Comment: This was a karma-filled revenge story for Mikel Arteta and his men
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta intervenes as tempers flare between Arsenal's Gabriel and Manchester City's Matheus Nunes. Pic: Adam Davy/PA Wire.
"Stay humble, eh?" yelled the Arsenal fans whenever Erling Haaland touched the ball, which let's face it wasn't that often.
There was even a banner with those fateful words, albeit scrawled in marker pen on some cardboard.
They also sang a song about the massive Norwegian the lyrics of which cannot be reproduced here, and booed him off the pitch as well.
In a game they won handsomely of course. Haaland scored, from pretty much his only chance, but the goal was a mere McGuffin for the main plot: this was a karma-filled revenge story for Mikel Arteta and his men where the first act had taken place in September.
So back there we must first go, to the Etihad for the 2-2 draw that had everything.
Controversy - Leandro Trossard's red card for booting the ball away. Tragedy - the season-ending injury to Rodri that also wrecked City's. Comedy - Haaland chucking the ball at Gabriel's head after John Stones had broken the 10-men's resistance with a late equaliser.
And, last but by no means least, hubris: Haaland telling Arteta in a feisty couple of minutes post-final whistle that he should "stay humble, eh?"
Without this having happened this would just be another routine victory for the Gunners against lesser opposition, and another setback for the trophy-collecting juggernaut that used to be Guardiola's City, now in it's fourth month of a success sabbatical.
The post-match ructions at the Etihad rumbled on for over a week as City griped about Gunners' use of the so-called dark arts, with Arteta making gnomic utterances that may or may not have been accusing Guardiola of the same crime.
This time Haaland's post-whistle antics amounted to nothing more than congratulating Gunners duo Jurrien Timber and David Raya before going to applaud the away end while a gaggle of team-mates stood at a distance sheepishly following his example.
Arsenal's players could afford to be magnanimous in victory of course, so emphatic was the score-line. And in any case one of their own had already humbled Haaland on the pitch.
Or just off it, to be precise. Myles Lewis-Skelly, having netted Arsenal's third goal, sat down on the touchline and imitated Haaland's yoga-style meditation celebration where the striker closes his eyes and holds out arms to show thumb and index finger touching. Ouch - this from the youngest man on the pitch.
The result pretty much confirmed what we already knew - that City are miles off being anywhere near the title race despite being in fourth place in the Premier League table (albeit now only on goals scored, and with Chelsea able to knock them a place down tonight). And that Arsenal will probably go on and finish second yet again.
Arteta deserves praise for maintaining last season's high standards in the face significant injury absences while also establishing a genuine foothold in the Champions League for the first time in a while.
The Gunners travel to Newcastle on Wednesday looking to unravel a 2-0 first-leg deficit in their Carabao Cup semi-final double header with Newcastle but win or lose this competition will never be a priority.
City are still in the FA Cup and the Champions League as well, although the latter seems more and more a technicality. It seems almost fantastical to imagine Pep's Class of 2024-25 getting the better of holders Real Madrid over two legs.
There are many reasons for this, yet remain problems unsolved by a manager with GOAT-like status previously bestowed upon him.
A major one is City's inability to play out from the back these days, a tactic Guardiola, whose stubborn-ness is positively Postecoglian, is unlikely to discard even though it cost the champions the first goal and ought to have speeded up the second.
Manuel Akanji was the fall guy on accepting John Stones' pass. Trossard robbed him, Declan Rice set up Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard applied the finish.
The same thing happened soon after with goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, in for the unfit Ederson, guilty of a poor pass that led to Havertz unfathomably firing wide of an inviting net.
The German, at a time when Arsenal are desperately trying to strike a deadline-busting deal for an actual finisher, redeemed himself with a well-taken fourth goal, but it was Lewis-Skelly's strike, coming soon after the Thomas Partey deflected effort that made it 2-1, that ended the contest.
The teenager scored in the 62nd minute and it has long been evident that City no longer possess the physical attributes to last in games beyond the hour mark, or even look like doing so.
Guardiola strengthened his defence and his attack with a host of expensive additions in January yet, bafflingly, a midfield lacking legs has been forced to soldier on wearily.
Kevin de Bruyne seems powerful enough only for late cameos these days and Arsenal were so comfortably ahead by then they could afford to send on Raheem Sterling for the final minutes.
The former City man trotted on all smiles before presumably the realisation hit him that he is but a bit-part player in this Gunners success story.
But there can be one take-away from all of this: City, with 11 defeats in three different competitions since late October, stay humbled.
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