I would like to borrow the start of Mikel Arteta’s last answer to the final press conference question to begin this talking points piece… pfft. Thank goodness Arsenal managed to avoid a wildly undeserved Tottenham equaliser as they pushed to steal a point as the seconds slowly ticked down to full-time in the North London Derby.

Arsenal have seen this story a couple of times in the past week with a performance and a dominance that deserved far more than what the scoreline suggested but on this occasion, the result did reflect who the better side was. It was an extraordinary build-up to the game itself, with the days leading up to it lacking the same anxiety and apprehension I usually feel toward this game.

Not that the stakes were extremely high, they were perhaps the biggest of the last three matches but the short time to react to the penalty shootout nightmare on Sunday took away that time to stew and worry. The injuries that both teams have been suffering as well have taken away the usual combined XI and pre-match chat we typically endure.

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I did not know how the game would go; every scenario went through my mind but Tottenham taking a lead after a period of utter dominance preceding a nervous comeback I genuinely didn’t. I thought if the Gunners would be the protagonists with little challenge, it would see them see out a comfortable win and if Spurs were to score first it would be such a mental blow, after this week’s dire results, that they would struggle to respond.

In reality, Arsenal were great. The goal they conceded was all about misfortune, as much of the club’s season has been peppered with and the deflection summed that up well. If you think back to this time last year, Arsenal were knocked out of the FA Cup by Liverpool and then would win 16 of the next 18 league games as they only just missed out on the title.

With luck having gone against Arsenal so much, perhaps it could be something of a romantic narrative that their equaliser is not only an own goal from Spurs’ striker Dominic Solanke but that the corner it comes from should never have happened. Leandro Trossard is the last player to touch the ball before it leaves the field of play, leaving Pedro Porro utterly apoplectic.

I watched at Chelsea earlier in the season, the ball cannon off Wesley Fofana and out of play and a goal kick was given. To me, and to quote the Manchester United X admin, this felt like justice – just to an insane degree of course.

If the luck has begun to finally change for Arsenal then there is real hope that this second half of the season can deliver something special. I do not believe 15 wins from the remaining 17 games is what is required to win the league – I could be proven wrong but Liverpool are not the Manchester City side the Gunners have faced before.

They might have more points at the same stage as last season, but they’re also facing some very tricky tests in the coming weeks. I do not like to discuss the FA Cup exit as a positive, but, and hear me out, the magic of a trip to Dubai could indeed be returning in that weekend off from action and what a period of respite that will be.

Circling back to the match and I want to talk about Myles Lewis-Skelly. Yes, Arsenal spent a good chunk of money on Riccardo Calafiori and he’s been injured and looks like these issues are not going to be leaving us anytime soon.

But you have to ask, based on what we’re seeing of Lewis-Skelly, if he were on the market, at his age, producing this level of performance, how much is that worth? The answer... priceless.

I did try, after the game, to get Mikel Arteta’s perspective on what the achievement of developing and debuting a player to the point where they produce the level we saw today in the biggest match of Arsenal supporter’s season. Naturally, his answer was very much about the collective.

“I think it makes everybody at the club very proud because he's been in our system for a long time and we know the kind of education that the academy is giving to our boys to get prepared,” he replied. “We have to pick them at the moment that we believe they are ready, and with him, it was very, very early and in a different position because he's never played as a full-back before, but he responds in the manner that he's on, which is a enjoy to watch.”

Last season there was so much discourse about the reluctance to play youngsters. This season it could not be more different and Lewis-Skelly has not been forced on Arteta, if there is one position he has a glut of options it is left-back and he has chosen to play the 18-year-old over others in big moments.

The eyebrows that were raised when he came on against Liverpool instead of Oleksandr Zinchenko have not come down, not due to surprise but through simply being incredibly impressed by the youngster’s performances. Naturally, the lack of goals that should have killed the game off, as Arteta said, have continued to see questions about transfers linger.

Even Declan Rice broke silence on the need for deals when speaking to TNT Sports. “Look, now obviously I think where we've lost Gabby, he's probably going to be out for a year with an ACL.

“That's really tough.,” he said. “I'm sure that the manager's probably going to look for something because tonight we've had to bring Tierney on left-wing, we've had to bring Zinny on left-wing; we're a bit short up that so I'm not surprised if we are going to probably do something.”

That is something you do not typically see but while it would be great to see a new signing arrive now, the reality is the player needs to be the right one. Who that is remains to be seen but with two weeks of the window left, time is ticking down.