Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta believes that the Gunners have been worth their "extraordinary" total of 50 points at the halfway stage of the Premier League season.
The North London club reached the 19-game mark with a half-century of points after coming from behind to record a dramatic 3-2 win over Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.
Prior to the five-goal thriller, the Gunners' lead at the top of the Premier League table had been cut back down to two points after Manchester City's 3-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
However, the gap between the two sides is now back at five points, with Arsenal also boasting a game in hand, and the Gunners have never amassed a higher points total after 19 games of a Premier League season before.
Should Arteta's side continue in the same vein, they will be on course to match Man City's centurions of 2017-18, but the Spaniard has unsurprisingly remained coy on any potential title talk.
Giving an assessment of the first half of the season in his post-game press conference, Arteta said: "Extraordinary, I would say! It doesn't get much better than that, that's the reality.
"I think we deserve the points that we have, I think we have played well enough to win most of the matches, but the reality as well is that we still have a lot of things that we can get much better at, attacking and defending in transitions, in set-pieces and that's the aim.
"I don't know [if I've ever heard an atmosphere like that], but it doesn't get much better than that. It was a beautiful moment, a really special one because we were pushing and pushing and pushing and the goal wasn't coming.
"But it came at the end and then VAR made it even more difficult, but it was just electric, it was really emotional, really passionate and I loved it."
Eddie Nketiah and Bukayo Saka responded to Marcus Rashford's opening goal at the Emirates Stadium, but Lisandro Martinez capitalised on Aaron Ramsdale's error to level the scores in the second half again.
The Gunners huffed and puffed in the second period, camping Man United inside their own half, and their persistence finally paid off in the 90th minute as Nketiah flicked Martin Odegaard's scuffed effort into the net.
Nketiah managed to stay onside as Arsenal survived a late VAR check, and Arteta believes that the "special" Englishman is displaying qualities consistent of that of an Arsenal number nine.
"What Eddie is doing is incredible. We cannot say that we saw that, we were hoping that he could do that because of the way he is, because of his mentality, because of his qualities and how those qualities fit within the team," Arteta added.
"Losing Gabby [Jesus] was a big blow, it is a big blow today, but Eddie is responding and the team I think in an exceptional way. The qualities that he has, how much he wants it, how much belief he's got in himself to become Arsenal's number 9.
"His desire, his background, we're with him every single day, [he's] a special kid, he's so loved by everybody at the football club, he's got a real Arsenal heart and experience within him and that's really special. You cannot put that into numbers. He's really, really good."
Arsenal now face a daunting trip to Manchester City in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Friday before resuming Premier League duties away at Everton on February 4. body check tags ::
