COMMENT: They can do it when trailing. They can do it away from home. They're even doing it without their best player. This Arsenal team. They continue to be confronted by different challenges - and yet still find a way to win...
Four goals and a clean sheet. Victory over Everton on Wednesday night was a third on the bounce for the Gunners. That setback at home to Manchester City really does have all the call-signs of a blip.
Fighting back at Villa Park from two goals down. Grinding out a 1-0 win at an underrated Leicester City. And then Wednesday night, patient, probing - and then utterly ruthless as Everton's players stumbled into forced errors. It was a performance you'd fancy getting from an experienced, battle-hardened Manchester City team.
But it's Arsenal. This Arsenal. So much youth. So much promise. That's the remarkable thing - the potential of this team. It's the kids who have now stepped up. Bukayo Saka. Gabriel Martinelli. William Saliba. At times this fortnight, they've been the biggest influence. Martinelli and Saka stepping up in the absence of Gabriel Jesus. Saliba, so at ease at this level, playing with a maturity well beyond his years. And led by a captain - Martin Odegaard - just turned 24. This has to be the best young group of players the Premier League has seen this past decade - if not longer.
They're a good team, this Arsenal. Not a great one. At least, not yet. But the potential is there. Five points clear at the top of the table. Thirteen games to go. We're nearing the home stretch. And as we say, that collapse predicted after defeat to City hasn't come.
Instead, they bulldozed their way past Aston Villa. Some mocked their celebrations post-whistle. But this felt like a moment. A watershed. A real test of resolve and mentality. And they came through it in an exceptional way.
Days later and a different performance was needed. Nothing gung ho. There was no need to. Martinelli finding the eventual winner at Leicester immediately after halftime. Then it was about controlling the game. Controlling possession. And keeping that clean sheet.
Then came Sean Dyche and Everton. Again, a different challenge. A physical challenge. Against a team which would be happy with a bore draw and a point. But these kids never wilted. They pushed and pushed. And after some real quality from Saka, beating Jordan Pickford at his near post, the game was basically settled.
But the season isn't. And for this column, there'll still be plenty of twists and turns over the next three months. But no matter how the campaign finishes, for their youth, their maturity, this Arsenal team are here to stay.
A dynasty? A golden era? You do fancy it. If Mikel Arteta and Edu continue to get it right in the transfer market. If these wonderful young players remain convinced the club can fulfill all their ambitions. Then there's no predicting how good... ahem, great... this team can become.
Arteta knows this. He said as much going into the win at the KPS. Let them bounce off eachother. Feed off their energy. Their ambition. Keep this young group together and they'll take the club to heights not seen for 20 years.
"That's what we have to do," said the Gunners manager, "that's our responsibility to keep our best players, our best people and the people that have the same aims and purpose with the club to keep them together for a while, give them some stability and from there keep evolving and become a better club.
"Well, it's part of developing a team, building a squad, and, as well, taking the club where we want. It's maximising the resources we have and we have huge resources because we have a lot of talent and we have to keep that talent and keep improving it and making it better."
They won't all make it. Some will fall away. Just consider the battle Kieran Tierney has endured this season. No-one would dare have claimed a year ago the Scot would be better off leaving for Newcastle United. But that's the favoured option now. And it's unlikely Arteta will stand in his way.
And there'll be others like Tierney. They'll go as this team's cycle moves onto different stages and faces different challenges. But the core is there. To develop; to improve; and all into a team where the Premier League title is the least of their ambitions.
For the moment, it's all a learning process. Finding different methods to overcome. Finding different ways to win. And the special thing is, this Arsenal team are managing to do it all from the top of the table.
