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Arsenal's impressive start to the Premier League campaign has been recognized by pundit Joe Cole in his team of the season so far.
The Gunners, who have lost just once in 11 matches, lead the table by four points going into the international break, and five of their players have made it into Cole's selection. Manchester City is the only other side with more than one player in the team, with three of Pep Guardiola's squad making the cut.
Bournemouth, Chelsea, and Liverpool each have one representative, highlighting the reigning Premier League champion's dip in form this term. Arsenal's defensive prowess, which is the best in the league even after conceding at Sunderland, is acknowledged by Cole.
He includes goalkeeper David Raya and defenders Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, and Gabriel Magalhaes in his XI.
Manchester City's young talent, Nico O'Reilly, completes the defence as he aims for a senior England debut during the November break. In midfield, Declan Rice represents Arsenal alongside Chelsea's Moises Caicedo and Liverpool's sole representative, Dominik Szoboszlai.
The remaining City players, league top scorer Erling Haaland and winger Jeremy Doku, make up the front three.
Despite missing a penalty in Bournemouth's weekend defeat at Aston Villa, Antoine Semenyo rounds off the selection.
Several Arsenal players are currently on international duty with England during the November break. Rice has been joined by Bukayo Saka and Ebere Eze as Thomas Tuchel's players compete in their final fixtures before next summer's World Cup.
Mikel Arteta's Gunners face a challenging schedule upon their return. A London derby against Tottenham awaits on November 23, followed by a Champions League clash with Bayern Munich and a league fixture at Chelsea.
"Now we reset with the international break, get the [international] players back nice and healthy, the ones that are not healthy make sure that they get healthy, and we go again," Arteta said after the draw with Sunderland.
His side fought back from a half-time deficit to take the lead in the closing stages, only for Brian Brobbey to level for Regis Le Bris' team.
"We'll look back at what we've done, take all of the positive things that we do, the things that we have the opportunity to improve as well and start to plan what is coming because it's going to be very demanding," Arteta added.
"Our supporters have been amazing again today, thank you so much. They've been all over us the last few weeks, and we're going to need them with us."
Joe Cole was speaking exclusively to Paddy Power.
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