Michael Owen claims Mikel Arteta has created an Arsenal team “full of confidence and maturity” and believes it’s time for the fans to “get excited”.
Arsenal secured their sixth win of the season on Sunday with an impressive 3-0 away victory against Brentford.
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Gabriel Jesus scored his eighth goal of the season and fellow summer signing Fabio Vieira opened his Premier League account with a fine finish from the edge of the box, while William Saliba also got on the scoresheet.
Few would have expected Arsenal to have been top of the table at this stage of the season, and while Alan Shearer believes Arteta’s side can’t be talked up as title contenders, as Owen insists, the signs are good at the Emirates.
“I would have been the first person to accuse them of being soft over the last few years and they’ve definitely been that but they do have a maturity [now] despite having a lot of young players in the team,” Owen told Premier League Productions.
“That performance compared to last season was different class. We looked at the fixtures they’ve played already and they have been favourable for them. The first five they won and their first big test against Manchester United they didn’t let themselves down but they stumbled.
“It was important they got back to winning ways and they did. They’re back to the top of the league. There’s going to be big tests to come because they have had a favourable start but the confidence is growing, they’re maturing.
“If i was an Arsenal fan – after a long few years – I would be starting to get excited now.”
Arteta said after the game that his side showed that they are a “very different team” to the one that lost 2-0 to Brentford on the opening day of last season.
“The natural thing to do to describe what happened last year as a really bad day,” he said. “The way I describe it is as a building character day and that’s very different.
“The team has to evolve and have the journey together and has to go through those moments. They have to react and can’t give up and question everybody or blame other people. Or they can look in the mirror, take the lesson and move forward.
“Today you seen a very different team.”
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