In the smart room there could be Aaron Ramsey, wearing a virtual reality headset, and replaying his most recent game on a virtual 3D pitch. Perhaps, on the 40m running track that goes down the middle of the state-of-the-art gym, Alex Iwobi is working on sprint technique with Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

Petr Cech might be in the cryo chamber, Laurent Koscielny in the yoga and pilates space. In one meeting room Sven Mislintat is addressing members of his new network of scouts. In another, Darren Burgess is discussing with his team some of the players’ latest GPS data — a field that he helped pioneer.

That’s the vision, anyway. Same old Arsenal? Not really any more. It has happened stealthily, often quietly, but 2017 was the