Arsenal face a big week in their hunt for a surprise place in the top four of the Premier League with two home games against Brentford and Wolves in the offing.
The Gunners currently sit in sixth place and just four points behind Manchester United, who currently occupy the final spot in next season's Champions League as things stand.
Mikel Arteta also boasts three games in hand over the Red Devils and could climb above Ralf Rangnick's side with two wins this week.
Confidence will be high too following their gutsy 1-0 win against Wolves last week, despite Gabriel Martinelli's controversial red card.
But the clash with Brentford provides more than just an opportunity to narrow the gap on the top-four. It also gives Arteta and co. to show their critics just how much they have progressed.
Following their defeat to Thomas Frank's side on the opening day of the season, the Spaniard came in for plenty of criticism as did many of the players.
While many have already been proven wrong, one man whose comments still offer a ring of truth are Brentford striker's Ivan Toney.
The talisman was a menace for the likes of Ben White in that August clash and shortly after spoke about the Gunners credentials, saying he does not see them as silverware contenders any time soon.
"They weren't as crazy as I thought [they would be]," Brentford striker Ivan Toney told the Baller Talk podcast in September, recalling the Bees opening day win against Mikel Arteta's men.
"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 [sic] any time soon."
With no European football, Arsenal's chances of claiming silverware this season were already diminished while beating Manchester City, Liverpool or Chelsea to the Premier League title seemed an impossibility.
But the Carabao Cup and FA Cup will have been seen as very real chances of success for the red half of north London, so crashing out of both of them in January was incredibly disappointing.
While there is no doubting Arsenal's improvement since that opening day defeat to Brentford, there is also no doubting that there remains a ring of truth in the comments made by Toney.
