A big week ahead for Arsenal as trips to Brighton and Mansfield loom 

A midweek trip to Brighton is next up after which we will be able to rest some players for the FA Cup tie with Mansfield on Saturday.

Mikel Arteta's Premier League table-toppers gear up for another busy week with away trips to Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday, and Mansfield Town on Saturday. 

But first, here's Ian Mills Three Things We Learned after Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1 at the weekend to move five points clear, with only nine league games to play.

1 - Raya shines on St Davids Day as we hold on for another vital London Derby victory 

 Raya’s reflexes to the rescue – Our Spanish goalkeeper is staking a very strong claim to be the best number one in the Premier League and maybe even in Europe right now as he produced another tremendous display to ensure we finished this match with maximum points.

Late in the first half he was called upon to make a superb save as the ball came off Declan Rice’s elbow – more on the wider ramifications of this incident below.

In the second half he had to be strong to punch the ball off Pedro’s head.  He then saved well from both Fernandez and Pedro. In injury time, he made a superb stop from Garnacho, this one was particularly impressive as he had to wait for the bounce of the ball to see if Pedro got a touch before he could react.

There was still time for more heroics as he made two further fantastic stops from Pedro albeit the Chelsea striker was clearly offside before Delap put the ball in the net and therefore the latter’s effort was ruled out.

The reality is that we do not want our goalkeeper to be so busy, however if he must be, playing in this kind of form will hopefully inspire his team mates to perform to their maximum too.

2 - How to control the nerves:

– one word sums up this win – nervy.

We once again surrendered a lead and for periods in the second half we were under real pressure.

We do not look capable of keeping a clean sheet at present therefore we need to score at least two goals per game to gain all three points.

With Manchester City once more starting the day only two points behind us and on a level number of games, we found ourselves needing to win.

The players looked tense on the pitch as soon as Chelsea equalised, and while the crowd tried to lift the team in the second half you could sense the fear of potentially more dropped points.

As for Mikel Arteta, the way he puffed out his cheeks at the final whistle told you all you needed to know.

On another day we could have conceded a penalty when the ball struck Rice’s elbow.

On another day Raya may not have played so magnificently.

On another day we may not have found our second goal.

We need to keep the confidence levels up whether that be the players, management or the fans – we are all in this together and we are striving for the same outcome.

3 - Winning ugly is still winning:

– once more we have been derided for having the temerity to score two goals from corners.

Chelsea also showed their ability with them whilst Liverpool scored three goals from set pieces the day before and were held up as ‘Set Piece Kings’.

We have even had certain so-called experts saying we would be the worst Champions in Premier League history – why?

We are really good at corners therefore we use them as one of our strengths. After a fine delivery from Bukayo Saka,  Gabriel headed the ball back brilliantly and William Saliba’s header was on target albeit it went into the net off of Sarr therefore he was credited with the goal.

We regained the lead when Rice’s superb corner was headed in by Jurrien Timber with Sanchez all at sea in the Chelsea goal and desperately trying to claim a non-existent foul.

We have the best defensive record in the League, we have scored the most goals, we have registered the second highest number of open play goals (one less than Manchester City).

We have lost just three games from 44 competitive matches, winning 33 of them. 

You simply do not record statistics like that through just being lucky or boring. 

That is a culmination of hard work throughout the season which has got us to this point.

We have been the best team upto this stage  and it is incumbent on everyone of a Gooner persuasion to ensure this campaign ends the way we all hope it does.