Mikel Arteta quite correctly said that he doesn’t know what the score would have been at the Etihad Stadium had Leandro Trossard not been sent off in the first half.
Just because Arsenal were leading at the time, and survived all of the second half and eight minutes of injury-time without him, it doesn’t mean they would have won it with him.
Yet that is what the gut reaction will feel like. There will be a sense of injustice at the manner of Trossard’s early exit, justified or not, and that is quite normal too.
But the fact that Arsenal got so close to ending Manchester City’s long unbeaten home record – and went so long without conceding against the champions despite being a man down – bodes well for the future.
Arsenal may not encounter this set of circumstances again, but they will have adversity to overcome this season. What happened this afternoon will stand them in good stead for the challenges that lie ahead.
Pride and frustration can be easy bedfellows on the return trip back to London.
