Legendary England striker Alan Shearer says Arsenal are not Premier League title contenders despite a strong start to the season.
Arsenal bounced back from defeat to Manchester United with a comfortable 3-0 win away to Brentford on Sunday.
The win took Mikel Arteta’s side back to the top in the league table.
But writing in his column on BBC Sport, Shearer however admitted it is a different Arsenal team under Arteta.
“It’s not time to talk about them as title contenders yet, but people now know that this is a different Arsenal to the team we saw just 13 months ago,” Shearer wrote.
“The Gunners’ 3-0 win at Brentford on Sunday epitomised their progress under Mikel Arteta, because we all remember what happened in this fixture on the opening weekend of last season – when the Bees didn’t just beat them, they bullied them.
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“Everything was different about Arsenal this time – in attack and defence, plus the way they controlled the game, and with their attitude and intensity. They ran out comfortable winners.
“Part of that was down to how bad Brentford were, but it was Arsenal’s performance that made the Bees play so poorly.
“I was expecting Brentford to come out flying, knowing what worked last time, and trying to hurt Arsenal. They tried to play that way again, but it didn’t work because they faced a very different Arsenal team.
“This Gunners side is not only bigger and stronger, it is also more committed. They were better in every department and dominated right from the start.
“When the Bees did attack in the same way they had at Arsenal before, with long throws or crosses into the box, they got absolutely no joy at all.
“Their two strikers, Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbeumo, hardly got a kick because Gabriel and William Saliba dominated them so much, and it was the same all over the pitch.
“Yes, Brentford gave Arsenal too much time and space for their second and third goals, but those were far from the only occasions that they could not get near to them.”
Shearer, whose goals contributed to Blackburn Rovers emerging Premier League champions in 1995, added:“Only four of the Arsenal team who started that defeat against Brentford began Sunday’s game too – Ben White, Kieran Tierney, Granit Xhaka and Gabriel Martinelli.
“In just over a year, Arteta has not just built a different team, he has transformed the mood of the whole club.
“He deserves great credit for that, because he got a lot of criticism after the way they started last season, with three straight defeats.
“This time, they have won six out of their first seven league games and go into the international break at the top of the table. They deserve it too.”
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