Arsenal break long-standing record with Sheffield United win as David Raya set clear target

Arsenal put five past Sheffield United to move second in the Premier League table — perhaps temporarily — but there's something that supporters will surely have been even happier to see.

No, not Eddie Nketiah's hat-trick orTakehiro Tomiyasu's first-ever goal for the club. Instead, keeping the ball out of the net at the other end was worthy of an extra cheer as achieving this feat at the Emirates Stadium has been difficult for the Gunners since the beginning of last season.

Now, away from home, it's a different story. Arsenal have already kept three clean sheets on their travels in the Premier League this season against Crystal Palace, Everton and Bournemouth — only conceding at Chelsea thus far — but this consistency has been eluding them on their own turf.

Across the entire 2022/23 campaign, Mikel Arteta's side kept just four clean sheets at the Emirates Stadium — against Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, Everton and Wolves. Furthermore, they conceded more goals at home (25) than Crystal Palace (23) and Chelsea (19) who finished 11th and 12th respectively.

Ultimately Arsenal's attack was not able to keep getting them out of trouble in last season's title run-in and the issue still hadn't been resolved at the start of the new campaign as they conceded in each of their opening four home games of the campaign against Forest, Fulham, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.

It's safe to say this particular defensive record was emerging as a concern for Arteta: «It's a huge one, to win games in this league, keeping clean sheets for us is going to be crucial and away from home is probably even bigger and the challenge is now can we take that into the Emirates as well and be consistent,» he said after the 4-0 win over