Mikel Arteta has built success free of pragmatism and Arsenal are smiling

In the 90th minute, Mikel Arteta finally had to start enjoying himself. Hard work, sacrifice, suffering: most of the time, these are the foundation stones of the Arteta method. You work, you fight, you suffer, and if you’re lucky you get to do it all again in five days. Even in the closing stages here, as Arsenal gleefully toyed with Tottenham and the Emirates lapsed into calypso mode, Arteta had lost none of his skittish focus: still urging his team forward, still whirling his arms round and round like a damaged toy.

But as Kieran Tierney let fly from distance, almost scoring a spectacular fourth at the death, something in Arteta finally broke. As he turned to his bench, he melted into a broad, shimmering smile. It was the moment he realised – possibly the last man in the stadium to do so – that after 13 long days of waiting and worrying, of running through the permutations of this game over and over again in his mind, everything was going to be fine.

When you are operating at Arteta’s rarefied level, these moments are vanishingly scarce. The week is consumed by strategy and anxiety; the day itself disappears in a torrent of emotion and adrenaline. By Monday, maybe earlier, the glow of victory has already given way to the next thing. Bodø/Glimt on Thursday, Liverpool next Sunday. Lose those two and you’re back in crisis. Sorry, those are just the rules.

So these are the moments that need to be cherished. Not as a statement of intent or as a stepping stone to where you want to be, but as a triumph in its own right, a fleeting outbreak of pleasure in a world that seems intent on making you miserable, even a vindication of sorts. And whether they win or do not win, this has perhaps been the greatest achievement of Arteta’s