It's quite easy to miss AFC Bournemouth.
For a start, the club's fingerprint of a stadium is almost hidden from the reach of the passing A338 with its promise of the beach and the lure of inviting seaside resorts further up the south-west holiday highways.
And just like “invisible kids” at school who are overlooked in favor of the naughty class clowns, or the captains of the sports teams, everything they do on the football field comes and goes in the blink of an eye.
Manager Andoni Iraola comes across as a likeable Spaniard, who would do it in a nice way, even if he said a big boo. He wears middle-aged turtlenecks.
His predecessor Eddie Howe was regarded in a similar way before he took the plunge to join the world's richest club in Newcastle. There cannot be a greater contrast.
Howe faces a friendly reunion with his old team on Saturday afternoon and looks over his shoulder at the Cherries, who are just four points behind in what is a remarkable, sustained assault on the Premier League's top ten.
From a club that shouldn't even be playing in the division by modern standards.
On Tuesday evening, Iraola's side were level with billionaire boys' club Chelsea for over half an hour before conceding the equalizer in the 95th minute.
That was with six youth players on the bench and no recognized striker due to an injury list that was equal to, if not worse than, that of Manchester City, Arsenal or Tottenham.
Record purchase of £31.5 million Evanilson has a broken foot.
Enes Unal tore ligaments in his knee on the same day confirmation of his fellow striker's predicament was announced. How is your happiness?
Marcos Senesi, Julian Araujo and Alex Scott are in various stages of recovery from surgery on different parts of their bodies.
Luis Sinisterra has not played since the 2-0 win over ten-man Arsenal in October.
Taking Chelsea to the wire on Tuesday happened in the absence of defender James Hill, who left early with a hamstring problem.
But while Mikel Arteta, Pep Guardiola and Ange Postecoglou can grab the keys to the club vault during the winter transfer window to bring in the reinforcements they hope will turn things around, there is no such luxury at the Vitality Stadium.
Bournemouth will no longer buy regular players to complement the whopping £8m deal for Julio Soler.
Even if the Gunners don't rush and spend £150m on Alexander Isak with Gabriel Jesus sidelined long-term, the pressure is on boss Arteta to go out and buy big upfront.
Series champions City have fallen and are looking to spend more than £100 million on a striker and two defenders between now and February 3.
Centre-back Vitor Reis, 19, looks like someone for the future at the Etihad – but at £33m he cost more than Bournemouth's biggest ever one-off spend on Brazilian striker Evanilson, who is now sitting at home with his foot up.
Struggling Tottenham have bought a new goalkeeper. The Cherries could not even play their first choice on Tuesday because he is on loan from Chelsea.
And they only got the deal with Spaniard Kepa Arrizabalaga over the line in the first place because they know each other from Athletic Bilbao.
Whether the bigger clubs actually do big business this month doesn't matter.
The fact that they can is the point. And everyone knows it too, thanks to social media and Sky Sports.
Iraola's no-nonsense side are quietly going about their business, yet looking firmly in the eye of much bigger teams – and down on some like Spurs and Manchester United.
This weekend marks the start of a hellish run for Iraola.
After Newcastle, third place is Nottingham Forest and then leader Liverpool. You could say it's time to break up, but given their recent luck with fitness, that's a tempting fate.
Club captain Adam Smith and Marcus Tavernier are also sidelined for good.
Bournemouth's highest finish in the Premier League is ninth and they are on course to beat that.
And that's despite an injury list that would make higher profile managers sob on television.
But if they persevere against the odds, it's something worth shouting about. But they won't, because it's not their style.
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