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Mikel Arteta has made his feelings clear on whether or not Arsenal are in the Premier League title race.
The Gunners returned to the top of the table following a dominant 3-0 victory away at Brentford to make it six wins out of seven in the top-flight this term.
William Saliba continued his fine start to the season when he opened the scoring, before Gabriel Jesus netted his fourth goal of the campaign to double their lead.
Shortly after the break, Fabio Vieira, who made his first Premier League start due to a Martin Odegaard injury, scored a spectacular third to secure the win. Following an outstanding summer transfer window, optimism is rife at the Emirates Stadium.
Their exceptional start to the season has led to some believing they can challenge Manchester City for the title this term. Arsenal haven't won a league title since their invincible season in 2003/04 and Arteta was asked about their prospects after their latest victory.
He told reporters following the London derby (as per Football.London):
"You can ask me every day. Today we are top of the league, I am so happy. Yesterday I was so annoyed because we lost it and we used that to want to get back there and show that we want to be there.
"That is what we are going to do, push to be the best we can be. That is the aim. The table won’t lie after 38 games normally."
Mikel Arteta hails Arsenal turnaround from disastrous Brentford display last season
The Gunners' first game of the previous campaign was away at newly promoted Brentford and they fell to a humiliating 2-0 defeat.
Arsenal narrowly missed out on a Champions League place, but in stark contrast to last term, they have started the season in flying fashion. Arteta stated after the win at Brentford:
"It is true that we replaced them with different players. We have to be honest with that and (whereas) a lot of people described last season here as a bad day, an embarrassing day, I looked at it as a good building character day.
"You want to become a different team, you have to learn from those moments and you have to go through those moments and then days like today happen which everyone is really happy in the dressing room with the way we played. We are enjoying our football and it is another step."
