When Arsenal take to the field against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, it will have been 42 days since they last conceded a goal.
Mikel Arteta’s side go into this fixture in the back of 10 straight wins in all competitions, and sitting top of the Premier League.
And yet after the 1-1 draw with Man City, many were openly questioning the team and the manager. It was put to the Arsenal boss that the defensive strength and the recent record hasn’t seen his side get the credit it deserves, but he was quick to play that contention down.
“It’s not about credit,” he insisted.
“It’s about doing it and once you’ve done it, do it again. And that’s what we have to do.
“Today, train at our best, try to improve, try to give a lot of clarity to the players and understanding of the game that we have to play tomorrow.
“And tomorrow is execution day again.
“You learn from your team every single day, from your players every single day, from the opponents that you play every single time. And that’s information that is so valuable for us.
“Tomorrow is going to be a different game to Tuesday, a very different game to Tuesday and the week before.
“So we need to really understand very early what the game requires, what we have to do to be better than them and hopefully beat them.”
Asked if he was surprised at Sunderland’s impressive start the season, he said, “Well, not surprised when you analyse them and you see how well organised they are, how they adjust things, the spirit that they have within the team.
“I’m not surprised because they fully deserve the position that they have at the moment.
“So we know the type of game that we expect to play tomorrow and where the opportunities are and the things that we have to do very well to beat them.
“And that’s what we’re going to try to do.”