Brentford's victory over Liverpool was the standout result during another fascinating weekend of Premier League football, with Michael Kayode's latest star turn for the Bees compounding the misery on Mohamed Salah as his difficult season continues.
Last weekend, it was Bryan Mbeumo and Manchester United who inflicted yet another setback on the reigning champions, and here, it was the effervescent Kayode and Brentford's upstarts who condemned Arne Slot's side to a fourth consecutive defeat and plunged them firmly into crisis mode.
We'll come to Salah, nominated for the 2025 African Footballer of the Year award, later, but this weekend's performance by Italo-Nigerian fullback Kayode was scintillating, and his latest outstanding showing in what is proving to be an excellent maiden year in English football.
Of course, once again, Kayode's long throws will steal the attention after his fearsome angled balls into the Liverpool box caused the Reds repeated problems on Saturday.
The right-sider is at the vanguard of the Premier League's rediscovered trend for set-piece focus, with long bullet throws the fashion like they've never been before during the first quarter of the campaign.
A month ago, we examined how Kayode's impactful long-throws into the Manchester United box had sparked jitters and panic in the nervy Red Devils backline as Brentford dispatched Ruben Amorim's side 3-1.
Yet again, one of the Premier League's genuine giants struggled to cope with the velocity and distance attained by the right-sider with his ferocious hurls into the box.
Within five minutes, Dango Ouattara had given Brentford the lead; the goal came from a Kayode throw on the left, with Kristoffer Ajer nodding on his low directional flat throw into the path of the Burkina Faso international, who volleyed home beyond Giorgi Mamardashvili.
Moments earlier, Kayode had forced Virgil van Dijk to head clear with another thrown ball forward, and towards the end of the first half, another roaring long throw into the box required Mamardashvili to leave his line and punch clear.
The defender's game, however, is about far more than his prodigious throws, and it would be a disservice to his all-round qualities and immense promise as a complete fullback to reduce his impact purely to these set pieces.
Across the contest against the champions, Kayode won all five of his duels as well as 100 percent of his dribbles, while winning back possession on seven occasions.
He completed three clearances as Brentford denied the Reds attempts to peg them back, and, going forward, he registered a pass accuracy of 87 percent, testament to his impressive composure and pass selection against one of the Prem's finest sides.
His confidence in possession allows Brentford to switch from defence to attack in an instant, while he also created two goalscoring opportunities for his teammates.
One came just after the hour mark, when the West African curled in a magnificent cross from the right flank which evaded the Liverpool backline, and deserved better than Ouattara's header, which was wild and in no danger of troubling Mamardashvili's goal.
Steve Nicol reacts to Liverpool's 3-2 loss to Brentford in the Premier League.
The contrast between the all-rounder Kayode and Liverpool's fullbacks -- Conor Bradley and Milos Kerkez -- was stark, and the Nigerian's performance was reminiscent of a young Aaron Wan-Bissaka when he first burst onto the scene with Crystal Palace, albeit with greater technical sophistication than the DR Congo fullback.
Underpinning his stats is an irrepressible engine, superb athleticism and, notably, a relish for one-on-one combat with an opposition attacker... a strength that the limited Cody Gakpo became only too aware of during the course of Saturday's 3-2 victory.
We predicted, back in September, that Kayode's throw-ins would become a hallmark of Brentford's play under Keith Andrews, their former set-piece coach, but his form since then, and his ability to impact matches in multiple different ways, suggests he could go on to become one of the Bees' outstanding players under the Irish head coach.
Andrews praised Kayode's character last month, suggesting that he "blew everyone away with his personality when he signed [for Brentford]," and the head coach was clearly delighted to give the 21-year-old his Player of the Match award at the conclusion of Brentford's 3-2 victory.
"I'll try my best [to give a speech] because my English is not perfect," the popular Piedmont-born Kayode said his assembled teammates in footage shared by Brentford's official handles after the match. "I'm so happy about that, we [did] an amazing game.
"I want to say thank you to everyone, players, staffs everyone, we have to continue like that," he added. "I dream, I think everyone dreams that we can make an amazing season, so thank you very much."
Beyond Brentford's immediate Prem prospects, what else does the future hold for one of the division's brightest young talents?
It was pointed out by some astute social media users over the weekend that Kayode now follows Nigeria's official Super Eagles handle on Instagram, prompting swirling optimism among fans of the West African nation that the youngster is set to abandon the Italy set-up and join Eric Chelle's rebuild.
It would be a remarkable coup, with Nigeria already boasting an impressive legacy of left-sided defenders, including Augustine Ofuokwu, Celestine Babayaro, Ben Iroha and Taye Taiwo.
Also on the horizon, at least according to the player's Italian agent, is interest from some of Europe's heavyweights.
"We are very happy because he is growing game by game," Claudio Vigorelli told TuttoMercatoWeb [as per the Mirror]. "The Premier League is a very physical league, it seems custom-made for him, and Michael is proving he fits in perfectly.
"It's still very early," he added. "Let's enjoy this great moment he's having, but it is inevitable that if he continues with this trend, something important will arrive for him."
Certainly, Kayode would represent an upgrade on Liverpool's beleaguered Bradley -- who started ahead of Jeremy Frimpong on Saturday -- while he could also be an ideal fit as an adventurous right wingback for Amorim at Manchester United.
"In the future, I can see him taking another step to a top club," concluded Andrea Ritorni, the head of scouting at Kayode's Vigo Global Sports Services agency. "That's not to say Brentford isn't one, but I can see him going even higher."