Murillo reflected on a 1-0 loss for Nottingham Forest against Arsenal.

The defender partnered with Nikola Milenković in the middle of back fours that held onto goalless stalemates with the Gunners in their last two trips to the City Ground. And were it not for a deflected Noni Madueke finish in the second half, they might have extended that streak to three matches.

Indeed, Oliver Glasner was not too disappointed with the display from his players, who stopped Arsenal from even getting a shot on target for the first 80 minutes until Madueke’s opening goal.

‘It is difficult but we keep improving’

At the other end of the pitch, there might be more regret for the hosts. Finishing was costly for the Tricky Trees against Crystal Palace, losing 3-1 after failing to extend a goal advantage in the first half.

They then fell at the final hurdle repeatedly in transition on Sunday as Ezri Konsa and Gabriel Magalhães made the kind of defensive interventions that Murillo himself would have been proud of.

Murillo went on a marauding run that ended with a wayward finish during second half stoppage time, and the persistence from his teammates gave the defender reason to have belief even in defeat.

‘We are close to reaching our best’

"We knew it would be a tough game; it always is against Arsenal. They have a good team. But we feel we can change the result, maybe a draw, maybe a win. Now we have to put it in the past and focus on the next match.

"It was so close [to equalising!] I missed a good opportunity, but we did a very good job.

"We have a good manager and I think we are still getting his ideas. We changed everything in our system this season. It is difficult but after three or four months we keep improving and I think we are close to reaching our best.

“Now we are building our confidence, I think. We have a very good team, experienced players as well. Now we keep going because we know how tough the Premier League is."