This in-form Arsenal team needs to be very careful - their haters are back in force

There is nothing like Arsenal Derangement Syndrome to unite the world of football in these troubled times.

Cases of ADS are on the rise once more just as the Gunners return to top form, following up their 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich with victory over Everton to make it three Premier League wins in a row since the Brighton loss.

More specifically, it seems their set-piece prowess is to blame for this latest viral upsurge. That might at least explain the words of James Tarkowski post-match, when he talked about how Arsenal scored from “two set pieces, which we [The Toffees] do a lot of work on”.

He should get those symptoms checked, because the home team only scored one of their two goals via a set piece. Nicolas Jover may feel hard done by if his set-piece bonus does not come through in the post.

The haters are back now that Arsenal have returned to winning form

But the signs of delirium do not end there. During the match, Mikel Arteta got booked for repeatedly being out of his technical area – the second time he has been cautioned for that appalling crime this season.

Rival fans are quick to get their measuring tapes and stopwatches out for him but the boss came out fighting after the match. He argued that he has a “massive storage of images” of other PL managers straying from their technical areas without being punished, implying there is undue focus on his own touchline antics.

Add this latest treasure trove to the “catalogue of misdemeanours”, which brought the curtain down on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s time at Arsenal, and you get the impression Arteta is not someone you want to mess with.

Imagine him on the Manchester City legal team…

Beyond his somewhat catty remark, the boss will block out any outside noise and insist that his men do their talking on the pitch. Criticism comes with the territory of being champions so, as long as the Gunners keep winning their matches, no one at the club will be too flustered by what rivals say about them.

Maybe they should take it as a compliment.

So, the events of this week suggest the haters are back after a brief hiatus and ADS is sweeping right through the population again. All that clamour already, with the peak of flu season still several weeks away.

It is going to be a long winter.