The six Premier League tables to show how Arsenal proved Neville wrong and won the title | OneFootball

Arsenal have climbed the Premier League summit for the first time in 22 years – and here’s how they proved Gary Neville wrong to do it.

Manchester City’s draw at Bournemouth amid reports Pep Guardiola is leaving handed Arsenal their first title since 2004.

The Gunners have attracted plenty of scrutiny and criticism for the manner in which they have ended their title drought – not that they give the merest of f***s. And no Premier League champion is undeserving.

The actual table will make for happy reading for Mikel Arteta, but here are six others to highlight where Arsenal made the difference.

Form table – last four

Arguably the most impressive aspect of Arsenal’s triumph is how they turned it on when it really mattered.

A month or so ago, the Gunners looked beaten. On April 19, they lost at the Etihad to hand the title initiative to Manchester City.

Having finished as runners-up so often, Arsenal’s bottle was questioned and derided, with City so often ruthless at this stage of the season.

But the manner in which Arteta has rallied Arsenal to go perfect since deserves huge praise.

Since Declan Rice insisted “it’s not over” when everyone really thought it was, Arsenal have won all four games, conceding no goals along the way.

Open play goals and corners won

Really, this table is about what it doesn’t show…

Only once in the last nine years has the champion not scored the most goals in open play. Arsenal are fourth, 22 behind City.

Which highlights the Gunners’ reliance on set-pieces. Especially corners.

No side in Premier League history has scored more goals from corners than Arsenal this season.

That has often been used as a stick with which to beat the Gunners, but goals from corners count just the same as ones rounding off a free-flowing move, or 30-yard thunderb*stards into the top corner.

Set-pieces give Arteta and his coaching staff the opportunity to seize what the manager most loves – control – while being able to capitalise on positions the Gunners are guaranteed to find themselves in.

Of course, it would help opponents if they stopped giving away corners, and it seems some have tried. But it isn’t that simple.

Despite holding the Premier League record, Arteta said recently that he was “upset” that Arsenal don’t score more goals from corners.

Contrast that with Guardiola, who in March said it was “good” that City had scored the second fewest from set-pieces overall.

Had City made more of their corners, perhaps they wouldn’t be so glum this morning…

Clean sheets

If attackers win games and defences win leagues, then Arsenal have got their priorities straight.

The clean sheet against Burnley on Monday was David Raya’s 19th of the season, equalling the club record set by David Seaman in 1993-94 and 1998-99.

On the way to his third consecutive Golden Glove award, Raya has kept clean sheets in more than half the matches he played.

Of course, the credit for clean sheets should be collective, with Arsenal’s defence very clearly the best in the league. They have conceded seven goals fewer than City and 17 fewer than the third-stingiest defence, Brighton.

They have also enjoyed the most wins without conceding – more than double the number of anyone other than Manchester City and, weirdly, Everton.

Points against bottom-half opposition

All the while Arsenal kept finishing second, they rarely had problems with their closest rivals. But they had a terrible habit of slipping up in games against the teams lower in the table.

Arteta has prompted the Gunners to be ruthless against those opponents this term. Which has been important in a season during which the table has seemed more congested than ever.

It has often been nervy – the narrow win against relegated Burnley with a goal scored from a corner was a very apt way to put one hand on the trophy on Monday – but in going unbeaten against bottom-half opposition, Arsenal have shown the consistency of champions.

Considering Gary Neville has spent most of the season banging on about how Arsenal could not possibly win the title without beating their closest rivals, it might be time for a rethink.

The table during Arteta’s ‘process’

It should be mentioned that this success is the culmination of a long process for Arteta that few believed in. And though this is his first title as a manager, the foundations have been laid ever since he was appointed in December 2019.

Since then, overall, Arsenal have clung to City and Liverpool’s coat tails. Liverpool have won two titles since Arteta was appointed with only 10 points more over 248 games.

Arsenal have had to stay patient, especially when it was tested early in 2021/22.

While Spurs were top under Nuno, the Gunners were winless and goalless after three games, capped by a 5-0 humiliation at Manchester City.

We described that then as ‘Arteta’s rock-bottom’ – and so it proved to be.

In the 186 games since that thrashing, Arsenal have taken only 18 points fewer than City. But City had won three titles – and Liverpool one – to Arsenal’s none. Until now.