Man Utd might have made the right choice in waiting for Ten Hag over scathing pundit Conte

But Arsenal are obviously top because that’s who they are now. Man Utd and Ashley Young are thriving. West Ham, Nathan Jones and Harvey Elliott are not.

Arsenal
One of the increasingly few criticisms that suspicious pundits have levelled at Arsenal this season has been about their tendency to celebrate victories like they’ve won the Premier League title. It is starting to feel as though we might witness how Aaron Ramsdale, Benjamin White, Martin Odegaard and friends would actually commemorate that success soon enough, but Mikel Arteta will be pleased that the attitude changes to one of introspection once a threshold is crossed.

“My excitement comes from going into the dressing room when the players are talking about what they should have done better today. That means that they know that we can still play better and be better,” he said after beating Brighton to open up a seven-point gap at the summit.

For the first time this season, Arsenal have complete control over their title fate. The two games coming up against Manchester City in February and April will linger at the forefront of collective minds but they can now theoretically afford to lose both and still maintain their lead.

But when a young, hungry squad’s first private thought is to seek out room for improvement after dropping five points in 17 games, all while sustaining the sort of injury issues which were meant to derail them, defeat to anyone, never mind a Manchester City side starting to stutter, becomes tough to fathom. They look like champions. They’re playing like champions. They’re coping with the pressure like champions. It might not last but Arsenal have already achieved some special things this season regardless.

Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag
It is difficult to imagine how Erik ten Hag could realistically have navigated his opening months as Man Utd manager any better. Even those two defeats against Brentford and Brighton which marked a disastrous start to the campaign actually worked in his favour as he was given leeway to make more sweeping changes.

The summer transfer window was uncharacteristically excellent for Man Utd. The Harry Maguire situation is such a non-issue – even after a decent World Cup for the defender – that Luke Shaw can be picked instead at centre-half and the only eyebrows raised are by pundits in the BT Sport studio who don’t realise he’s the same height as Diego Costa.

Cristiano Ronaldo was given enough gold-plated rope with which to…