Mikel Arteta celebrated his side’s latest set-piece exploitation and succeeded where previous iterations of this Arsenal side have failed. The cliché that this is a game that Arsenal would not have won last season is completely fair in this case.

This was the third straight league game where the Gunners had managed to turn a winless result from last season into a win. After beating Newcastle United and West Ham, this victory made it a net gain of plus-eight points from the same three fixtures from last season.

Most importantly, it takes Arsenal four points clear of Liverpool ahead of their clash with Manchester United.

While Craven Cottage has been a happy hunting ground for Gabriel Magalhaes to score, he could not be more delighted to have seen his flicked header from Bukayo Saka’s corner tapped in by Leandro Trossard.

Having been held at bay so often in the past by oppositions sitting deep and absorbing pressure, it was as if Arteta...