The transfer business was ambitious. Signing Rice, Havertz, and Timber signalled that we were serious about building on last season’s promise, that we weren’t satisfied with failing to stay above quadruple-winning Man City, imperious as they still are, despite De Bruyne’s injury and advancing age. However, the early returns suggest that we may find ourselves fighting for scraps and leftovers. If we fall any further behind, well….

Mason Mount? Out. Raphaël Varane? Out. New signing Rasmus Højlund? Out. Luke Shaw? Out. Add to this list another four prospects who’ve been ruled out, and it starts to feel like Ten Hag’s minions might be coming down with a collective case of the sniffles in order to avoid facing the Arsenal. I know that the injury list causes more than a few of us a bit of an 8-2 PTSD, but that was ages ago. They’re coming into the Emirates, and, even if we’ve both wobbled a little bit, we have to feel something resembling confidence going into this fixture.