Well, well, well. As a particular former Manchester United manager once said, “Football, bloody hell.” And that, perhaps is what makes this game so beautiful. On any given day, a team can turn up and buck the odds. A word here for Wycombe Wanderers, who have been doing that pretty much every game this season in League One, and who I watched twice as a guest of a friend who is closely involved with the club. They are now in the Championship, with a budget that ranks them around 22^nd in League One.

Arsenal’s odds of making the final were probably a little shorter that the Chairboys’ of gaining promotion, but they were still pretty considerable. Mikel Arteta’s team were beaten comprehensively by Manchester City in the first match back after the re-start, and few gave them any chance of winning this cup tie. Someone had predicted on Tuesday evening at the half-time of Wigan v Hull match (it stood at 7-0 to the Latics) that Arsenal could expect similar from their next two matches.

The defensive resilience demonstrated by the Gunners when they faced Liverpool was certainly a huge boost ahead of the Wembley match, but few believed lightning could strike twice, that we would see similar fortitude. And yet, we saw even better – a clean sheet against a side that generally scores for fun. It was a vindication of Mikel Arteta’s work to build on the team spirit, signified by the continued absence of players who are not fully on board with what he demands, and the commitment shown by players such as Ainsley Maitland-Niles who have evidently knuckled down in training and earned his spot. I recall in the 2017 final, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain playing in the left-wing back position. Maitland-Niles has, of course had plenty of experience playing on the left-hand side of Arsenal’s defence, in spite of being a right-footed player. He came in for Bukayo Saka last night, with Shkodran Mustafi replacing Rob Holding on the right hand side of the three man defence (although injury to Mustafi suggests he may well play the remaining three matches of the campaign).

It needs saying after certain recent performances, not least against Tottenham, that the team defended brilliantly as a unit. No surprise that Manchester City enjoyed the bulk of possession and territory, as Arsenal only tried to match them at their own game periodically, and were effective when they did get forward. City are not defensively as good as Liverpool, and Aubameyang had an excellent chance to score which was spurned early in the game. We didn't have to wait long though, as a genuinely excellent passage of play for the underdogs saw the number 14 finish sweetly to volley the ball in off the post from a Pepe cross. The latter had been the other change from the starting eleven against Liverpool, replacing Reiss Nelson.

It has been pointed out that the two goals in this match came at 19 and 71 minutes. Given the resilience of the display, older fans would certainly have been encouraged by what happened between the two goals, as Mikel Arteta’s team soaked up a significant amount of pressure, and did their all to ensure there was no end product. City did go close, but only had one shot on target in the 90 minutes, an astonishing statistic. That attempt brought out a fantastic save by Emiliano Martinez, who must surely be viewed as the first choice keeper once Bernd Leno returns. Strange to think that in some ways, the defeat at Brighton where the German was injured and Matteo Guendouzi lost his rag, could prove such a significant match in the development of the club.

The pressure was seriously relieved by the second goal, a fantastic break by Aubameyang, who slotted home between the keeper’s legs. The half had already developed an attack v defence, training ground exercise style, and this became even more marked, inevitably, after that 71^st minute goal. And Arsenal held firm.

In 2017, Arsenal surprisingly defeated Manchester City at the same stage of the FA Cup, although then in front of a packed Wembley. It would be ironic if Chelsea were to beat Manchester United to set up a repeat of the final that followed that victory. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves here, but Arsenal have defeated the two best sides in the league, so there is reason for the players to have the belief they can beat whoever they might face in the final. It’s going to be very different this year, with no mad scramble for tickets, the final being played on a date you’d normally expect to be watching the Community Shield.

It’s significant though that Arteta’s Arsenal have demonstrated they have a method to compete with better teams. That is so critical, as the club seeks to re-establish itself as contenders for the bigger prizes, and rise again to the glory years we witnessed between 1989 and 1994, and 1998 to 2006, when they were very much dining at the top table. Gooners been fed on scraps for far too long, pretty much ever since the stadium move in 2006. Promise of glory, and granted, the three recent cup wins were hugely enjoyable, but a club of this stature should be winning more than three domestic knockout trophies in 13 years. There is no question that another Cup win would be a triumph considering the teams beaten to do it, but this has to be the foundation for establishing different ways to win football matches, and if counter attack is what’s required, then the defensive improvement to make it work is key. And this is what we have witnessed in the last two matches. More of the same please, and if qualification for the Europa League could be secured with six points from the fixtures against Villa and Watford, it would ease the pressure in the final itself, as the £30 - £40 million that European competition can provide next season will at least be secured.

Things looked dodgy after the restart with the two straight defeats. Momentum that was subsequently built up seemed to have evaporated with the one point from two games against Leicester and Spurs. However, the defensive resilience we have seen from players we didn’t think were capable of it since that defeat at the Lane last weekend is something that I wasn’t convinced the new head coach could deliver, given the influence of the manager he got the better of last night. We saw the Guardiola philosophy in the build-up to that fantastic first goal, but we saw a bit of George Graham in what followed. Long may it continue.

______________________________________

The current season's final issue of The Gooner (number 283) has been sent out to subscribers, most of whom would have received it yesterday morning. We cannot sell this issue at matches, with fans banned from attending until next season, so for those who would normally buy it at the stadium, you can have it posted to you if you buy from our online store – UK addresses click this link, and overseas addresses click here. Or if you have a PayPal account you can simply send £6 (UK) or £7.50 (abroad) through our paypal.me link - https://www.paypal.me/goonerfanzine - but please remember to put you name and address in the ‘add note’ field.