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Sunderland have come a long way since their Netflix documentary b@nter-era nadir. It was a time of turmoil. A time when TV cameras were welcomed into the Stadium of Light to record their Brentian chief executive using a cryo-chamber studiously avoided by the players whose recovery it was supposed to aid. A time the club hierarchy famously spaffed £4m on a flame-retardant Will Grigg in a deadline-day panic buy. And a time when Jack Rodwell took up residence in the treatment room on his £70,000 per week League One contract. While local club staff worked as hard as they could to maintain their dignity in the most trying circumstances imaginable, Sunderland suffered back-to-back relegations from the Premier League and became marooned in the third tier and something of a laughing stock due in no small part to being co-owned by a posh bloke who thought an Ibiza house anthem was more suitable than Prokofiev’s Dance of the Knights as player walk-on music and often wandered around Wearside wearing red trousers.

Mercifully, those slapstick days finally appear to have been consigned to the dustbin of history and it is a measure of just how far the club has progressed that a sizeable contingent of fans genuinely believe the Black Cats could put the brakes on Arsenal’s apparently relentless gallop to the Premier League title when they welcome them to the Stadium of Light on Saturday. After winning the Championship playoff final courtesy of mugging Sheffield United at the last, Sunderland bought often and wisely in the transfer market. A total of 14 new players came in and all have made an impact to leave Régis Le Bris’s team scaling the unthinkable heights of fourth after 10 games. And while he may not be the best player to have been recruited during the summer, Granit Xhaka is without a doubt the most influential. And given his colourful Arsenal “previous”, it is Sunderland’s captain who finds himself the subject of much of the pre-match focus before Saturday’s clash. “It will be an emotional game for myself – I had seven amazing years there,” roared Xhaka. “I still have contact with many players, with the coaching staff. To play against them here in Sunderland, of course, is very special. Hopefully I can enjoy it as well and let’s see who the better team on this day is.”