Eleven years have slipped by since Arsenal last embarked on a 10-match winning streak, but beyond the string of Ws, there is little that looks the same.

Back in the autumn of 2007, Arsene Wenger was still untouchable in the manager’s dug-out; the captain was William Gallas, still four months away from his infamous on-field tantrum at Birmingham; and pulling the strings in midfield was the supremely-gifted Alexander Hleb.

To his fans - and there are plenty of them - Hleb was part of arguably Wenger’s most technically-proficient team, a player who worked in perfect harmony with Cesc Fabregas. To the sceptics, Hleb’s slight frame and unwillingness to shoot represented the flakier side of a group who promised so much but ultimately fell just short.

Eleven years on from what ended up being a 12-game winning streak, Hleb - now 37, but still curiously ageless in appearance - is back in London with Bate Borisov to take on Chelsea, and Fabregas, in the Europa League on Thursday night.

It is Hleb’s fifth spell with the club from Belarus, underlining how much his career has stalled since leaving Arsenal for Barcelona a decade ago.