Monday Cannon Fodder: feeling good

Good morning, TSFers. Arsenal are three points clear of the cheaters at the top of the Premier League table, five points clear of the “true” second place side Brighton, and nine points clear of Liverpool in 5th. The side got a significant monkey off their back with a league win at Anfield, too. It’s a very good day.

I don’t want to get too ahead of things but that nine-point gap after nine matches is a significant one. Liverpool (15 points, 1.8 points per game) would have to pick up 2.4 ppg to match Arsenal’s league-winning, 85 point mark from last season (85 in 38 is approximately 2.24 ppg). So basically Liverpool would have to improve their current points percentage by 33% and sustain a rate higher than Arsenal’s title-winning pace for three-quarters of the season. And oh by the way, Arsenal are 7 points up on equivalent fixtures from last season.

The Premier League season is long and difficult. Weird things happen. Teams get hot. The bottom can drop out. But from strictly a numbers perspective, it’s going to be really tough for Liverpool to challenge for the title from where they are now. Knock on wood, cross your fingers, and do whatever other anti-jinx hoo-doo suits you.

A few more fun facts / numbers:

• Arsenal’s 24 points from nine games is the most from that span since ’22-’23, when they earned that same number. It’s the second-most in club history through nine matches, bettered 25 points in ’04-’05 and ’07-’08. Chelsea took a perfect 27 points from 9 in ’04-’05.
• The Gunners have played 10 away matches and just 5 at home so far this season. It’s been a tough opening slate of matches.
• Liverpool have lost the same number of Premier League matches at Anfield (6) under Slot and Iraola combined over 43 matches that Jurgen Klopp lost over 148 games.
• Arsenal held Liverpool without a shot on target yesterday. That’s the only time that has happened to the Reds at Anfield in the Premier League over Opta’s dataset that stretches back to the ’03-’04 season. Re-using that one from the recap because it’s so astonishing.
• The win was Arsenal’s 300th away win in the Premier League.
• Declan Rice’s assist moves him atop the Premier League chart with 5 this season. He has 25 Premier League assists since joining the Gunners in ’23-’24, only Bruno Fernandes and Mo Salah have provided more over that same time frame.
• Kai Havertz’s goal made him the top-scoring German in Premier League history with 46, moving him ahead of Ilkay Gundogan. Havertz has 46 in 172 matches, Gundogan 45 in 221.

Did y’all come across any other good stats?