With eight minutes gone in this meeting of upper-to-mid‑table powers there was a significant little wonky detail. Arsenal had just taken the lead on an afternoon when they passed the ball with speed and verve through midfield, with Mesut Özil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan producing some sublime touches.

It was from Özil’s free-kick that Shkodran Mustafi rose above a mildly interested Watford defence to send a firm header wiffling into the far corner: “And that ladies and gentlemen is Arsenal’s ONE THOUSANDTH goal in the Premier League!!” a ludicrously upbeat voice declared over the Emirates Stadium PA as the players celebrated.

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Except, it wasn’t. It was Arsenal’s 1,000th goal at home. Across two grounds in an arbitrary period of years sparked by a new TV deal. But never mind. A burblingly meaningless stat greeted by sarcastic applause from a two-thirds full stadium.

Welcome to Arsenal, a place where nothing is as clear as it seems, and where even the sense of crisis seems a little hard to believe on days like these where the outline of a fine, engaging, distinctly Wenger-ish team can still flicker into view.

It was an afternoon of confusing numbers all round. That cross for the goal was also Özil’s 50th assist in the Premier League, making him the quickest player to that mark ahead of Eric Cantona, Dennis Bergkamp and David Silva.

And credit where it’s due. For all the easy snark thrown his way, those times when the sense of brilliance just out of sight can be terribly frustrating, Özil has also been an utter joy to watch, a player whose best moments are as good as anyone’s moments, and whose running stats show he has worked for the team even in the bleaker times.

More slightly inconclusive numbers: Petr Cech also completed his 200th Premier League clean sheet in this 3-0 victory. It is a fine achievement, although one that belongs more to the team, and indeed even more so to his previous team.

Cech did have a good game. He made his first penalty save for Arsenal on a wretched afternoon for Troy “Cojones” Deeney. But he is also another emblem of that slight disjunct, a goalkeeper who just isn’t quite there any more as a No 1 in a team that sees itself as a natural Champions League presence, no matter how much Wenger adores him as a hugely impressive professional.

More blurred lines and funny numbers. With an hour gone here Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had completed five passes. It’s often said some players do a lot of work that goes unnoticed. Aubameyang is the opposite, a footballer who is very noticeably idle a lot of the time, so stylishly relaxed he can look like a parody of an Arsenal player, an Arsenal player made in a lab from old Walcott toenails and essence of Ramsey.

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At which point, with his 16th touch of the ball he scored a decisive, high-class second goal, taking the ball expertly round Orestis Karnezis and sliding it home. In the last half-hour he came alive, setting up Mkhitaryan for the third and showing the full range of movement and acceleration.

Again it was that kind of game, an in-between day. For long periods Arsenal seemed both completely in charge and oddly vulnerable against a Watford attack that could make some seriously useful part-time money moonlighting as piano lifters.

But then there is a generally strange quality to the ongoing Wenger fever, a crisis that isn’t really in crisis, an extended departure shot through with oddly Freudian rage. The slip from fourth to sixth. A failure to progress and push on. These are fine margins, marked by a fascinatingly disproportionate amount of human suffering on the fringes.

There is even a realistically obtainable happy ending in sight here. Arsenal should get past Milan on Thursday. From there they would have hopes of winning the Europa League, offering a first European trophy for Wenger and also a return to the Champions League. It seemed a realistic goal here on an afternoon when Özil racked up his half-century and when the best of this team flickered into life; albeit shot through with that feeling of a club where things remain both not quite right and not quite wrong.