After Watford's 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace on Sunday, the comparisons between the last time Watford met Crystal Palace in the Championship playoff final in 2013 and this latest encounter were obvious.
Both had the same scoreline with both of Crystal Palace's winners coming off of penalties won by the speed and trickery of Wilfred Zaha. It is wrong to think badly of Zaha for being very good at this part of his job, but if Watford were never to see him running at one of their fullbacks again, it would be no great loss to anyone in West Hertfordshire.
However, the similarities between the two matches end there, because the context for both was quite different. In 2013, Watford were the favourites; they had the better side and had missed out on automatic promotion by two points. In contrast, Palace had won only one of their past 10 games and had lost their top scorer, Glenn Murray, to long-term injury.
So, the Eagles' victory at Wembley felt like an upset, with Watford choking on the big stage. Three years later and it is clear that Palace have capitalised on their unlikely Premier League adventure to become an established top-flight team.
Watford were always going to face a tough test, and so it proved, with Palace using their experience to outsmart Watford on the day. That said, the margin of victory was very small and came down to one momentary loss of concentration.
Allan Nyom has hardly put a foot wrong this season, so his poorly-timed tackle on Zaha to concede the penalty is hardly reason to panic. He was substituted shortly afterwards, and it felt like that was a decision taken out of genuine sympathy for his defender by manager Quique Flores. Nyom had been subjected to a brutal test of endurance by Bakary Sako and his replacement, Zaha. Until he conceded the penalty, he had played admirably. But, while his day ended in frustration, it was Watford's left-back, Ikechi Anya, who provided one of the main positives from the game and the season so far.
The Scot has made 74 league appearances for Watford but has rarely stood out as one of their best players. This is perhaps a harsh way to view his career, given the volume of players that have come and gone, but there was a nagging sense that Anya was one of those strange players who shine at international level but are relatively average for their club. Northern Ireland's David Healy is a good benchmark here, scoring far more freely for his national team than he ever managed at club level.
Anya's performances for Scotland during their qualifying campaign for the 2016 European Championships have been excellent, none more so than against Germany in Dortmund when he raced clear and finished superbly past Manuel Neuer. Such explosive, decisive moments in a Watford shirt have been less frequent. He does provide assists, but as a winger, his final ball has often been lacking and his decision-making poor.
As an attacking force in the Premier League, it was hard to imagine he would remain playing with Watford without a significant improvement in the quality of his delivery from wide areas, but instead Flores has used him primarily as a left-back.
This in itself was a surprise as Watford recruited a good left-back, Jose Holebas, from Roma this summer. Anya has played at full back before, and was regularly used at wing back when Watford played with three centre-backs. But, his performances have been gradually improving since August and at this early stage of the season, he is probably the most improved player in the squad.
Weaker-minded full backs would be found out by players like Yannick Bolasie, but on Sunday, Anya was defensively sound while posing a serious threat at the attacking end. He used his own pace to overlap the midfielders, which seems to be a far more effective use of his instincts as a winger then when he was deployed in an attacking midfield role. He can still frustrate with his final ball, but in a league where genuine pace is pretty much essential, he's become a more valuable member of the team than many would have anticipated.