Bukayo Saka has discovered the art of survival like a skittle in a ten-pin bowling alley – mental toughness.
And Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is relishing the new-found “robustness” of his granite Saka who tops the Premier League with Granit Xhaka.
As Arsenal count down to the most coveted prize in pop culture – being No.1 at Christmas – Saka's consistency, despite the harsh attention of opposition left-backs, has brought him five goals and four assists so far this season. It's why he is tipped to start the World Cup for England next month ahead of Phil Foden and Jack Grealish.
Four points clear at the summit, the Gunners have only four games – against Southampton, Nottingham Forest, Chelsea and Wolves – to stay at No.1 before the mid-season break, and Arteta is been thrilled by his durable forward's cocktail of skill and steel.
Asked how Saka had stepped up to become more rugged this season, the Arsenal boss tapped his head, saying: “Up here – robustness is in your mind.
“It's about how much you want it, how tough you want to be with yourself, how pushy you want to be with yourself and what you must do to get to that level. The gym is very important, but what happens in your brain I think is more important.
“I think he has a really powerful environment around him - his family, the people around him, the way he’s been raised. He has some important people in his life, some really good influences as well. And then everybody at the club that tries to protect him, but as well challenge him and push him to get to a different level.
“Everyone adds a lot to the table – the nutritionist, the sleeping specialist, what the data is saying, how we interpret the data, what the momentum of a player says, what the personal issue of a player is saying to us.
“There are a lot of factors and we do it all together. I don't have all the answers, the fitness coaches don't have all the answers, the data doesn't have all the answers - it's something we have to work out all together.
“Obviously we want to protect our players and when there is a risk of overload, and they can get intoi that frame where they get injured, then you don't do it.
“But to protect our players also means they need to have the robustness to play those matches when it is necessary, and after the World Cup it's going to be absolutely crazy with the amount of games we're going to have. We need to be prepared for that.”
Arsenal have coped remarkably with their workload on the home front and in Europe, winning 13 of their 14 competitive games so far, and yet they are still rated no better than 5-1 with any major bookmakers to win the title.
Sooner or later, the rest of football will have to wake up to the prospect of them repeating unfancied Leicester's charge to the title in 2016 – the longer they remain at the top, the more likely they are to stay there.
Arteta said: "I am very positive - the win percentage is extremely high, the way we are performing is really good and we are in the position that we want to be. Now we are there, but is a long, long season and we have to deserve to be there when it comes to May.”
But the Gunners are still haunted by the memory of a 1-0 defeat at St Mary's last season, the third of three consecutive defeats in April which holed their hopes of a top-four finish below the water line. Arteta admitted: "There is an experience that was painful, especially with the way the game turned out and the consequences, so we know where the danger is with that team.”
