The one major acquisition of the off-season was goalkeeper Petr Cech, 33, whom Chelsea dropped for the younger Thibaut Courtois. Cech, who spent much of last year on the Chelsea bench, has given up only 14 goals in the Premier League, tied for the best mark in the league, behind an improved back four.

Last season, Arsenal’s top scorer in the league was Sánchez with 16 goals, while Olivier Giroud had 14. This year, Giroud is in rare scoring form, with 10 goals in the Premier League, while Sánchez has six despite missing some time.

Even more noticeable has been the wondrous play of Mesut Ozil, who has a superhuman 15 assists in 17 games, with Giroud the prime beneficiary. (The second-ranking player in the league has seven assists.) Ozil recorded both assists in Monday’s victory.

Still, the team does not look miles better than last season’s. Arsenal has 36 points and projects to finish at 80, only 5 more than last season. Over the last four years, the winner of the league has scored 86 to 89 points — Chelsea won with 87 last season — but this season may be more like 2010-11, when it took just 80 points for Manchester United to lift the trophy.

Arsenal is benefiting from chaos all around it: Chelsea’s disastrous start (the Blues are in 15th place) led to the firing of Manager José Mourinho last week; Manchester United may be priming itself to fire Louis van Gaal after a string of disappointing results; and Liverpool and Spurs have settled into their usual “nearly there” roles.

The biggest danger to Arsenal is probably the ultratalented and ultraexpensive Manchester City lineup, which has been slow to jell this season, especially on defense. City may soon be pulled into the rumors that it, too, is headed for a coaching change, with Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola reportedly set to take over for Manuel Pellegrini after the season.

Arsenal has some tough games to come, but Gunners fans must be loving the way the season is going so far.