Former Arsenal star Aleksandr Hleb admits seeing the club top of the Premier League table has surprised him.

However, Hleb is delighted for Gunners manager Mikel Arteta.

He told Metaratings.ru: "I did not expect that there would be such a gap, confidently they go first, dominate almost every game. I would not say that this is a surprise, but here is a great merit of the team leadership that they entrusted to the coach.

"And the merit of Arteta, he created a cool team. Artaet began to create a team not today, the guys had already fought in previous seasons, gained experience and now it perfectly combined.

"I am sure that they will be able to hold on until the end of the season, but as it will be, it is difficult to predict, because English football is unpredictable.

The next match against Man United — if they win, the gap will grow, the match will be for six points."