With the pre-World Cup portion of the season in the books and Manchester City's next game not until 20th December, Pep Guardiola and supporters alike have a good six weeks to step back and take stock of the campaign so far.
City have matched their league start from last season, winning 10 of their opening 14 matches, drawing two and losing two. But whereas a 32-point tally left City a single point off the top of the table at this stage last season, the consistency shown by Arsenal means the Blues are currently five points adrift of the summit.
In the Champions League Guardiola's side won their group to set up a last-16 tie with RB Leipzig in February, while passage to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup was secured with a win against Chelsea.
The first part of the season should be regarded a success, with plenty of memorable moments to look back on. Not everything has been perfect though, making this an ideal opportunity to assess the winners and losers of City's season so far.
If scoring 23 goals in your first 18 appearances for your new club doesn't make you a winner then nothing does. No-one could have predicted how quickly Erling Haaland would settle into a new team and league, nor how he would make records tumble with each passing week.
The only slight blot has been the foot injury he's suffered from in recent weeks that limited his game-time and effectiveness, but other than that he has been superb.
If making your full debut at 17 for the club you supported growing up is the stuff of dreams, then scoring on said full debut is the stuff of fantasy. That's exactly what Rico Lewis did against Sevilla earlier this month though, a moment that added another page to the history of City promoting local young talents.
Lewis will hope to follow in the footsteps of Phil Foden and Cole Palmer to become a first-team regular. With six senior appearances to his name, he's well on the way to doing just that.
There was a lot of skepticism when City announced the signing of Manuel Akanji just days before the end of the summer transfer window. The Blues famously don't make panic buys, yet there they were signing a centre-back - on the cheap - who couldn't get a game at a Borussia Dortmund side not exactly famed for its defensive solidity.
The Swiss international has proven his doubters wrong though, establishing himself as City's best central defender this season thanks to a string of fine performances. Intelligent, composed on the ball and tactical savvy, he is everything Guardiola wants in a centre-back and more.
While Kevin De Bruyne perhaps hasn't been consistently at his very best so far this season, he has put in a good handful of mesmeric performances that have strengthened the argument that he is the best midfielder in the world.
The 13 assists he's already racked up have shown just how lethal his connection with Haaland can be, while the stunning goals he scored against Brighton and Leicester offered a reminder that he still scores goals too. Arguably his best performance came against Fulham - 10-man City would not have won without his relentless running and will to push his teammates on.
The decline of Riyad Mahrez this season has been rather sad and above all unexpected. The Algerian was City's top scorer last season and played a crucial role in the Blues march to the Champions League final the season before, but over the past three months he has been well off the pace.
Back in October Pep said he needed Mahrez to get back to his best physical condition, but since then he has arguably been even worse. You do wonder if there may be a psychological element at play - penalty misses against Copenhagen and Dortmund won't have helped that.
Perhaps it's a little harsh to label Sergio Gomez a loser; after all, the young Spanish left-back is seen as a player for the future, and was never going to be a regular starter this season.
However, since his needless sending-off in Copenhagen last month forced City to play with 10 men for an hour, Guardiola has been a little more reluctant to turn to the 22-year-old. He has made good cameos and bad cameos, but Gomez himself will admit that he hasn't made quite as good an impression on the field as he could have done.