Bukayo Saka's second-half goal beat Aston Villa 1-0 and kept Arsenal unbeaten, the kind of result that used to get filed away as routine business before Mikel Arteta's actual business made the scoreline look like the undercard. Arsenal sold Gabriel Martinelli, a 24 year old who has started Champions League finals, to help fund a run at Gyokeres, and it says something blunt about where this club has decided its problem lives. Arsenal have spent four years accumulating the league's best collection of players who are excellent at things other than scoring, and Arteta finally admitted the fix isn't a tweak, it's a trade. You don't sell a starter to fund a hypothetical unless the diagnosis is: we have enough wingers, we do not have a nine.

Money remembers what trophies forget. Martinelli's exit fee resets Arsenal's summer spending against Financial Fair Play rules that have already forced Chelsea and Newcastle into their own selling sprees, and Arsenal are playing that same game with a Champions League contender's roster instead of a relegation fight. Saka's goal buys Arteta patience for exactly one more matchweek. The Emirates crowd chanting his name Saturday has no idea they were cheering the player Arsenal are about to bet the season did not need to be replaced.