We’re back, baby. So, so back. Well, OK, not exactly back. But back down the time tunnel, for a while at least, as on a powder blue afternoon at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal and Chelsea produced an opening half-hour that felt like a throwback to prime Barclays of the early 2000s.
In that period this really did feel like a twist on a classic: spells of midfield murder-ball, stretched and flustered full‑backs, players hurling themselves at the defensive lines like the fall guys in a cowboy western being tossed out through the saloon-bar doors.
