Better than the Invincibles! Arsenal post eye-catching stat after beating Bournemouth to extend lead at top of Premier League table

The Gunners' title credentials were tested after Gabriel Magalhaes' early error gifted Bournemouth forward Evanilson the opening goal in the 10th minute. However, the Brazilian defender quickly redeemed himself, lashing home an equaliser from a goalmouth scramble just six minutes later. Declan Rice, back from a knee injury, scored his first of the evening in the 54th minute and completed his first-ever Premier League brace in the 71st minute, confidently sweeping in a cut-back from substitute Bukayo Saka. Bournemouth substitute Eli Junior Kroupi's spectacular long-range effort in the 76th minute set up a nervy finale, but Arsenal held on for all three points. 

This victory continues Arsenal's impressive season, highlighting significant progress from previous campaigns. At this stage of the season, the Gunners are performing exceptionally well compared to their Invincible side of just over two decades ago: They have earned two more points than the 2003-04 title-winning team at the same stage, have scored four more goals and they have conceded only one more goal than the 03-04 side at this point in the season. 

Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Rice said: "Off the back of Aston Villa, the key thing today was to build on that and go and win. The win against Aston Villa would've meant nothing if we didn't come here today and didn't pick up anything. It's so important this time of year, the schedule's crazy, the games come thick and fast and if you can win your games in and around Christmas, on top of what we've done already, it's going to put you in a really good position. We've got to keep building on that, keep the mentality right, keep pushing, but we're in a really good spot at the minute. Long may it continue. 

"It felt like they were swarmed all over us in the first half but we're a team, at the second half when we get in there at half-time and the manager speaks and we speak between each other, we knew we had the quality and we knew the space was there to go on and win the game and we've done that a lot this season, so credit to everyone to go out there and perform in the second half because that wasn't easy out there today." 

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The Arsenal boss also spoke after the match, Arteta said: "I'm very happy we knew the difficulty of the match, they're a team that constantly threaten you. They are so good, made it even harder for ourselves conceding the first goal but I love the character of the team. I love the character of Gabriel, the way he overcome that situation it's just unbelievable, it says a lot about how much we've grown. The team found a way to beat them and it's a massive win.

There’s no doubting the current generation of Arsenal stars have the ability to match the legends who lifted to Premier League crown in 2004 - despite having lost two games this season. But, to keep pace with the other key stats, they’ll need to win at least another 42 points from their remaining 18 games (winning 2.3 points per game), and in doing so their defence will have to remain water-tight and concede a meagre 12 more times to match the exploits of Arsene Wenger’s champions. And they continue their title charge with a home clash against the current champions Liverpool on Thursday evening.