As the players dropped to the turf at the end of an exhausting north London derby, the sense among the home fans at the Emirates would have been a familiar one. They have seen this all before here, watching in anguish as their defence melted under the slightest heat and then roaring in joy as their attackers made up for it at the other end.

This time around, though, there were different characters in the story. Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are two of the usual protagonists, yes, but here they were joined by two others. Nicolas Pepe’s involvement was to be expected, given Arsenal’s £72m outlay on the winger this summer, but the same cannot be said for Matteo Guendouzi, perhaps the least likely hero of the day, but the hero all the same.

Unai Emery, the Arsenal head coach who looked to have aged a decade during the most fraught of 90 minutes, likes to speak about “mentality”. He wants characters on the pitch and strong personalities on the ball. In Guendouzi, still only 20 years old, he had a midfield leader who drove Arsenal forward when so many of his team-mates looked lost.

Big hair, bigger heart. Guendouzi ran, tackled, intercepted, passed and ultimately created the key moment for Arsenal, curling in a delightful cross for Aubameyang’s second-half equaliser. He was involved in Lacazette’s goal, too, winning the ball high up the field to start the move that reignited Arsenal’s belief.