The result of Everton's remarkable heroics against Crystal Palace was that the final day of this long, traumatic season meant next to nothing.
Yes, there were some meaningful narratives - Dele Alli made his first start since becoming a Blue, Tom Davies sealed his remarkable fight back from injury by starting, and Cenk Tosun and Donny van de Beek featured in a matchday squad for what will almost certainly be the last time. This was also the last outing for Everton in Cazoo-branded kit, with a new sponsor set to be announced over the summer.
But in truth, as the sun shone on the Emirates, there was little riding on this game for the visitors. And the relief among the thousands who still made the journey was obvious.
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The fear and anxiety was gone. The tension had disappeared from the faces of the dedicated travelling support. It was no longer a feature of their conversations - the talk among those on the train south was of the individual memories of Thursday's collective celebrations, not of final day permutations and whether Newcastle United or Brentford could 'do Everton a favour'.
The importance of Everton having already secured their Premier League status could not have been made any clearer by the 90 minutes that played out in north London. For weeks the talk among agony-ridden Blues has been of an insistence the season could not go down to the final game. They were right.
Yes, Lampard made a host of changes inspired by the context of the match. And the removal of jeopardy no doubt contributed to events on the pitch. But an Arsenal side that may have held only a slight belief in its chances of a top four finish at the start of the game, and which would have had all hope extinguished by rivals Tottenham Hotspur comfortably beating Norwich by half-time, was still able to unpick and expose the visitors with ease.
This was clear as the first half unfolded and the hosts took the lead then quickly doubled it. The opening goal came when a penalty was given for handball against Alex Iwobi - once referee Andre Mariner was called to his pitchside monitor by VAR. There felt an inevitability about the officials at Stockley Park having one last say in Everton's season.
The Blues had established a foothold in the game after surviving the early dominance of Arsenal but Gabriel Martinelli halted that momentum before Eddie Nketiah headed in, unmarked, from a corner just minutes later. Nketiah celebrated the goal, the Arsenal fans burst into song but the loudest noise came from the away end as plumes of blue smoke poured into the sky and the Everton supporters broke into Spirit of the Blues.
The damage at the break could, in reality, have been much worse. Stand-in keeper Asmir Begovic - playing for the first time since Everton extended his contract - saved smartly from Martinelli and Granit Xhaka, Bukayo Saka fended off Jarrad Branthwaite before slotting wide and Nuno Tavares failed to find Martin Odegaard on the edge of Everton's box after Arsenal broke forward with numbers to spare.
Instead, on the cusp of half-time, the away fans were given a genuine moment of their own to celebrate. After Arsenal's attack lost momentum following Tavares' pull back, the away side broke - Iwobi playing in Dominic Calvert-Lewin down the right. He played the ball into the path of the oncoming van de Beek and the Dutch international, introduced midway through the first half for Abdoulaye Doucoure, tapped in to score on his last appearance for the Blues before his return to parent club Manchester United.
Hope of yet another comeback was short-lived. As the second half slowly gathered pace, Arsenal did all of the running. For all their possession it was corners where they hammered home the advantage.
Cedric Soares, unmarked on the edge of the area, ran onto a Saka pass to make it 3-1 then Gabriel made it four when a scuffed shot found its way to him after another corner was half-cleared by Calvert-Lewin.
As this campaign drew to a close, Arsenal's pressure continued. Begovic saved at his near-post to deny Albert Sambi-Lokonga before Odegaard landed the final blow with 10 minutes to spare.
Everton's fans continued to party as their team struggled on the pitch, however. The taste of burning blue smoke once again lingered and 'Spirit of the Blues' echoed around yet another ground, first as they saw humour in their own tragic plight and then, later, as they celebrated the misery of Liverpool's title aspirations coming to an end.
The final minutes of a traumatic season for both Arsenal and Everton was a bizarre party of frustration and disappointment shared by two of what, this season, have been the Premier League's most self-destructive clubs. Both will hope for more come August.
For the Blues, this was a campaign that ended with a whimper on the pitch. After the exertions and exhaustion of a relegation battle and the immense relief following Thursday, perhaps that was understandable. But the ease with which a weakened Everton team was exposed on Sunday was also a reminder of the long-term job Lampard and his Finch Farm network have on their hands to rebuild the club for an incredible fanbase that wants and deserves better.
