Brentford got the better of Arsenal on the opening weekend of the season, and striker Ivan Toney took aim at the north London side after playing his part in the 2-0 victory.
Former Northampton Town striker Toney led the line as goals from Sergi Canos and Christian Norgaard gave the Bees victory - one of three defeats Mikel Arteta 's side would suffer in their first three games of the season.
Things have changed ahead of the teams' reverse fixture, with Arsenal launching a top-four challenge and Thomas Frank's men not yet safe from relegation.
However, with the Gunners already out of both domestic cups, Toney's comments about trophies - which he said he feared would get him "battered" by fans of Arteta's team - are so far being proved right.
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There were of course some mitigating factors in Arsenal's defeat back in August.
The game at the Brentford Community Stadium went ahead despite a Covid outbreak in the Gunners squad, with Alexandre Lacazette and the now-departed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missing out.
The situation led to Folarin Balogun starting up front in a Premier League game for the first time, while Willian and Alex Runarsson - both of whom are now playing their football elsewhere - also missed the trip to west London after positive tests.
"Arsenal fans are going to batter me for this, but you see Arsenal at the moment and they’re not the best," Toney told Baller Talk in an interview which went live in September.
“There was a difference [between the Championship and the Premier League], don’t get me wrong. But it wasn’t crazy, thinking if you make a mistake, it’s going to end up in the back of the goal.
“I just didn’t see them how they used to be. You used to look at Arsenal and think [they were] crazy and they were going to win this game, win this game.
“These days, I don’t see them winning nothing any time soon until they get a striker.”
Arsenal have since added to their ranks, but not up front.
Aaron Ramsdale and Martin Odegaard arrived shortly after the Brentford defeat, with Takehiro Tomiyasu also joining before the end of the summer transfer window, but the only January signing - Auston Trusty - was immediately sent out on loan.
In attack, Arteta's side have been left with Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah, with Aubameyang joining Barcelona and Balogun moving on loan to Middlesbrough.
Efforts were made to bring in a new striker in January, with Dusan Vlahovic among those pursued, but in the end Arsenal came up empty.
While Arsenal lifted the FA Cup in Arteta's first season at the helm, they haven't looked especially close to adding to that trophy.
Southampton and Manchester City eliminated the Gunners from the two domestic cups last season, while they failed to score from open play over two legs of their Europa League semi-final against Villarreal.
League form has certainly improved this term, with a top-four finish still within reach, but Liverpool got the better of Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-final and second-tier Nottingham Forest eliminated them from the FA Cup in the third round.
"They won, they scored a goal and we didn’t. We were not good enough and we have to apologise for it," Arteta said after the defeat to Forest in January.
"I don’t want to use excuses, I expect the team I put out to do better and when you don’t in the cup you are out.
"Today showed we were not capable of winning against Forest away from home and didn’t put in the level to win the game. It’s a collective issue and today we have not done it."
