Arsenal meet Manchester City in the Carabao Cup Final.

Arsenal meet Manchester City in the Carabao Cup Final.

Finally it was alright on the night. For Arsenal, 2-1 winners over their London foes Chelsea, this result represented much more than the sum of its parts. Had Arsenal been beaten last night you feel sure that Arsenal's more critical fans would have been demanding a public execution. Arsene Wenger, their increasingly gaunt and haunted looking manager, may well have been looking over the edge of the metaphorical cliff.

We all love to see our team winning those vitally important matches and perhaps we even feel a genuine sense of responsibility when things go haywire. We blame the milkman, the weather, the length of the grass on the pitch, the size of the goal posts- anybody or anything as long as they can hear us and take note. But allowances have to be made and the truth is that when the final whistle went last night at the Emirates, Arsenal must have felt the weight of expectation simply dissolving into the North London night.

Arsenal will now meet Manchester City who may feel that all they have to do in the League Cup Final at the end of February is simply turn up, arrogantly cruise through the game and simply bamboozle Arsenal with science. City are just outpassing their opponents at the moment and although they've now been beaten for the first time in the Premier League after that amazing 4-3 defeat at the hands of Liverpool somehow we all know that this is not a disastrous slump designed to lull their opponents into thinking that even City have their bad days and blemishes.

For much of the first half though Arsenal reminded you of a punch drunk heavyweight boxer pinned to the ropes and barely able to fend off the upper cuts and hooks. Arsenal were, quite literally, camped in their own half for the whole of the first half, as Chelsea took out their own Ordnance Survey Map and found that all of their stylish passing movements were hitting the right geographical spot. Then the second half came along and all of those circles, triangles and rectangles got ever so slightly lost in the translation.

During the first half Eden Hazard, who looks increasingly like the kind of player who may just take the World Cup by storm, did all the kind of things that world class players normally do, turning his defenders inside out, beating them in frequent foot races and generally running Arsenal ragged whenever he had the ball. Perhaps the Belgian should come with a clear warning that indeed he is playing and everybody should simply get out of his way. Even Hazard though seemed to lose his way in the second half and once Arsenal had figured out a way to keep Hazard quiet, Chelsea collectively withdrew into their blue shell.

It was though Chelsea who made the immediate breakthrough minutes into the game. After a series of soft shoe shuffle passes outside the Arsenal penalty area, Pedro craftily slipped the ball through for Eden Hazard and the Belgian scuttled almost covertly into the area before tucking the ball past Arsenal keeper Ospina. It might have looked like an undercover operation but Arsenal had been well and truly left wide open.

For the rest of the first half Chelsea established their mastery over Arsenal and there were times when the home side looked as if all their neat stitches were also unravelling. There was a period during the first half when the loss of Alexis Sanchez to Manchester United was more damaging than Arsenal might have thought. But Arsenal, rather like most of the Premier League protagonists at the top of the Premier League are not solely reliant on Chilean magicians and slowly but surely there was a noticeable sea change and the temperature of the game seemed to work in Arsenal's favour.

Suddenly Arsenal looked revitalised, a side with a voracious appetite for the game and ready to take this finely balanced second leg to the wire. Once again Jack Wilshere, one of the finest midfield players of this generation, looked the most inventive of all players, running forcefully at the heart of a retreating Chelsea defence and always burrowing his way forward with positive intent. Then there were the smoothly delivered passes into dangerous areas, a player of balance, awareness and a lovely touch on the ball. When Wilshere drives forward into enemy territory, his shoulders seem to speak their own language and his dribbling ability has now become his very own template.

Now Granit Xhaka began to assume much more of the influence that Arsenal fans know he can exert. Xhaka still has a short fuse and the most brittle of temperaments but last night he was a very visible presence, chasing, probing and scheming with a nuggety persistence. In recent years Xhaka has seen red on  more than one occasion but if he can temper what to all intents is a bad tempered irascibility then maybe Arsene Wenger can find a fitting role for the Swiss midfield player.

Then there was Mesut Ozil, a remarkably skilful player with all the arts and crafts of the game at his disposal. Some of the Arsenal fans were naturally concerned about his attitude in certain games and an annoying tendency to go walkies with the ball. Like Sanchez, it was widely felt that the German playmaker had things on his mind which he couldn't properly articulate. But Ozil is quite certainly the real deal, a forward thinking, finger on the pulse player, an avant garde talent with a rich diversity of passes, impeccable ball control, a broad range of surprises and an ability to change the course of a game.

Both Wilshere, Ozil and Xhaka seemed to having a ball in each other's company, stretching the whole of the defence one way and then the other. And then it all seemed to happen as if it was predestined. After a corner on Arsenal's right the ball seemed to bobble about interminably before Nacho Monreal, one of the most vibrant players on the night, headed a ball which took two deflections of the Chelsea players before nestling in the Chelsea net. 1-1 and everything to play for.

Arsenal, as if shaken out of their sluggish lethargy, now took possession of the ball and began to taunt  Chelsea with their very own studious passing game. As if by magic the roles had now been reversed with Arsenal taking out tenancy rights on the ball. So it was that Arsenal found the mosaic passing patterns which their supporters have almost been privileged to watch over the years.

With the game heading towards a gripping finale, both sides attacked furiously and feverishly, the ball bouncing from one end to the other with barely a second to waste. Arsenal, after another merciless burst of pressure and rat- a- tat passes found space in the Chelsea half they must have thought was at a premium.

After an explosive burst, the ball was firmly whipped into Chelsea's slightly exposed near post and Xhaka prodded the ball home for Arsenal's decisive winner and a place at the League Cup Final or whatever they call it nowadays. At this point of course those two huge red, cannon emblazoned flags began to sway victoriously as if to underline the Arsenal victory. The mission had been accomplished and Chelsea slunk away from the Emirates perhaps wondering whether they'll ever get the better of Arsenal in any Cup competition. Last year's FA Cup Final defeat for Chelsea at the hands of Arsenal still leaves weeping wounds at Stamford Bridge.

So it was that the Emirates emptied once again, having witnessed the latest instalment between red and blue. You suspect that Arsenal and Chelsea are heartily sick of each other and would rather challenge each other to a game of whist or bridge rather than football. At long last a clear result had been achieved and we all began to wonder whether Arsene Wenger would find a coat that actually zips up properly. For Antonio Conte, Chelsea's amusing manager, this was one Italian soap opera too far. La Dolce Vita, Antonio. Please smile Mr Conte. It may never happen although the truth is that it probably has.