Rafa Benitez is adamant Newcastle United can overcome their dismal record in London - and hand the Spaniard his first ever victory as a visiting manager at the Emirates in the process.
The Magpies' long-term travel issues when it comes to heading to the capital have been well documented, and United have lost on 17 of their last 23 visits to London grounds.
At the Emirates, Newcastle's record is even worse, with the Magpies having won only once at the Gunners' stadium in their history, and that was all the way back in 2010.
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Benitez himself has never tasted victory on the road against Arsenal, either, with the 58-year-old having only ever picked up two points from seven trips to north London.
Last season, a Mesut Ozil strike separated the sides and, although history is against both the Magpies and Benitez on this occasion, the Newcastle manager is adamant such statistics will have no bearing of the outcome of Monday night's clash.
"I don't remember. If you have the stats, maybe I haven't," Benitez replied, rather dismissively, when it was put to him that he had never won away at Arsenal.
"No, but you can change things. They have changed the manager [since my previous visit], so things are different.
"The stats are quite interesting depending on 'what' - what they refer to. Every year is different, every manager is different, the players are different.
"So I don't see any specific reason why Newcastle United cannot win against this team, just because they haven't in 20 years. Or because Rafa Benitez hasn't won against a team in 20 years.
"I don't see any specific reason why; you change things, and it can happen. Normally, why is it that you don't win at Arsenal? Because they have a very good team. That's it."
Newcastle have failed to win any of their past six matches in London - and, throughout the Premier League era, the Magpies have struggled to return from visits to the capital with all three points.
However, Benitez does not believe the Magpies are afflicted by psychological fears whenever they head down to the South East; rather, he stresses United's poor record in London is primarily down to the calibre of teams they face there.
Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea, for example, are fully-established members of the so-called 'Big Six', and so Newcastle are expected to lose to those sides on their travels.
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And, while Benitez's explanation therefore partly justifies United's away record against those teams, it does not adequately demonstrate why Newcastle also failed to win at either Selhurst Park, the London Stadium or Vicarage Road earlier this season.
"No, I think everything is different, and then in the moment you can have more confidence, less confidence, good luck, bad luck, or whatever," Benitez said of Newcastle's questionable record in London.
"I don't think that these stats are something that you can say they are clear, or not clear. If a team has a problem at home all the time for five years, OK, they have problems at home.
"But in this case, you are talking about going to London, where you can go against Tottenham, Chelsea, Arsenal and you can lose. Why? Because they are good teams; that's the reason why. 'London' covers a lot of teams, and some of the teams are very good there."
Despite the fact all of the statistics point towards an Arsenal win on Monday night - the Gunners are looking for their 10th successive victory at the Emirates in the Premier League - Benitez is confident his side are playing well enough to compete with anyone in the top flight at the moment.
Although he accepts they will need a bit of "luck" in order to triumph in north London, the Spaniard believes his Newcastle squad are now fully versed in the gameplan he wants them to enact - and, on their day, they can cause problems to any side.
With the majority of the Magpies' relegation rivals triumphing over the weekend, it makes recording a positive result at the Emirates all the more important - even if Benitez accepts United may now be just one win away from survival.
Heading into the game, Benitez was adamant he would overly concern himself with how Newcastle's relegation rivals were performing, though he did admit he would watch some Premier League matches - including scouting Crystal Palace ahead of their meeting with the Magpies at St James' Park on Saturday.
"We will watch games for sure, then we will be in London preparing for the game against Arsenal. That's it," Benitez said of his weekend's plans.
"I like to watch other games. The last weekend I watched games. It depends who is playing and where. When you make sure to watch Bournemouth before you play them, or you watch Crystal Palace before you play them next week. That gives you an idea of what to expect.
"I have my staff watching four or five games of each team in advance, so they give me all the reports and everything.
"I used to watch some games, and I still get an idea about what we can expect in the future."
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