Rio Ferdinand says Mikel Arteta will be ‘thanking God’ Arsenal signed a £67.5million player and sent a warning over their Premier League title hopes.

Arsenal go into the October international break top of the table following a 2-0 win over West Ham and back-to-back losses for title rivals Liverpool.

The Gunners boast the best defensive record in the league and only Manchester City have outscored them, while they have also made perfect starts to their Champions League and Carabao Cup campaigns.

All this comes despite Arteta’s team suffering numerous injury problems, with key players limping off the pitch in many of their games so far.

Most notably, Martin Odegaard has had to be subbed off in the first-half of the last three matches – a Premier League first – and his latest knee injury looks to be a painful one.

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While his absence proved problematic in the past, Arteta invested heavily in...