After 100 games in charge of Arsenal, Mikel Arteta can raise his bat in something approaching triumph rather than self-defence.

It hasn’t always been easy, and nor was this win, but they are getting there in the bigger picture just as they finally got there in the smaller matter of beating Watford.

With it, they are unbeaten in 10 games, eight of which have been in league, six of them wins. Say it quietly but a club that has had so many dark nights of the soul, and nearly as many false dawns, is going rather well.

This one was less convincing than some, mainly through the difficulties they brought upon themselves in sight of goal. Too elaborate at times, too indecisive at others – old accusations, perhaps, but here they had the comfort of masses of possession to fall back on and the confidence acquired on this run.

That and the limitations of Watford meant it was more a game of patience than chance, and just short of the hour Arsenal crashed through, with another goal from Emile Smith Rowe in what is proving an exceptional season for the 21-year-old.

He now has five goals and two assists in his past eight games across all competitions, which only deepens the feeling that he was harshly overlooked for England by Gareth Southgate earlier in the week.

For their part, Watford felt quite hard done by over that goal, agitated in the belief that Arsenal should have returned possession to them in the moments beforehand as Danny Rose had put the ball out so that his floored team-mate, Ozan Tufan, could receive treatment. With Arsenal instead playing on, and quite possibly getting lucky with what appeared to be a subsequent foul by Ainsley Maitland-Niles on Ismaila Sarr, Smith Rowe was able to nail a third league win on the trot.

That left Claudio Ranieri to bemoan a lack of ‘respect’ from Arsenal, but one man’s claim of iffy sportsmanship may be another man’s proof that Arsenal are developing a nasty edge in their pursuit of the top four.

For all the rights and wrongs of that scenario, and indeed Arsenal’s misadventures in the final third, Arsenal were always fair value for this win.

In addition to holding 60 per cent of possession, Bukayo Saka had an early goal disallowed for offside – correctly – and so did Aubameyang in the second half, when he foolishly touched in a Martin Odegaard shot on the line. Aubameyang also had a penalty saved, before Smith Rowe finally succeeded where the collective had failed.

Against that tide, Ranieri’s Watford could only point to some spirited chasing and solid defending that made them hard to beat. Certainly they offered little threat of a win.

They showed precious little attacking intent across the entirety of the first half, and were hurt particularly by a lack of mobility in midfield, which meant they were regularly swallowed up by Arsenal’s pressing. They simply never had the ball long enough to cause any danger, barring one shot from Juraj Kucka that skimmed wide.

Credit to Arsenal for that – as has so often been the case lately, they were doing the dirty work well. The issue was that they failed too many times in concluding their own moves.

Saka had one goal correctly disallowed by the VAR for offside after seven minutes, and from there not much followed until Alexandre Lacazette won the penalty on 35 minutes. Danny Rose, having a horrible game in pursuit of Saka, conceded the kick by clumsily charging into the forward while chasing down a mishit shot from Maitland-Niles.

Aubameyang put his kick in roughly the same spot as he did against Aston Villa last month and for the second attempt in succession it was saved, this time by Ben Foster, the game’s best player. It was Aubameyang’s fourth miss from 13 and unlike the one against Villa, he didn’t bury the rebound. Arteta said he will stay on penalty duty.

Foster also saved well from Gabriel at the close of the half before being beaten by Smith Rowe 11 minutes into the second period. While Watford might have had a point about Arsenal not returning the ball, Arsenal could also argue that Tufan did get up again rather quickly, so was hardly in need or urgent assistance.

It would have been 2-0 but for a second offside when Aubameyang nudged in Odegaard’s shot one yard from the line. With the original effort going in, it was a fairly daft way to compromise the result, as demonstrated when Joshua King rounded Aaron Ramsdale in the final five minutes but hit the side netting from a tough angle.

Watford might have caused further discomfort but were sapped going into the stoppage time by the dismissal of Kucka for a second yellow after a meaty tackle on Nuno Tavares.