Chelsea 2-4 Arsenal: 4 massive positives from top four revival

4. Bukayo Saka Shows Courage From the Penalty Spot

The last penalty Saka took was saved. It was the final of three missed spot-kicks that consigned England to defeat in the Euro 2020 final, their first major final since they won the World Cup in 1966.

That defeat leaves a scar. It still does. It likely always will. Imagine how it feels for the guy who took it.

So for Saka, then, who became the scapegoat by so many as he was last up to the plate, to demand the ball as soon as Jon Moss pointed to the spot on Wednesday was another glowing example of the bravery and maturity of this young man.

He chose to take this penalty, a decision that even caught the manager off guard.

"“I thought that Gabi [Martinelli] was going to take it,” Arteta said in his press conference, “And when I saw that Bukayo took it, honestly, my first thing that I thought was back in the summer and what happened. “But again, I said to you guys, when that happens to Bukayo, that happened for a reason and he learned so much and he matured so much, that’s why he’s having the season that he’s had. For him to have to the courage to say ‘I’m going to take it again’ because I’m sure it was in the back of his mind, for me it’s ‘chapeau’ even if he had missed it.”"

You could see what it meant to him when he smacked the back of the net, perhaps even more so as his standing foot slipped just as he planted it and he could so nearly have double kicked it. How agonising that would have been.

We say it every week but this 20-year-old man is special. A gem of a footballer and a hero of a man.