Bukayo Saka has boldly claimed that Arsenal can "win trophies" this season after shaking off their early-season struggles to claim three successive Premier League wins and a memorable derby victory over arch-rivals Tottenham.
Shackles which have been holding the Gunners back for longer than those at Emirates Stadium would like were shaken off in style against Spurs on Sunday, with Saka contributing to an impressive 3-1 success for Mikel Arteta's side on home soil.
With youthful exuberance flowing through their ranks, and six summer signings seeing game time, Arsenal appear to have found a formula - providing everyone stays fit - that will allow them to come back into contention for major silverware.
What has been said?
Saka told reporters of ambition in north London: "We can achieve anything, no matter what age. With age comes experience but we have a lot of experience in this squad anyway which helps us.
"We have a lot of quality and enough experience to achieve a lot. We’re going to take it game by game but if we play like this we have enough quality to win trophies.
"I can’t really describe how good it feels. Starting with the atmosphere in the stadium — it was crazy! The fans gave us so much energy and, for us to repay them and win like this at the stadium, it just means everything for us.
"It’s been almost two years since we played a north London derby with the fans. And you could tell it’s been nearly two years by the way they received us and cheered us. It was a special game.
"We all wanted it. We knew how much the game meant to the fans, we knew how much the game meant to us. And of course to build winning momentum — we’ve won three games in a row — is really good for us.
"We’re getting closer as a team, getting more team spirit, so things are looking good.
"If we play like that all the time, we have a strong chance of doing well this season and winning some trophies. This is one game, we have to do it again the next week and the next week.
"We get into a lot of good situations but we need to score more goals. Yesterday, we were a lot more clinical, so we’re happy with that but we’ve got to do it consistently."
What does Arsenal's fixture list look like?
The Gunners have, after failing to collect a point or score a goal through their opening three top-flight fixtures this season, taken nine points from meetings with Norwich, Burnley and Tottenham.
They are now up to 10th in the table, four points adrift of the Champions League places and only five behind leaders Liverpool.
They are also into the last 16 of the Carabao Cup and have another FA Cup campaign to look forward to in the new year, with there no European football to distract Arteta's side in 2021-22.
Maintaining momentum is now the challenge facing Arsenal, with a trip to Brighton on Saturday set to carry them into the next international break.
They will return to action in a derby date with Crystal Palace, before then playing host to Aston Villa in the league and Leeds in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.
Things will get a little tougher after that, with a six-game run from October 30 to December 4 including meetings with Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester United and Everton.
Further reading
- What crisis?! Arteta’s blueprint emerges
- Arteta 'pretty worried' about Xhaka injury
- Wenger left foundations for me to succeed - Arteta