'Making me really believe' - Bukayo Saka pinpoints what is different for Arsenal this time around after past title race heartbreaks as Mikel Arteta's Gunners emerge as Premier League frontrunners

After years of heartbreak, especially since Mikel Arteta took charge of the club, Arsenal are finally looking confident to bag the Premier League title this season after making a flying start to their 2025-26 campaign. They have lost just one out of their first nine matches and have secured 22 points and are being widely considered as favourites to finally win the league title and end their two-decade-long wait.

The Gunners have scored 16 league goals thus far, joint second-most along with Bournemouth, while they have conceded just three. The numbers clearly show how consistently the entire team has performed this season, which is making thousands of fans dream of lifting the coveted trophy next year. 

Gunners star Saka opened up about their successful start to the new season while pinpointing the key difference in the current squad compared to the teams of the past few seasons.

The England international told Sky Sports: "This year, I feel we’re a very strong group and we’ve got a lot of quality. We’ve already suffered a lot of injuries, but you know, the players that have come in have shown that we can all keep the level at the top at the highest. That’s what it’s going to take for us to go all the way. I think that’s where we’ve slipped off in a few seasons, but this season, I think we’ve got that. And you know, it’s making me really believe we can do it."

Manchester United legend and pundit Gary Neville has backed the Gunners as favourites to win the league title this year and even revealed the points tally they have to achieve to lift their 14th top-flight title. He said on the Gary Neville Podcast: "This has got to be them, hasn't it? This has got to be their year. This is the fourth season on the bounce that I've had them to win the league, but they're not necessarily miles better, they're repeating their levels of consistency, and that's all they're going to have to do this year to win the league. They're not going to have to go and get 100 points, they're not going to have to get even 90 or 95 points to win the league, mid-80s, high 80s will win them this title, and they can do that. I mentioned before about the other teams [being] inconsistent and unreliable, that's not this Arsenal team. They're very reliable. You can trust them. The way in which they defend is fantastic. They're all around each other. They don't concede goals. They've got a threat up front in multiple areas. They've not got a sensational centre-forward, but they've got a battering ram up there as honest as a day's long, and that can work for them. They've got [Eberechi] Eze, they've got so they've got [Noni] Madueke,[Leandro] Trossard, lots of players who can contribute goals. They've got [Declan] Rice who can obviously deliver in set-pieces. They've got four fantastic full-backs and three excellent centre-backs."

Saka, along with a host of Arsenal players, picked up injuries during the Gunners' latest Premier League clash against Crystal Palace. Concerns were raised over the condition of Saka, Riccardo Calafiori, Declan Rice, William Saliba and Gabriel Martinelli ahead of their Carabao Cup fixture against Brighton on Wednesday. 

A day before the game, Arteta confirmed that Saka, Calafiori and Rice are fit to play but the team will miss the services of Saliba and Martinelli. Following the League Cup clash, Arsenal will face Burnley in an away Premier League encounter on Saturday.