What. Did. She. Wear?

Joy. Endless, boundless, relentless joy - euphoria even. What a night. What a week!

Performances like the one we've just seen - and following on from the Liverpool result - have been both agonising and immensely pleasurable at the same time. I mean... who in their right mind could have possibly predicted that an Arsenal side sucked dry of confidence following the Tottenham defeat could have possibly done what it has just done? And in the space of just three days! Amazing.

I for one was fearing the worst. I'd found it hard enough to take in that we'd beaten Liverpool - fortunate as that was - but there was no way I could see lightning striking twice. But this was different; Arsenal are on a steep learning curve and both tactics and execution were spot on. Credit must obviously go to Mikel Arteta for the plan, for the team selection, and for instilling belief in the players. But, as Arteta acknowleged in his interview, he just sends them out; they must take the plaudits.

So what we saw - for the second match in a row and yet again aginst considerably superior opposition - was a fully committed, backs-to-the-wall performance in which it is difficult to single out any single player - they were that good from front to back.

Although I am actually going to single out a few (whilst not diminishing the contributions of any of the others):

• Ainsley Maitland-Niles - a surprise selection at left wing back and preferred to Kolasinac, and an inspired choice. Chosen for his pace and mobility over the ponderous Serbian in order to combat the threat of Mahrez, and he dealt with him almost perfectly
• David Luiz - after what he'd been through in the match at The Etihad immediately post-resumption, this was something like redemption. He was everywhere, reading the game well, marshalling the defence and putting his body on the line continually. This was precisely the reason why he was brought to the club, and I thought that he also handled himself superbly in the post-match interview 
• Granit Xhaka - a landmark performance shielding the defence. Always in the right place, and making crucial interceptions. Compared to where he was with both club and fans in November, this is again redemption
• Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - two superbly taken goals (having missed an excellent opportunity early on) but not just that. Yet again he worked tirelessly for the cause. He MUST be persuaded to stay

Come to think of it, this was a completely atypical performance - something for which Arsenal sides have not been known since the George Graham era of 1-0 to The Arsenal. And something which not many of us thought the squad were capable of doing. Not even once - let alone twice in successive matches!

Unlike Unai Emery, and even Arsene Wenger before him, Arteta has managed to wring performances out of this set of players that we thought unimaginable.

Now, of course, it's time celebrate the achievement. But it does give further food for thought as to what may happen over the summer. Can the coach improve some of these players enough to cut down on the need to invest? With the limited amount of money likely to be available, he is going to need help from above. But this week has changed many peoples' perspective.

To be clear, and as pointed out to me by a Watford supporter earlier this week, it's not as if Arsenal haven't spent money over the past few years: 

• Mesut Ozil - £42.5m in September 2013
• Alexis Sanchez - £30m in July 2014 (plus a further £63m on 6 other players)
• Granit Xhaka - £35m in May 2015 (plus a further £22m on 5 other players)
• Skhodran Mustafi - £35m in August 2016 (plus a further £20m on three other players)
• Alexandre Lacazette - £47m in July 2017
• Pierre Emerick Aubameyang - £56m in January 2018
• Bernd Leno - £19m in June 2018
• Lucas Torreira - £26m in July 2018 (plus a further £23m on three other players)
• Nicolas Pepe - £72m in August 2019
• Kieran Tierney - £25m in August 2019
• David Luiz - officially £8m in August 2019 but unofficially three times that amount

Total - over £500m, and with a 'mere' £209m recouped (largest amounts on Oxlade-Chamberlain and Iwobi). So net spend £302m. But the likes of Manchester City (net spend £601m!), Liverpool (net spend £173m but with that £142m fee for Coutinho included) and Manchester United (net spend £631m!!!) and have all spent considerably more in that period (Chelsea - net spend £264m - would have easily matched that if it wasn't for their one-year transfer ban). And that's one of the reasons why the gap has grown.

So it's not rocket science (actually, I really dislike that phrase, but it fits here). Arsenal now has a young, up-and-coming coach who is capable of going to the top of his profession. So that's one part of the jigsaw finally sorted. At some point, he may well get a mention alongside the current greats (I'm talking Klopp and Guardiola here). But he needs strategic support to help him achieve what we'd all hope are the ambitions of everyone connected to the club. 

We shall see, but as I've said before; sort out the future of a few key players and hopefully we can then see the right sort of progress - both on the pitch and - with proper Investment (not Cost) - off of it as well. The value of Stan Kroenke's investment has been diminishing over the past few years. He can surely now invest with greater trust than previously. We shall see.

In the meantime, we have a couple of mundane Premier League matches to follow - which nonetheless have plenty riding for the protagonists; they could send both Villa and Watford down - before the FA Cup Final. Which reminds me; if anyone has a couple of spare tickets, please let me know...

And the answer to the question in the title of this post is of course... a yellow ribbon!