What a difference a year makes for the Giddy Gunners

It’s been quite the start to the season for Arsenal. After winning the Transfer Window in July, the Gunners have raced out of the traps with three wins on the spin to top the Premier League and remain the only club with a 100% record. As you can imagine, their fans have been very quiet about it, not getting carried away at all and keeping their opinions to themselves on Social Media Disgrace Twitter. Mikel Arteta has also managed to emerge from an All or Nothing documentary with his reputation somehow enhanced, despite trying to steal the David Brent Crown from atop Brendan Rodgers’ head with some cringe-worthy character-building guff in an early episode.

What a difference a year makes, then. After opening last season in clown-car fashion with three defeats in a row, they were propping up the table and some fans were calling for Arteta’s head. Isn’t that right, Piers? Do you remember what happened next? We couldn’t, which is why we looked it up on The Google and discovered that they won three league games in a row, against Norwich (of course!), Burnley and Tottenham, to make it nine points from 18. So we fully expect the Gunners to lose their next three matches, starting with the visit of unbeaten west London funsters Fulham on Saturday.

OK, OK, we jest (unless they do lose three on the bounce, in which case we’re claiming it). Arsenal have genuinely looked good, with Gabriel Jesus sharper than a sushi chef’s knife in attack, captain Martin Odegaard hitting all the right notes on lead vocals and Granit Xhaka making our head hurt by popping passes around like Xavi in an advanced midfield role. Go back over a decade and such a start to the season would have marked a team out as potential title contenders, but the