Mikel Arteta's Arsenal have captured the hearts of many neutrals this season, with plenty hopeful that they could be the side to end Manchester City's relentless dominance over the Premier League title.
Gary Neville was no different. He has said on a number of occasions how he'd like to see the title head to the red half of North London as opposed to the blue half of Manchester.
But unlike so many of the others, he never really believed that would happen, and in the aftermath of Arsenal's humbling 4-1 defeat at the Etihad on Wednesday night, Neville's predictions look to have rung true.
The Gunners have led the chasing pack for much of the season, but even before a ball had been kicked Neville expressed his scepticism over Arsenal's ceiling.
At the tail-end of last term even, the former Manchester United defender claimed that a fourth-placed finish and Champions League qualification is as good as Arteta could hope for while at the helm of Arsenal.
It sparked widespread backlash among the Gunners faithful and while they are on course to finish higher than fourth this term, the achievement looks likely to be the same. No cup triumphs, a title increasingly unlikely, just qualification to the Champions League as Neville suggested.
Fast forward to the current campaign and Neville made clear at the turn of the calendar year that despite Arsenal's stellar first half of the season, it would not produce a first league title for 19 years.
In January, he told Sky Sports: "They won't win the league. Manchester City will win the league, and I think Man Utd will finish second, and I know that will annoy Arsenal fans!
"The reality of it is, I think at some point Man City will hit a run. Once they do, they've got to play Arsenal twice."
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His closing remarks were eerily accurate, as Neville added: "At some point, there will be a very difficult period for Arsenal this season. Is it conceivable that Arsenal are going to continue as they are? I don't think it is.
"Could they draw two and lose one in a three-game period, and if they did that, their lead is gone, and the pack is up with them? That's what I think is going to happen, we'll see a traditional Premier League season where a team goes out, the pacemaker, and then they'll get drawn back in a little bit.
"But I still think that this season is going to be far better for Arsenal than I ever imagined it would be."
Just about every Arsenal fan on the planet would have been delighted had they been offered guaranteed Champions League qualification as early as April at the start of the season. But Neville took plenty of stick as he refused to have faith in Arsenal's title credentials even when everything appeared to be falling into place.
His comments came after Arsenal toppled Tottenham away from home and title fever was just starting to catch on at the Emirates. He certainly can't be accused of flip-flopping, as Neville doubled down on his prediction as late in the day as March, when he suggested even Arsenal's dramatic wins were a sign of bad things to come.
Discussing the last-gasp 4-2 away win over Aston Villa, Neville told The Overlap in Focus, in partnership with Sky Bet: "It’s too much emotion, too early for Arsenal.
"To be that desperate and to celebrate that much with half the race still to go, it’s not a good thing.
"After the Aston Villa game, I can understand how big of a moment it was, but that level of celebration was quite desperate, quite early. There was a lot of celebrations at the end of the game. The emotions are something that’s a negative, it’s not a positive for me in a title race."
There was even the assessment of Oleksandr Zinchenko, in which he claimed Arsenal's summer signing was not a leader.
“On the pitch in difficult moments who in that team (is going to get Arsenal over the line)?” asked Neville. "I have watched Zinchenko. He’s not a leader. I love him to bits. He’s not a leader on the pitch."
Low and behold, months later Zinchenko saw his leadership credentials called into question on a mass scale after the Ukrainian showcased some poor defending in the build-up to one of Southampton's three goals in the 3-3 draw at the Emirates, before trying to gather his team-mates in for a mid-game huddle that clearly did not have the desired effect.
During that game, Neville questioned Zinchenko's conduct as he claimed: "It's all a little odd. If you wanted signs of nerves, signs of wobble, signs of tension, you're seeing it right in front of your eyes."
Of course, Arsenal still have five games left to play and could yet win the league if City slip up in spectacular fashion, but that is looking increasingly unlikely and it seems as if the Gunners' wait for a league title will reach two decades - just as Neville had warned.
