Arsenal’s recent form has been emphatic, yet they were made to work for all three points much more by Brentford on Saturday night in the Premier League.

The Gunners have secured huge wins over the likes of West Ham, Burnley and Sheffield United in recent weeks and looked set to gallop to victory again when Declan Rice put them ahead against the Bees on Saturday night.

However, the visitors had other ideas. Aided by an unfortunate error from Aaron Ramsdale, Yoane Wissa closed down the stand-in goalkeeper’s attempted clearance to draw Thomas Frank’s level.

There was more drama to be had as Kai Havertz avoided a second yellow card for a dive before popping up to head in the winner in the 86th minute.

That goal not only sent the Gunners to the top of the Premier League table ahead of Liverpool’s showdown with Manchester City on Sunday, but also made them just the fourth team in the competition’s history to win each of their first eight games of a calendar year.

The previous sides all managed to achieve what Arsenal are hoping to in 2023/24 by going on to win the Premier League title.

Manchester United recorded the feat in 2009, eventually finishing four points ahead of Liverpool, who became the second club to win eight matches at the start of a year in 2020. Man City then replicated the achievement a season later.

Arsenal can’t afford to rely on good omens to claim a first league title since 2004, however. They sit a point clear at the top ahead of Sunday’s clash between Liverpool and Man City but have fixtures against Chelsea, City, Aston Villa, Tottenham and Man Utd to fulfil before the campaign closes with final-day meeting with Everton.

Their recent form is incredible, winning their last eight league games, though the next challenge is to overturn a 1-0 deficit in the Champions League last 16 when they host Porto on Tuesday.