Arsenal's away-day delight

The Gunners have struck gold on their travels

By Tom Fordyce BBC Sport Online

Leave the talk of Fortress Highbury to one side. Arsenal's championship has been won on the road.

Wednesday night's 1-0 win at Manchester United meant Arsene Wenger's happy bunch of travellers have now won their last eight away games.

Having avoided defeat at Old Trafford, they have become the first side since Preston 114 years ago to go an entire season unbeaten away from home.

  Arsenal's away-day purple patch

8 May
Man Utd 0-1

29 April
Bolton 0-2

1 April
Charlton 0-3

17 March
Aston Villa 1-2

2 March
Newcastle 0-2

10 Feb
Everton 0-1

30 Jan
Blackburn 2-3

23 Jan
Leicester 1-3

Cinema tells us that road trips are dangerous things. Trouble can lie around every corner.

True to legend, Arsenal's title chase last year was punctured by a series of away-day disasters which left their championship hopes a tangled wreck.

Even Thelma and Louise didn't have to cope with a 4-0 defeat at Anfield or a 6-1 thrashing at Old Trafford.

Wenger must have felt like he was starring in a footballing remake of the 1971 cult classic 'Vanishing Point', so many times did his side fail to secure even a draw.

Arsenal were beaten seven times and conceded 25 goals. This season, by contrast, they've been on cruise control from the moment the long league journey began.

From the very first game, the 4-0 thrashing of Middlesbrough on 18 August, it's been easy riding all the way.

They have won a staggering 14 times on their travels (including a revenge win over Liverpool), scoring 37 goals and conceding just 11.

That's a better record than they have at home, where they have been beaten three times and won two fewer games.

To win the title at Manchester United was symbolic of the secret of their success, a reward for Wenger's refusal to play safe on the road.

"We wanted to finish well away from home because we have had a remarkable run this season," said the Gunners' manager.

"We go anywhere trying to win the game, and that is what we did at Old Trafford."

Wenger has transformed Arsenal's form on the road

That goals-scored column tells its own tale. Gone are the days when a championship was won by shutting up shop away from home and hoping to pinch a match-winning goal on the break.

George Graham's title-winning side of 1991 lost just one league game all season, but there the comparisons end.

Graham's scrappers were functional but not fun, efficient but not exciting. Wenger may have workers in his side, but in Ljungberg, Bergkamp and the rest he has a team capable of scoring as freely as the fixture requires.

Arsenal's Premiership joyride makes it all the more puzzling that they cannot win when the journey involves leaving these shores.

In the first phase of the Champions League they were beaten 1-0 by Real Mallorca, 1-0 at Panathinaikos and 3-1 by Schalke 04.

Things improved only slightly in the second phase. The 1-1 draw away to Bayer Leverkusen did little to make up for defeats by Deportivo and Juventus.

Still, even Christopher Columbus took a couple of years to find success on his overseas travels.