Arsenal sit six points clear at the top of the table after a perfect weekend saw them see off Leeds United with ease.
The Gunners then looked on as both Man City and Aston Villa dropped points on Sunday to give them a nice lead at the top.
Mikel Arteta will be delighted and while the other results went in his favour, his team’s showing at Elland Road was the biggest positive of all really.
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Arsenal produced some brilliant football, looked solid at the back again and with the pressure on due to recent results, produced the goods.
Still, there are winners and losers from the performance, and we’ve looked at who made those grades.
Arsenal’s biggest winners and losers from the win at Leeds
Looking solely at the performance, the biggest winner – in terms of an individual – was Noni Madueke.
The English winger was brought in at the last minute as Bukayo Saka got injured in the warm up and Madueke more than produced, with two assists and a scintillating wide performance.
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Madueke has put his name in the hat to be Saka’s replacement here and there’s no reason he cannot start in midweek against Chelsea.
Speaking of Madueke, that takes us to our loser and that is Bukayo Saka. Being injured in the warm up is never good and it remains to be seen how long he’ll be out for.
Moving on to the other winners, it would be remiss not to mention Viktor Gyokeres, who now has four goals in his last six games and bagged a first league goal since before Christmas. With Kai Havertz returning, this was a huge goal.
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Finally, the other winner from the weekend is Mikel Arteta. The Gunners boss has seldom been under big pressure at the club but this weekend felt big.
Had Arsenal lost and City and Villa won, the title race would be wide open. Instead, Arteta used his week to full effect and his messages were clearly taken onboard by the players.
Arteta will hope Arsenal are over their mini blip now and it will be full steam ahead to finally capture that elusive Premier League title.
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