It was Boxing Day, in 2019, the last time Arsenal came here for Premier League match and the diagnosis that afternoon made for rather grim reading: a 1-1 draw meant they had won just one of their last 11 games.
At the halfway point of the campaign, they sat in the bottom half. The first match of his tenure afforded Mikel Arteta only a few crumbs of optimism.
Last night, Arsenal provided perhaps the most brutal, brilliant illustration of all that has changed and they have learned over the intervening 32 months.
Midway through the second half, Arteta turned to his bench, he slapped his thighs and roared in frustration.