As Arsenal hunted a first Premier League title in 20 years last season, they struck a rich vein of goals in the form of Leandro Trossard.
His five goals in the final eight league games, eerily similar to fellow diminutive winger Freddie Ljungberg's run at the end of the 2001-02 Double-winning season, was not enough to wrest the title away from Manchester City.
But the Belgian's form was crucial in taking the title race to the final day, and is part of the reason why — as my Mail Sport colleague Sami Mokbel reveals today — the 29-year-old is set to be given a new contract.
Three months into this season, with the January window fast approaching, suggestions have arisen that Arsenal should look at selling Trossard after an underwhelming start which has been further dampened by picking up a knock playing for Belgium against Israel on Sunday.
The 29-year-old did not start in the league opener against Wolves, and then had a 25-minute cameo against Aston Villa where his goal two minutes after coming on changed the match.
He initially refused to celebrate in frustration, before submitting to William Saliba’s prompts. That moment had seemed to be the ideal kickstart to another prosperous run in the team, yet that has not transpired.
Trossard is not the type of player who will register a bulging goals or assists tally — as seen by his seven goals and one assist in the first 31 league matches of last season.
It is his clever movements, fast incisive passes forward on breakaways and occupying space around the box which contribute to the wider good of Mikel Arteta’s team.
Trossard’s winner against Manchester United on May 12 — creeping to the front post and converting Kai Havertz’s low cross — reflected his best attributes: fast movement using agility and accurate finishing.
Such parts have been lacking of late. His downturn began with the red card that turned Arsenal's crucial trip to Manchester City into an attack-v-defence exercise for 45 minutes. Trossard's ill-advised decision to kick the ball away after the whistle, with Mikel Arteta's side leading the champions 2-1, cost his team the ability to take the game to City, as they had been for the final half-hour of the first period.
Then, at Bournemouth in mid-October, his wild backpass set opposition striker Evanilson away, before he tangled with William Saliba - who also saw red to set the tone for a damaging 2-0 defeat.
In the 1-0 defeat to Inter Milan in the Champions League, he was widely singled out for being sloppy on the ball and failing to make an impact. He just had two touches in the opposition box (of 51 touches in total) and lost possession eight times.
Against Newcastle earlier this month he again underwhelmed, having just five touches in the opposition area (of 37 touches in total) and lost possession 11 times. It was these two displays which brought his drop in form to the fore, and capped off by only being afforded a 19-minute substitution facing Chelsea before the international break.
Overall, he has the lowest shot conversion rate (10 per cent) and expected goal ratio per 90 minutes (0.33) among Arsenal’s attackers.
Trossard does need to improve and fast, yes. But looking at his failure to make an impact ignores the wider context at Arsenal. Their talisman Martin Odegaard, whom most of the Gunners’ best play goes through, has only just returned from an ankle injury which caused him to miss 12 games.
The Norwegian’s absence badly hurt the team — Arsenal won just three of their seven league games in this period — and has seen Trossard having to play predominantly away from his preferred position and strengths.
His best spot is on the left wing which has been taken by Martinelli, who has stepped up a level recently. So he has instead been predominantly used as a striker, swapping positions regularly with Kai Havertz — across all competitions this season, Trossard has been played up front 79 per cent of the time.
In contrast, the Belgian was used as a left winger 64 per cent of the time in the previous season, only going up front on 19 per cent of occasions.
The change is made more challenging with a sheer lack of creativity in the midfield without Odegaard, who cuts apart backlines with through balls and is at the front of the press when the Gunners are not in possession.
Odegaard's return from injury should free up Trossard among others to get back to their best.
Looking across Arsenal’s attacking options, strikers are in short stock. The club were excited about Gabriel Jesus over their US pre-season tour, the Brazilian having turned up in impressive condition after a series of knee injury setbacks. This season, thus far, the £45m signing from City two years ago has yet to hit the ground running, scoring just once against Preston in the Carabao Cup and starting one league game.
Havertz has been a solid supply of goals, scoring seven across all competitions in 17 matches, but is used in different roles. He can’t be relied upon as the team’s sole goalscoring forward.
Aside from Trossard, Jesus and Havertz, Arsenal don’t have any other recognised strikers. It is why, even in the unlikely scenario the north London club buy an expensive forward such as Newcastle’s Alexander Isak in January, selling Trossard would be short-sighted.
If an incoming signing were to get injured in the coming months, without the Belgian Arsenal would be extremely light up top. It would echo the scenario they had found themselves in with Odegaard’s absence.
The summer transfers of Emile Smith Rowe to Fulham and Fabio Vieira on loan to Porto, as well as Arteta’s fear of overexposing 17-year-old playmaker Ethan Nwaneri too early on in his career, left the Gunners with a significant problem in terms of midfield creativity. A gamble that did not work — and one they must learn from.
Isak is well-liked by the Gunners but any potential transfer is complicated by the fact that both teams are Premier League clubs. The price would be heavily inflated.
Trossard fills a number of roles. He’s highly effective on the left wing, as seen by his displays which left Martinelli on the bench last season.
He can play the super-sub role: of his 17 goals across all competitions in the previous campaign, six were as a substitute.
He is also unquestionably clinical when in front of goal, too, when he gets the right chances. Trossard had the highest shot conversion rate (24.29 per cent) and second-highest number of shots on target (29) last season for Arsenal. In a squad in need of wily finishers, Trossard last season stepped to the fore.
There is no reason why he can’t regain that form once again with Odegaard back in the fold and a new contract under his arm.