Former Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas believes the club are unrecognisable from the side he represented, due to manager Mikel Arteta's impact.
A last-gasp Eddie Nketiah winner against Manchester United at Emirates Stadium on Sunday handed the Gunners a 3-2 victory, maintaining a five-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.
Now considered to be the favourites for the title, Arsenal have enjoyed a remarkable resurgence under Arteta, who has made wholesale changes at the club.
Fabregas has revealed that a recent trip to London Colney showed "everything had changed" since his days at Arsenal, including an image at the entrance that highlights Arsenal's 19-year wait for Premier League glory.
"I was lucky enough to be at the training ground recently and it felt like I had never been there before because everything had changed so much," he told Sky Sports.
"The manager of the training ground told me that 95 per cent of the changes were Mikel's.
"He's changed the perception of the club, a lot of positive messages around the training ground, much bigger facilities, better equipment, the pitches are better. Everything, you name it.
"In the entrance they have a symbol of the Premier League, an empty Premier League. Arteta wants to send the message that: 'guys, we need to put the work in'.
"It's a message and inspiration to the players for them to really want to put the Premier League in there. He's changed the mentality of the club since Arsene Wenger left. It's fantastic what he's done."
Fabregas also highlighted the vast improvement on the field that has seen the Gunners quickly jump from top-four hopefuls to leading the charge for the Premier League title.
All three of Arsenal's goals against United came from academy graduates, with Nketiah's brace coming either side of a superb Bukayo Saka strike.
"Remember, they finished eighth for two consecutive seasons. To do what they're doing in a short space of time and doing it in the manner they're doing is quite inspiring," he added.
"Arsenal gave time to Mikel and this proves and shows to other clubs to not panic when things go wrong. Sometimes, finishing eighth and almost making it to the Champions League but just falling short, just having that process, and it is a process.
"The club understood that it took time to achieve it. I still believe they are way ahead of where they thought they'd be at this moment.
"Players like Saka and Nketiah, they came from the academy, they cost nothing to the club. And they've maintained that belief and the results are paying off."
Saudi Pro League: Mahrez and Firmino on target as Al-Ahli tighten grip on third place
Riyad Mahrez and Roberto Firmino were both on target as Al-Ahli tightened their grip on third place in the Saudi Pro League table with a 4-1 win over Damac on Thursday.
Matthias Jaissle's team were four goals up within just 25 minutes as Damac folded, Ziyad Al Johani and Feras Al Brikan netting their first two before Franck Kessie was felled by Dhari Al Anazi for a penalty, converted by Mahrez.
Firmino then tapped home a fourth after being teed up by former Newcastle United winger Allan Saint-Maximin on the break, but Al-Ahli took their foot off the gas from there, Domagoj Antolic's second-half consolation rounding off the scoring.
Elsewhere, 10-man Al-Riyadh scored two stoppage-time draws to earn a dramatic 2-2 draw with Al-Fateh in Al-Mubarraz.
Goals from Djaniny and former Columbus Crew star Lucas Zelarayan put Slaven Bilic's hosts on the brink of victory, with Al-Riyadh playing almost half the game a player down after Khalid Al Shuwayyi's 54th-minute red card.
An astonishing collapse denied them, however, with Mohammed Al Shwirekh halving the arrears one minute into stoppage time before Didier Ndong headed in a left-wing cross three minutes later.
Thursday's other game saw Al-Hazm and Al-Akhdoud play out a goalless draw, keeping the hosts bottom of the table while Al-Akhdoud inched two points clear of the relegation zone.
Europa Conference League: Aston Villa stunned by Olympiacos
Aston Villa were stunned by Olympiacos as they suffered a 4-2 home defeat in the Europa Conference League.
On what the Villa faithful hoped would be a famous night at Villa Park, they instead saw their team dispatched by their Greek opponents in the first leg of their semi-final encounter.
Ayoub El Kaabi scored a hat-trick for the visitors, who were 2-0 up inside 30 minutes on Thursday.
Ollie Watkins and Moussa Diaby struck either side of the interval to restore parity, but El Kaabi sealed his hat-trick from the penalty spot before Santiago Hezze added further gloss with a sensational finish. To add to Villa's misery, Douglas Luiz then missed a penalty late on.
In the other semi-final tie, Fiorentina took a 3-2 aggregate lead against Club Brugge.
M'Bala Nzola was Fiorentina's hero in stoppage time, scoring in the 91st minute to nudge the Serie A team ahead.
Hans Vanaken had scored from a penalty following a VAR check for handball in the 17th minute, cancelling out Riccardo Sottil's early opener, though Fiorentina restored their lead through Andrea Belotti before half-time in a frantic first half.
Thiago equalised for Brugge, but it was ultimately not enough.
Al Ittihad 1-2 Al Hilal: Holders into King's Cup final
Al Hilal overcame Sergej Milinkovic-Savic's red card as Saud Abdulhamid's late goal sealed a 2-1 victory over Al Ittihad in the King's Cup semi-finals.
Without Karim Benzema, Al Ittihad ultimately lacked the firepower to make their numerical advantage count in Tuesday's clash.
Former Lazio midfielder, who joined Al Hilal as part of their spending spree last year, received a straight red card in the 42nd minute.
Al Ittihad's Abderrazzaq Hamed-Allah cancelled out Micheal's opener, but Abdulhamid popped up with the winner in the 81st minute.
Al Hilal are 10-time King's Cup winners, having won their 10th title last season.
The Saudi Pro League leaders, who are still without the injured Neymar, will now face either Al Khaleej or Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr in the final at the end of May.
Data Debrief: Malcom in the middle
Al Hilal might be missing their star Brazilian Neymar, but his compatriot Malcom is delivering when it comes to playmaking.
The former Zenit attacker set up both of Al Hilal's goals, creating three chances in total and registering a pass accuracy of 92.6 per cent, better than any of his team-mates.
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