By the time Kai Havertz had pointed to the Arsenal badge on his chest in celebration, the substituted Noni Madueke was already halfway across the pitch, club coat trailing behind him.
Gabriel Martinelli was next on the scene, then Jurrien Timber, then a jubilant William Saliba, cavorting like a hyperactive toddler.
Then came more substitutes: Riccardo Calafiori, Ben White, a hooded Gabriel Jesus. In the melee, Cristhian Mosquera lost his GPS tracker vest. David Raya inexplicably arrived carrying his goalkeeper gloves.
Before long almost the entire matchday squad — right down to third choice goalkeeper Tommy Setford — had gathered around Havertz. Myles Lewis-Skelly was one of the last into the fray, leaping onto his huddled team-mates.
There was furious patting of heads and slapping of Havertz’s back. There was an arm round the shoulder from fellow striker Viktor Gyokeres.
There was relief, catharsis and joy. It was over. It was bedlam.
Some things are worth the wait.
Players rush to celebrate with Kai Havertz (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Arsenal waited 97 minutes for a goal in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Chelsea, and when it came it was perfect: Havertz rounding Robert Sanchez to score against his former club.
They’ve waited six years to reach a men’s final. Along the way there have been four failed semi-finals. But this is a different Arsenal — an Arsenal who believe that their time is now.
This 1-0 win meant a 4-2 aggregate victory. The semi-final hoodoo is banished and Mikel Arteta’s team have taken another huge stride towards ending the wait for silverware, with a final date at Wembley now looming against Manchester City or Newcastle United on March 22.
“We’re only one match away,” said Arteta. “It’s the best vitamins that we can put in our bodies because we’re playing every three days. But the fact that you worked so hard to achieve those moments and to have these moments together is just magical.
“You can see the joy, the smile, the energy and everything that works at the club. Looking forward to it.”
Arteta reserved particular praise for the match-winner. Havertz has had to wait, too — virtually a year on the sidelines after suffering hamstring and knee injuries. This goal, and this moment, was a fitting reward for his patience and dedication.
“I think everybody that knows Kai a little bit, we feel genuinely happy for him in a special way because he deserves the best,” Arteta said. “The way he works, the way he treats people, the way he behaves every single day. Today was a special moment for him and I hope that he enjoyed it because he fully deserves it.”
Havertz rolls into an empty net after rounding Robert Sanchez (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
This was a staid encounter. Arsenal did not need to score, Chelsea could not afford to concede.
It wasn’t pretty, but Arsenal fans won’t care. Their team is here to win, not entertain.
There has been a nervousness about the Emirates Stadium in recent weeks but, against Chelsea, Arteta felt the Arsenal fans rose to the occasion.
“I think the crowd was brilliant today,” he said. “They brought so much energy and belief to the team in different moments. It was very much needed and I think we all deserved to be together in one minute.
“It wasn’t easy today because it was a late kick-off, windy, rainy, cold, and they responded. The energy was very good from the beginning. I sensed it was different and they are on board.”
In this London derby, the Chelsea fans taunted the home support with chants of, “We’ve won it all.” Chelsea have a reputation as winners, Arsenal as a perennial project.
Right now, however, the roles appear reversed. It’s Chelsea who look more like the work-in-progress, Arsenal the team poised to win.
Nobody at Arsenal believes the Carabao Cup is the ultimate goal. There is recognition, however, of the galvanising effect a trophy could have.
Mikel Arteta embraces Martin Zubimendi (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
“Winning helps in every sense,” said Arteta. “Confidence, energy, you call it. We’re going to be there in a few weeks, we’ll prepare well. In the meantime we know that we need to just put it aside because three days later we’re going to have a massive game here in the Premier League.”
Barring a dramatic Newcastle comeback this evening, their opponent at Wembley will be City. That final will come with added stakes — the winner there will take precious momentum into the final weeks of the Premier League.
Arsenal continue to fight across four fronts. The relentlessness of their fixture list does not provide many opportunities to pause, to consider their progress to this point, and imagine what might be yet to come.
At full-time, the home fans joined together in a chorus of their North London Forever anthem. It was louder than it had been at kick-off — louder than it has been for some time.
It was the sound of a support emboldened by the belief that this is their year, and that this might be just the start.