Manchester United's 0-0 draw with Chelsea saw them keep a clean sheet for the first time in the Premier League this season.
The stalemate also means the Red Devils have failed to win any of their opening three league games for the first time since Frank O'Farrell was in charge in 1972.
Yet if Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is looking for positives - and let's face it, he always is - a defence that has been leaking goals managed to keep out a potentially potent Blues attack.
It came as a huge surprise that United didn't strengthen their centre-back options in the summer.
Harry Maguire has had a nightmare start to the new campaign following his arrest in Greece. The psychological impact of that incident has taken a heavy toll and the £80 million man isn't the only one who has struggled.
Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly have also failed to impress and it's led to serious questions being asked over Ed Woodward's recruitment.
Donny van de Beek was United's biggest summer signing, while they made belated additions of left-back Alex Tellas and veteran striker Edinson Cavani.
It's in the heart of their defence that their greatest need lies, though, and one option would have been Dayot Upamecano.
The RB Leipzig defender has been courting the attention of Europe's biggest clubs for some time.
However, it's emerged that he could have in fact joined the Red Devils five years ago.
The Sun claim that as a teenager, he and his mum visited Old Trafford to seal a move from Valenciennes.
“Dayot wanted to join United and the fee really was nothing," a source told the same newspaper.
“At first he got the red-carpet treatment but then they would not go that bit further with their offer and he was gone.”
The club were asking for £700,000, but the party left disappointed when United would only cough up £500,000.
Within a couple of years, he was worth £9 million and is now valued at around £54m.
That means United missed out on one of the biggest defensive prospects of his generation, and all because of a fee which, given United's turnover, is just petty cash.
Five years on and it seems they're still paying the price for that error of judgment.