It has come down to a straight shootout, similar to five rounds of penalties, the equation plain yet loaded with complications. Score or miss. With Manchester City otherwise engaged in an FA Cup semi-final, it was Arsenal who took first.
For them, the metaphorical walk to the spot, the moment of truth, began in the aftermath of last Sunday’s defeat at City. It was long and treacherous, the self-doubt gnawing away, the outside noise at fever pitch. Score or miss. With a draw very much into the latter category. Arsenal scored.
The moment that decided it came in the ninth minute and what a goal it was, completely out of keeping with the overall sweep of another fraught occasion. When Eberechi Eze received the ball on the right edge of the area after Noni Madueke and Kai Havertz had worked a short corner, he made the calculations to curl first-time for the far top corner. He pulled it off perfectly.
It was a day when Arsenal needed to respond to the City defeat and the one before that in the Premier League here against Bournemouth. They did so. It was not pretty, the onus on grinding out the three points, and there were worries when Havertz and Eze were forced off with injuries. But the only thing that mattered – the only thing that has mattered for weeks – was winning. For the Arsenal support there was joy after 90-plus minutes of pain.
