Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion in the EFL Cup fourth round on Wednesday capped off a dream month for Mikel Arteta’s team.
It was their sixth win in the month of October in all competitions, and all of those victories were achieved without conceding a single goal.
In the league, Arsenal beat three London rivals - West Ham United (2-0), plus Fulham and Crystal Palace (both 1-0) - while seeing off Olympiacos (2-0) and Atletico Madrid (4-0) in the UEFA Champions League prior to their latest success against Brighton.
According to Opta, Arsenal are the first English top-flight team to play at least six times in a month and win all the matches without letting in a goal.
In all, Arteta's side have won their last eight matches, and their manager was pleased with how a much-changed team were able to work together to seal a place in the quarter-finals, where they will host Palace.
“A very special evening, to be fair, very happy for various reasons,” he said.
“Obviously, we are in the quarter-finals, we won the game against a really tough opponent. We made 10 changes, we played players that never played together.”
Among the players who came into the starting line-up were two Academy products.
At 15 years and 302 days, Max Dowman became the youngest player to start a match in any competition for a Premier League club, while 17-year-old Andre Harriman-Annous - the cousin of England men’s rugby captain Maro Itoje - also got the nod.
"That feeling of giving the opportunity to somebody and fulfilling a dream is unique," Arteta continued. "I'm very happy that things turned out to be very positive and we managed to win the game.”
A night they'll never forget.
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) October 29, 2025
Shot on Google Pixel 🤳 pic.twitter.com/xidMuHJ6hI
Asked how Dowman reacted when told he would start, Arteta said: “A tiny smile. That's what you get with him. For him, everything is natural. For him, everything is OK.
“It's the way he plays. I think that's the secret, that he doesn't make a big fuss of it. He just does what he does best, which is to play football - to play football with a lot of courage and determination.
“Today, again, he's shown some incredible skill, some capacity to run past players at that level in the Premier League at 15. It's something definitely special.”
Arteta will hope his players can continue the winning run when they travel to Burnley on Saturday, looking to maintain or even extend their four-point lead in the Premier League table.