A St Stephen’s Day derby was always no less an integral part of my own festive ritual than the retelling of my dear old dad’s ancient joke about the kids doing show and tell in class after the Xmas holidays.

Highbury is hardly leafy suburbia and perhaps there’s an inevitable bias with me being a Gooner.

"One day it might indeed all end, but Eamo’s show will surely go on forever."

A crisp sunny day for a drive out of the Big Smoke, the lilting Welsh accents of the genial locals, a clean sheet, three goals and a return trip back across the Severn Bridge, plumped up by a seven-point cushion.