Arsenal have not beaten Liverpool on the pitch this season but their biggest win over the Premier League champions came in the summer, before a ball had been kicked.
Martin Zubimendi finally made his move to the Premier League and it was to the red side of north London rather than Merseyside.
Liverpool were confident of signing Zubimendi in the summer of 2024, but he ultimately stayed at Real Sociedad and a year later joined Arsenal.
It does not require much digging to find out just how highly Mikel Arteta rates the Spanish midfielder.
Zubimendi is the only outfield player to start every single one of Arsenal's 25 matches in the Premier League this season, especially impressive considering this is his first experience of a campaign without a winter break.
He ranks second across the entire league for interceptions in the opposition half and only Declan Rice has had more touches of the ball for Arsenal.
Those stats are no real surprise for a player of Zubimendi's profile and quality, but it is his form in front of goal that has defied expectations.
Before arriving at Arsenal, the best goal-scoring season of Zubimendi's career was the 2023-24 campaign. He scored four times in 45 matches.
The 27-year-old has breezed past that mark already, his brilliant strike from distance against Sunderland taking him to six for the season in all competitions.
Only Viktor Gyokeres has scored more Premier League goals for Arsenal this season than the Spaniard.
Arteta has admitted "probably we didn't expect" Zubimendi to be quite so prolific in front of goal.
However, ahead of Arsenal's trip to Brentford on Thursday night, Arteta revealed that the midfielder had been keen to make more of an impression on that front this season.
"He's a player that the first time I spoke to him, he said that he had the feeling always that he was a bit constrained to go forward in the position that he's playing," Arteta said.
"We try to give him the licence in the right moments against the right opponents as well to attack those spaces and he's been incredible."
The Arsenal boss also joked that Zubimendi's close friend and team-mate Mikel Merino should be taking all the credit.
"Merino," Arteta said laughing. "Credit to Merino. Merino is showing in the celebration, arriving in the box and everything."
More key to Zubimendi's performances has surely been Rice.
The pair are effectively undroppable in midfield and already have a superb relationship, rotating when one sits and the other drives on.
Arteta has unlocked a side of Zubimendi's game that few expected him to have. The variety of Zubimendi's finishes have also been striking.
The effort from outside the area against Sunderland came a week after he powered a header past Leeds. Against Chelsea last month, he brilliantly skipped past the challenges and guided an effort in with his left foot.
Zubimendi scored a brace against Nottingham Forest earlier in the season. The first was a stunning volley, the pick of his goals this season, and the second a towering header that defied his frame.
This is not an Arsenal side with one player carrying the scoring burden and so goals from midfield are essential if they are to hold off Manchester City in the title race.
With Kai Havertz expected to miss the next few weeks with a muscle injury, Arsenal have lost another one of their goal threats.
Zubimendi remains fit and available, as he has been all season. The Gunners will hope his scoring touch continues to prove just as reliable.
