Against almost all the odds Arsenal sit five points clear at the top of the Premier League as it pauses for the World Cup. While few are getting carried away with themselves, many Gooners are simply enjoying the ride as their young squad goes from strength to strength under Mikel Arteta.
Having not even been tipped by many to finish inside the top four anything above that feels like a bonus for this Gunners side who have changed the opinions of many.
With six weeks now to reflect on how well things have gone it feels like the perfect time to look back on the main success stories of the season so far, and those for whom things haven't exactly gone to plan. Here football.london takes a look back at the winners and losers from the 2022/23 campaign as things stand.
READ MORE: How Mikel Arteta transformed Arsenal's defence as key stat points to Premier League title charge
Winners
Mikel Arteta
It may seem bizarre to think now, but at the start of the season, Mikel Arteta still had plenty of doubters. There were some who felt the Spaniard shouldn't have been given beyond his disastrous start to last campaign and many more who felt he had missed Arsenal's main moment by missing out on last season's top four. As the All or Nothing documentary was released, journalists were queuing up to ridicule his less than conventional motivation techniques, but it's safe to say that Arteta is the one laughing now.
The Spaniard has had records tumbling faster than a game of Jenga so far this time around. Best managerial record after 150 games in Arsenal history? Completed. Best Arsenal start to a Premier League season ever? Check. And the list could easily go on.
Arteta himself would of course say at this point that he hasn't actually achieved anything with nearly two thirds of the season still to go. What he has done is made Arsenal a fun team to watch again and one that fans can be proud of. It is exemplified each week by the upbeat atmosphere around the Emirates Stadium, and regardless of what happens in the title race, Gooners around the globe will be thankful for the job the Spaniard has done.
William Saliba
For a long time it appeared as though we would never see the day when William Saliba turned out competitively in an Arsenal shirt. The Frenchman had been on three separate loan spells since his high profile signing from Saint-Etienne in the summer of 2019 and with time running by it appeared he may be destined never to live his dream of playing for the team he supported as a boy.
Thank goodness that didn't turn out to be the case. Since finally making his senior debut Saliba has been utterly superb. His composure on the ball is unheard of for one so young, while physicality and pace make him almost impossible for opposition attackers to outsmart. He has been crucial to the high line that Arsenal have been able to pull off this season, and oh by the way, did we mention he's still only 21.
The sky is the limit for young Saliba who now holds most of the power as Arsenal sit down to negotiate a contract with him. football.london understands that the Gunners have put an offer on the table for their prodigious centre half. Getting him to sign it has to be priority number one for Edu when he is back from the World Cup break.
Granit Xhaka
The Granit Xhaka redemption arc was well on its way going into this season when Arsenal fans rose to proclaim him with a standing ovation in the final match of last campaign against Everton. Since then he hasn't looked back and the transformational turnaround has been solidified by finally earning his own chant after six years in north London.
None of this would of course be possible without the excellent work he has been putting in on the pitch where a tweak in his position has seen his form skyrocket. Few saw this box-to-box attacking threat coming from a man who had spent much of his Arsenal career covering the left-back spot.
Martin Odegaard may be the captain but there can be little doubting over who the leader is in this Gunners dressing room. Keeping the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Thomas Partey fit in the second half of the season will be crucial in any title charge, but you could make a decent argument that Xhaka is just as, if not more, important.
Losers
Kieran Tierney
There was always going to be a battle for Kieran Tierney when Oleksandr Zinchenko's arrival from Manchester City was confirmed. The Scot had missed the back end of the last two seasons with injury though and having been hit hard by that on both occasions he would surely have understood as Arsenal looked for an option that ostensibly made him back up for the start of the season.
What he surely wouldn't have expected though was to be third choice in the position where he has been a nailed on starter for nearly three years now. In Zinchenko's injury absences, Tierney has still found it hard to get in the team with Takehiro Tomiyasu being preferred for his inverting capabilities.
This is tremendously harsh on the Scot who has barely put a foot wrong all season. In fact, when he has come in some have made the argument that he should be playing instead of his other two competitors. He's been incredibly unlucky so far, but will be hopeful of battling his way back in after the World Cup.
Albert Sambi Lokonga
Things were looking up for Albert Sambi Lokonga after a testing end of the last campaign. In crunch games he struggled to replicate the Thomas Partey role at the base of the Arsenal midfield and found himself dropped in favour of Mohamed Elneny instead. In pre-season he was restored to a more advanced left No.8 position, though, and after some promising displays you got the feeling he might be able to get his Gunners career back on track.
Fate though had different ideas. An injury to Elneny meant that Lokonga was forced to drop from the No.8 position back into the No.6 once more and he struggled to convince yet again. Arguably at fault for goals in Arsenal's only Premier League defeat at Manchester United, he has severely gone down in the estimations of some.
He probably hasn't been helped by stories in the media indicating his frustration at a lack of playing time which seem to have rubbed manager Mikel Arteta up the wrong way. There is undoubtedly a talented player in there, which is what makes his stagnation this season frustrating and the hope will be that after a break during the World Cup that he's able to get back on track again.
Gary Neville
To be honest this could have been a whole host of pundits. At the start of the season, of the 23 that the BBC surveyed for a table prediction only eight had Arsenal finishing inside the top four and not one had them above fourth!
In fairness to them, few expected the Gunners to be this good and many have ridden back on their opinions from August. One man who continues to fly the flag for Arsenal doubt, though, is Gary Neville.
The Sky Sports pundit still maintains that he feels the Gunners could finish outside the top four despite being 11 points clear of 5th placed Manchester United. This refusal to see the obvious progress in north London is probably doing Arsenal a favour as it allows them to continue to fly under the radar slightly when it comes to praise. However, it's not doing Neville's credibility too many favours, and hopefully he'll be able to overcome his unavoidable United bias by the time the season is out.
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