Champions League already, which you’d love to be of course, you really would be, you couldn’t be playing as many players in the squad as you currently are.’
The Gunners have surprised many in taking an early league lead, having only dropped points against Manchester United so far this season.
Mikel Arteta has used Thursday night European clashes to spread the workload throughout his squad, ensuring that all players get minutes under their belts, so that they are ready to make an impact when called on.
Takehiro Tomiyasu was given European minutes before his role on Sunday against Liverpool
But there has been a noticeable improvement from the end of last season, when Arteta’s side contrived to miss out on Champions League qualification after a north London derby defeat to Tottenham.
And according to data from website FiveThirtyEight, Arsenal are likely to finish second in the league and have a 14 per cent chance of winning the title, while it is 75 per cent likely that Mikel Arteta’s team will qualify for the Champions League.
Although Arsenal are currently top of the table by one point, it is anticipated that City will finish first – a contention none will likely argue, so prodigious has Erling Haaland’s start to the season been.
The report claims that Arsenal are likely to finish second and have a 14 per cent chance of glory
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