Manchester United aren't quite at the level of competing with Arsenal yet in the Premier League, but Ruben Amorim's men are definitely in a healthy spot right now after so much turbulence at Old Trafford.
Indeed, the Red Devils are now deep in a five-match unbeaten run in the top-flight, with fantastic attacking displays against Sunderland and Brighton and Hove Albion, matched by a real desire to fight until the end, as seen in Matthijs De Ligt's dramatic equaliser, clinching a 2-2 draw at Tottenham Hotspur last time out.
M. De Ligt
Away from the Dutchman finally coming good, United are also cooking on gas with the majority of their recruits from the hectic summer transfer window just gone.
INEOS really did splash the cash this summer, as they attempted to move on from the Red Devils' depressing 15th-place finish come the end of the 2024/25 season, as quickly as possible.
Thankfully, Amorim and Co. prioritised signings that were desperately needed, who also had Premier League experience, with Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha both joining the building from Brentford and Wolverhampton Wanderers, respectively, for a whopping £133.5m, to boost United's weak attacking areas.
Premier League club spending summer 2025 (timeless)
That was a significant chunk of the £216m that was overall spent, but it's paid off, with six goals shared between the attacking pair in Premier League action so far this season.
Thankfully, Bryan Mbeumo has not fallen victim to the Antony curse, but one of their big-money signings has done.
How Antony is playing after leaving Man Utd
Having gone his first seven Premier League games in United red with just one goal next to his name, the £71m recruit of Mbeumo has now come into his own to be seen as one of the standout bits of business INEOS signed off on in the summer, scoring a fine header against Spurs, taking his tally to six since moving.
A big-money addition, Amorim and Co will be thankful that he's made a more vibrant impact than a certain Anton.
Manchester-United-Antony
It feels like a lifetime ago since the Brazilian forward left Ajax behind to move to England for an eye-watering £81.3m in 2022, with only Paul Pogba burning a bigger hole in United's pocket at the £89m mark.
At the time, it would have been viewed as a considerable amount to fork out, but it would have also been deemed an expensive gamble worth pursuing, with a mightily impressive 24 goals and 22 assists coming his way for the Amsterdam giants.
Ex-United legend Edwin Van De Sar - who also shone for Ajax during his playing days - would even hail him as being a "potential world star" on his arrival at the Theatre of Dreams, with his trickery clear for all to see in flashes in Manchester.
While it ultimately didn't happen for him in red, he's certainly made a much brighter impact in the green and white of Real Betis. Having left England behind in the summer, the wide forward has now scored six goals and registered two assists in his ten outings this term.
All these tricks and flicks from Antony were rarely followed up with consistent output, with the Brazilian only managing to find the back of the net a weak 12 times from 96 games in Manchester, leading to another Red Devils icon in Paul Scholes criticising him as a "one-trick pony".
Man United's new Antony
Unfortunately, there is one fresh recruit who is heading in the dire direction of becoming United's new version of Antony, as a high price tag potentially becomes the undoing of another underwhelming attacker.
Benjamin Sesko is the man and like Antony, he has also felt the wrath of United legends during his early stint at Old Trafford to date. Notably, Gary Neville suggested that the former RB Leipzig striker was "miles off it" up top.
Benjamin-Sesko-Manchester-United
Like Antony, Sesko joined the English game with a revered reputation for being a nuisance for opposition defences to handle, with the Slovenian commanding a steep £74m price tag out of the Premier League giants off the back of bagging a mighty 27 Bundesliga strikes from 64 contests.
Sesko's PL numbers
Stat
Games played
Goals scored
Assists
Big chances missed
Goal conversion
Stats by Sofascore
However, much like Antony found out the hard way when making the bumpy transition from the Eredivisie to the Premier League, Sesko hasn't looked confident at all since leaving the comforts of Germany behind, with only two top-flight goals heading his way from 11 games.
United would even manage to collect that 2-2 draw away at Spurs after Sesko had limped off late on, leaving them down to ten men.
B Sesko
Before that, the low-on-confidence number 30 - who was said to be "struggling" post-game by Amorim - had been played through twice in glorious positions, only to fluff his lines.
Sesko won't be written off just yet, but the alarm bells are there considering his shoddy displays in the opening few months of his stint in English football.
But, Sesko will know he needs to show why he cost such a high amount soon; otherwise, he is in danger of just being disregarded as a frustrating flop down the line, who had moments here and there of magic.