Arsenal: Martin Odegaard superb amid strong start but new signing cools off as transfer shortcomings laid bare
Arsenal brought down the curtain on the first section of their season by stumbling into the international break.
Victory over Brighton would have made it eight wins on the bounce and the best start to a campaign the club have made in 123 years.
Instead, a 3-0 defeat in fairly shocking fashion brought the run to a grinding halt . That is a dark cloud looming over an otherwise sunny reflection on the opening weeks of the campaign.
The timing of the Brighton defeat means there is a temptation to refer back to it in every other sentence.
In the interests of time and avoiding a long stream of caveats, let there be an overarching sidenote that the majority of these players produced a performance that has no business in this section of the review.
That aside, though, several in the Arsenal squad have made strong starts to the season.
David Raya made a world-class penalty save against Sunderland to turn that match in Arsenal's favour and continues to cement his position as one of the very best in Europe.
Riccardo Calafiori has contributed more to the Arsenal attack than most of the forwards. He is so unique as a left-back and, crucially, has stayed fit so far.
Martin Odegaard has enjoyed a superb start to the season AFP/Getty The other standout performers have been Martin Odegaard , who has already bettered last season's goal tally and on the whole has looked close to his best.
Kai Havertz, has led the line well, though perhaps needs an asterisk of his own for that showing against Brighton , while Myles Lewis-Skelly has taken his chances in midfield.
The more flat performances have otherwise come from those on the fringes of the team.
Eberechi Eze had one bright cameo off the bench against Aston Villa but has otherwise not made enough of his minutes.
It looks like his opportunities will almost exclusively come on the left wing this season and he has not yet regularly produced in that role for Arsenal.
Mixed bag: Eberechi Eze PA Viktor Gyokeres started against Napoli and Ipswich and managed a single shot across two matches Arsenal dominated.
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