It was around this stage of the season last time out that Mikel Arteta bemoaned Arsenal's lack of goals from midfield, too reliant on their forwards Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.
Fast forward 12 months and for all of the Gunners flaws, they certainly have seemed to sort out the lack of goal contributions from midfield players.
Speaking in December of 2020, Arteta was pressed on whether he needs more output from players elsewhere on the pitch other than his strike-force, with only the three teams in the relegation zone notching more than Arsenal at that period of the campaign.
"If you say 'can they do it?' it's a question mark," he told the media when pondering whether his midfield options could chip in.
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"Have they done it in the past? The answer is no.
"We haven't had any goals from midfield, it's not something that happened this year. It happened in other years and is something that has to be addressed.
"To change the qualities and characteristics of players is very, very difficult. So again, it's necessary. A big team needs players in midfield who score goals.
"If you start to lose those margins, you start to lose points, you start to be away from the top team, this is not any science."
For much of last term, Arsenal's midfield options included the likes of Dani Ceballos, Mohamed Elneny and Joe Willock alongside the likes of Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey.
While the latter duo remain first-team regulars, Ceballos has since returned to Real Madrid, Willock was sold to Newcastle United on a permanent basis for £25m after a successful loan spell and Elneny is still on the fringes of first-team football at the Emirates.
In their place, Arsenal now utilise the likes of Emile Smith Rowe and Martin Odegaard - two players who were part of the side during the latter half of last season but have drastically improved this term.
21 and 22 years of age respectively, the pair have both stepped up and started to find the back of the net as Aubameyang and Lacazette struggle for both form and game time.
While Aubameyang has the most goals in all competitions this season, that has been significantly boosted by a Carabao Cup hat-trick against a second-string West Brom side.
In terms of league goals scored, Smith Rowe is top of the pile with five, Odegaard in joint-second with four - three of which have come in the last three games.
Providing they both continue this rich vein of goal-scoring form, the pair could fire Arsenal to a top-four finish for the first time in six years.
