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3. My word, Matteo Guendouzi

Matteo Guendouzi was Arsenal’s best player for the first two months of the season. Playing with passion, desire, energy and quality, he ran the central midfield time and again, putting in brilliant performances week after week, even as his teammates flailed around him.

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Since then, the Frenchman has struggled a little. His energy levels have dipped, his positional ill-discipline was exploited, and Mikel Arteta started his tenure with the hair-raising youngster on the bench, Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira anchoring the midfield in his stead. Whether that decision is the right one can be debated ’til kingdom come, but it is not up to Guendouzi to fight for his place. Well, he didn’t exactly hurt his argument here.

Guendouzi was back to his all-action, all-encompassing style under Unai Emery. He made eight recoveries of possession in the first half, more than any other player on the pitch, maintained a 91% pass completion rate throughout, utterly dominated the midfield area, despite often being the only Arsenal player in that zone as Xhaka shifted wide, and even had time to wind up the entirety of the Vitality Stadium.

This Guendouzi at his very, very best. Whether that is enough to force his way back into the Premier League XI remains to be seen. Torreira and Xhaka have been imperious under Arteta thus far. But competition for places is no bad thing, and Guendouzi is most certainly providing it.