Still not out, and instead back in the FA Cup final. Arsenal provided the best possible response to the trauma and troubles of the last few months by reaching English football’s showpiece for the third time in four seasons, while Arsene Wenger provided the best possible response to all of the debate from that with a truly significant win. It is not just that he could again win a competition that was supposed to have now felt passé for the club, but as much that he claimed such a victory about one of modern managers that was supposed to have rendered him history.
Wenger’s side instead impressively beat Manchester City 2-1 after extra-time with all the qualities you would normally identify with a Pep Guardiola team: tactical insight with a switch to wing-backs, greater intensity… and no little luck.
The Catalan can point to the refereeing decisions and improbable missed chances as the story of their season, but the story of this game was still that they didn’t really deserve it. That Alexis Sanchez got the winning goal against the side that was supposed to offer him a better future only adds another angle to a season that has been a sharp lesson for Guardiola.
An underwhelming City will now end the season without a trophy but now with real pressure on them to finish in the top four, while Wenger has finally and rather forcefully alleviated the tension around this season. There is another stat that sums up the stature of this match, and what it could yet mean for the future. It could be a huge turning point, because there was a huge turning point in the game: it was the first time that Arsenal had come from behind to win against one of the Premier League’s current top six since November 2012.
One of the big debates at Arsenal right now beyond the manager’s future is of course about his ability to actually “change”, and this game did offer suggestions in that regard right from the start. Wenger again played three at the back for just the second time in 20 years at the club - the first being Monday night against Middlesbrough - and had the side sit much deeper than they did in their last game against City.
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