It should have been no surprise to Crystal Palace that Emile Smith Rowe, once coined the Croydon Kevin De Bruyne, was up for a game at Selhurst Park. Born just a stone's throw from the stadium, Fulham's new attacking supremo looked right at home back where it all began.
Although Smith Rowe's real footballing ties are with Arsenal, he is south London-born. On Saturday he returned to haunt the area, making the short trip from SW6 to SE25.
He scored his third league goal of the season, had another disallowed, and pulled the strings from behind Raul Jimenez as Marco Silva's side moved level on points with Smith Rowe's former club. Arsenal take on Chelsea on Sunday afternoon in a bid to pull clear, but there is a sense of poetic justice here for the 24-year-old regardless.
Having been sold for what could become £34million over the summer after several years of injury and form stunted his development, Smith Rowe is back and thriving. He has already played more Premier League minutes this term than he did in each of the last two seasons combined, and then some.
He is on course to at least match his career-best 10-goal haul from 2021/22 and has two assists as well. Overall, he has contributed the same tangible amount as Kai Havertz in fewer minutes.
For Smith Rowe, Silva, and Fulham, it is simply a delight to be getting the best of each other. There is a reason that even after effectively becoming an outcast to Mikel Arteta at the Emirates Stadium, he commanded the type of fee that he did.
It hasn't escaped the mind of his former Hale End academy and Arsenal teammate, Bukayo Saka. Responding on Instagram to Smith Rowe's latest post, Saka wrote simply, "Warm".
Saka himself has been playing in a team perhaps missing someone of Smith Rowe's style whilst Martin Odegaard was out through injury. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, though, and really, Fulham are getting a level from Smith Rowe that has not been seen for a while.
He is playing like the kid on the block again. A joyous message after the game, sharing an inside joke with Alex Iwobi - one of a number of other Arsenal-related Fulham players - demonstrates just this.
"[Football and umbrella emojis] sorry bro [laughing face emoji]" Smith Rowe said afterwards, tagging Iwobi alongside an image of his goal and the pair celebrating along with ex-Manchester United attacker Andreas Pereira. Just what he is sorry about isn't clear, but the vibes coming from the team and from Smith Rowe are.
It is just under a month - and only two weeks of club football - until Smith Rowe gets the chance to face Arsenal for the first time since leaving. Saka will hope that he isn't left to be the one getting the apology this time.
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