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Arsenal won the Premier League title last season by grinding their way through the campaign in efficient fashion, and an off day at Brighton aside, they’re doing the same this season.
It was a third 1-0 win in five Premier League away games for the Gunners on Sunday as they earned their first victory at Liverpool since the 2012-13 campaign, and that old ‘1-0 to the Arsenal’ theme really has returned under Mikel Arteta. We’ll look more at that in this week’s SVQ.
Speaking of comparisons with last season, we’ll also be looking at where the 17 ever-present Premier League teams are compared to this time in 2025-26. Who is doing better and who’s doing worse?
You can tackle our latest quiz too, and we have an Ask Opta question about the tightest Premier League seasons, so yes, we’re rather Premier League heavy this week, but who can be mad about that?
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☝️ STAT: One-Nilling in the Name Of…
Arsenal went into their game against Liverpool as favourites with the Opta supercomputer, but it wasn’t a sure thing.
The Gunners hadn’t won at Anfield since since September 2012, and they were coming up against a Liverpool team who seemed to be finding their feet under Andoni Iraola.
However, an early Kai Havertz goal in front of the Kop gave Mikel Arteta’s men something to hold onto, and they closed the game out supremely against a Liverpool side who at times had a real go at them.
The champions rode their luck at times, especially when the officiating team failed to spot what seemed to be a clear and obvious foul on Alexander Isak in the penalty area, but they also defended fantastically well and ground out a big victory on enemy turf.
That hard work took them to an eighth victory in nine league games this season, and their first victory in any competition at Anfield in 16 visits. It was also their first clean sheet there in the Premier League since that win in 2012.