#Arsenal show mark of true champions as they ground out win against Everton

It's meant to be the sign of champions when a team is able to grind out victories in tight games when below their best.
That is exactly what Arsenal did as they dug deep and battled to a 2-1 victory against Everton on Saturday that takes them to the top of the Premier League table for at least a day. If they are still there when it really matters in the final weeks of the season, it will owe much to results like this.
No team can win every week in the sort of manner in which the Gunners blew away Manchester United with a 3-0 victory in September. On a sodden evening in north London, Arsene Wenger's side found it difficult to find their rhythm in the pouring rain.
But they got the job done. Pretty football alone does not win the major trophies and this was another un-Arsenal performance, much like the midweek victory over Bayern Munich. The back-to-back FA Cup triumphs seem to have changed the mentality around the club and you sense that this group of players truly believe that they can win the league
They rode their luck and there were some heart-in-mouth moments. Romelu Lukaku hit the crossbar with a header late on before Petr Cech made a wonderful save to deny Gerard Deulofeu but those bounces of the ball can decide the destination of the Premier League trophy. This was the kind of game in which Arsenal would have dropped points in most of the previous years since their last title win in 2004.
After a start to the season that Wenger himself described as "very average", the Gunners players are brimming with confidence. Once again some of their big players stepped up to help get them out of trouble here and this time is wasn't Alexis Sanchez, either.
The hosts had barely created a chance of note before Mesut Ozil produced a sublime cross for Olivier Giroud to glance in the opener in the 36th minute. It was a moment of genius from Ozil and he now tops the Premier League assists chart with seven so far this season, while Giroud is back on form, having scored four in his last five competitive appearances.
Less than two minutes later, Laurent Koscielny headed in the second from close range - but the second half was a nervy affair for Arsenal after Ross Barkley pulled one back with a deflected strike just before the break
But Everton could not find a way through. At the back, Cech made one vital save while Gabriel was superb. Francis Coquelin screened the defence well and, up front, Giroud fought for every ball.
The Gunners are one point clear of Manchester City and three ahead of Manchester United ahead of the derby at Old Trafford on Sunday. They also have a kind run of fixtures coming up. Their next six league games are against Swansea City, Tottenham, West Brom, Norwich City, Sunderland and Aston Villa.
It is hard to see where the Gunners will drop points. In the past, you could guarantee that, at some point, they would shoot themselves in the foot when expected to win but more and more evidence points to an improved mentality and a new ability to dig deep to get results.