It was all going a little too well for Arsenal, wasn't it?
Last night's defeat in the Champions League Round of 16 has taken the sheen off the Gunners' imperious Premier League form ever so slightly, but with the second leg to come, it's not all doom and gloom.
The in-form team weren't particularly impressive on the night, and while the action on the pitch didn't give fans much to cheer about, the names on Mikel Arteta's bench might.
There were your usual suspects like Jorginho and Eddie Nketiah, but there were also a couple of academy gems, one of whom could well be the club's next Ben White.
How Ben White has performed at Arsenal
White joined Arsenal in a £50m deal from Brighton & Hove Albion back in the summer of 2021, and while there were plenty of naysayers at the time questioning the price and deal itself, they aren't questioning it now.
The Poole-born defender started life at the club as a centre-back and formed a reasonably effective partnership with Gabriel for the 2021/22 season, in which he made 37 appearances across all competitions, three of which came at right-back.
However, upon the integration of William Saliba, the former Seagulls man was at a crossroads in his short Arsenal career: move on, or adapt and become the team's first-choice right-back.
He did the latter and has since racked up another 81 appearances in red and white, scored three goals and provided seven assists.
He might not be the most flashy of right-backs in the league compared to Trent Alexander-Arnold and Pedro Porro, but he has been an essential cog in Arteta's new-look Arsenal side.
So, fans should be reasonably excited about the emergence of a young Hale End graduate who could duke it out with White for a place in the team a few years from now.
Why fans should be excited about James Sweet
The youngster lining up to rival White in a few years is 20-year-old James Sweet, who joined the Gunners' youth setup as an eight-year-old in 2012.
He's since worked his way up through the various youth sides, making 30 appearances for the U18s and another 24 for the U21s and picking up a total of six goals and 11 assists along the way, giving him a goal involvement on average, every 7.71 games which isn't bad for a right-back.
That said, the "hard-working" academy gem, as described by Arsenal youth expert Jeorge Bird, can also play as a right-sided midfielder, mimicking White's ability to play in multiple positions depending on what is asked of him.
In fact, the London-born gem has been used in multiple positions in the youth teams, playing as a right-midfielder, central-midfielder, left-midfielder, left-back, defensive midfielder, and even right-winger, but he is primarily still a right-back.
He has also picked up some valuable international experience, making two appearances for England's U17s, although he is currently playing with the Wales U19 squad.
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Ultimately, while Sweet won't be breaking into the first team anytime soon, he was picked for the bench against Porto for a reason, and with how he is spoken about, the number of games he has played and his positional versatility, he could well be battling it out with White a few years down the line.