Top-four Gunners – how Arsenal have turned things around in Champions League bid

Another good weekend for Arsenal saw them beat Watford and move into the Premier League top four as nearest rivals Manchester United and West Ham slipped up.

Mikel Arteta’s side are now a point clear in fourth place, despite having played three games fewer than the two Uniteds in fifth and sixth.

Here, the PA news agency asks how and why the Gunners have managed to go from two consecutive eighth-place finishes to challenging for a Champions League return.

For Arsenal, yes, the investment leading into the new season was something most supporters would not have anticipated.

The club ended up as the biggest spenders in Europe as Arteta and technical director Edu went about improving the squad in places where it had previously been weak.

The likes of Nuno Tavares and Albert Sambi Lokonga added squad depth while Ben White formed a fine defensive partnership with Gabriel Magalhaes following his £50million arrival from Brighton.

Takehiro Tomiyasu came in as first-choice right-back and the permanent signing of Martin Odegaard has been inspired, while adding goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale has arguably been the most successful piece of transfer business.

Definitely not.

While the investment was required to move Arsenal up a level, the players already available to Arteta have also come into their own this season.

With an average age of just over 24, the Gunners have the youngest team in the Premier League but a number of their precocious talents have made a big step forward in the past few months, adding much-needed consistency to their game.

Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe top the charts for combined goals and assists for players aged 21 or under this season – Saka with 13 and his fellow England international second with 11.

Ramsdale,