Arsenal edge towards double after dream 24 hours 

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta throws the ball back in to play. Pic: John Walton/PA Wire.

It is fair to say that Arsenal fans have never had 24 hours quite as sweet. 

First Manchester City's internal combustion at Everton on Tuesday night to hand the Gunners a clear path to a first Premier League crown in 22 years - and now this.

Yes, Mikel Arteta's artillery men will be seen by most as cannon fodder for whoever wins tonight's inevitable Bayern Munich v Paris Saint-Germain score-fest but 'who cares?' has become the catchphrase of Arsenal's entire season.

Yet again it wasn't pretty but at long last Arsenal are also getting the job done.

And they deserve to be in Budapest on May 30 as much as whoever gets through in Munich. 

Let's not forget that Arsenal are now undefeated in 14 games in the Champions League - and won all eight of their group games.

Bayern's record was almost as good - but Harry Kane and Co played Arsenal and were well beaten, as were Atletico, 4-0 the month before. 

PSG, for all their current swagger, finished 11th by the way, level on points with Newcastle.

The French side showed last season that it is late-season momentum that counts, but suddenly, Arsenal have that too, in spades, especially now Bukayo Saka, last night's scorer, is back.

Those City fans joking around with Arsenal-branded bottles for the Sky cameras not so long ago can cry a river into them now that Arsenal are five points clear thanks to a 3-3 draw on Merseyside that was so nearly a defeat. 

And a first Champions League final in 20 years has been clinched despite the pressure of a title race Bayern or PSG whose tightness will never be encountered.

A huge gathering outside the stadium was proof that the Premier League's most doom and gloomy fans seem to know now that it is to be their season after all.

Gunners colonised the streets outside the ground beforehand - even Gunnersaurus joined in the revelry capering round the roundabout to songs about winning titles at The Lane ("TWICE!") and the Arsenal team buses, two of them, were given a hearty welcome through a barrage of red smoke.

The name of Viktor Gyokeres, scorer in Madrid, was prominent in the throng on the backs of shirts and his face on the scarves in the kiosks. 

The Swede's stock has risen with his team's at the sharp end of the season; having begun quietly the €70m man burst the 20 barrier on Saturday with a brace at Fulham.

Thierry Henry he ain't, but again, who cares?

The first leg had generated a huge slice of hard-done-by pie for supporters who have long carried chips on their shoulders, with Ben White unlucky with a penalty handball that would not have been given in the Premier League (er, probably given that seven years from its introduction VAR is still merrily making it up as it goes along) and a spot-kick taken away near the end that wasn't an obvious error.

Diego Simeone had rested ALL his stars at the weekend (and still winning with the kids at Valencia) while Arteta raised eyebrows by sticking with the side that beat Fulham. 

That represented a big call in Myles Lewis-Skelly keeping Martin Zubamendi on the bench in a move that will also have Thomas Tuchel's World Cup radar dish rotating wildly. The teenager justified his inclusion with a strong performance alongside Declan Rice in midfield.

So raucous was Arsenal's early backing that there was no way Atleti could ask 'Es esta una biblioteca?' should they have prepared a Spanish dub of an Emirates Stadium away end staple.

Saka, back from an Achilles absence to claim the armband, was rusty though, misplacing passes and miskicking a corner routine that found him in space behind the back post. The opening exchanges were scrappy.

Gyokeres was relishing his throwback role as front-man battering ram but ruined one promising move by colliding with Saka and remained static during another when Lewis-Skelly played the ball across the six-yard box in the hope of a tap-in.

Volume levels increased when Antoine Griezmann barged Leandro Trossard over and again when German referee Daniel Siebert said 'nein' to a penalty that, this time, did not excite VAR either.

All that was forgotten just before the break when Gyokeres broke free again, on the right, to find Trossard for a shot Oblak could not hold and Saka, clearly onside, did the rest.

Defensive resilience was required at the start of the second half but somehow VAR did not uphold calls for penalties against them. 

Gabriel's denial of Giuliano Simeone with David Raya nowhere was deemed legal enough, as was Riccardo Calafiori's lunge on Griezmann, who had just seen a shot saved.

Saka was subbed off all smiles before Gyokeres rolled back the months by blazing a clear chance over but 1-0 to the Arsenal suits this current crop and Arteta now has the chance to pull off a double that always eluded Arsene Wenger.