Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and his Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey have won the Premier League’s manager and player of the month awards for September.
The Gunners started October at the top of the Premier League table, and they remain there on goal difference at the international break.
Wenger has overcome the bad reception he was given after Arsenal’s shock defeat to Aston Villa on the opening day of the season.
The signing of Mesut Ozil was a master stroke by the Frenchman, and with confidence coursing through their veins there is belief in the Arsenal camp that silverware is in sight this season.
Ramsey meanwhile, has been irrepressible. Seemingly everywhere on the pitch, he has hit the best form of his career, and scored four times last month.
“Aaron has matured and we are seeing the results of his obsession to always make himself better,” Wenger said of his unexpected September hero.
“In the past, we always saw him getting into good positions in the box and not quite scoring, but he has moved his game on now.
“He had a difficult period in the middle of last season when people became impatient with him and he lost confidence, but I never lost faith in him and we can see what he is producing now.”
Despite the sense of pride at having weathered Arsenal’s early storm so successfully, Wenger remains at pains to retain perspective.
“People ask if this team can be as good as my best Arsenal side, but I had a group here a few years ago that went 49 games unbeaten in the Premier League,” he said.
“We have only played seven games of this season, so let’s not get carried away.”