The week leading up to the Arsenal match was different. The joyous, almost giddy atmosphere that had followed the victories over Leicester, Southampton, and Aston Villa was replaced by a quiet, focused intensity.
The players were still confident, but the swagger was tempered by a newfound respect for the challenge that lay ahead. Arsenal were not just another team. They were the league leaders, a slick, technical, well-drilled unit that was the benchmark for every other team in the division.
They were the team that everyone wanted to beat, the team that everyone measured themselves against. And for Eberechi Eze, they were something more. They were the club that had broken his heart.
I found him on Thursday afternoon, long after the training session had finished, sitting alone in the centre circle of the main pitch, the setting sun casting a long, lonely shadow across the perfectly manicured turf.
