Arsene Wenger shows flexibility the Arsenal fans have been craving... but is it too late?

Maybe there is life in Arsene Wenger yet. Armed with a new formation, a new approach and renewed vigour, Arsenal enjoyed a rare win against one of their biggest rivals in one of the biggest games of the season. With a final against Chelsea now established in the diary, Wenger finds himself just one game away from a record seventh FA Cup. A man condemned as being stuck in the past might not be finished writing history yet.

It has been a fractious few months at Arsenal, but with the club's supporters jubilant in the stands, their red livery glowing in the Wembley sun, all was briefly right again at a troubled club. Wenger was visibly relaxed as he addressed the press.

Arsenal needed a moment like this to heal wounds and provide even temporary respite from the internecine warfare ripping at the club’s fabric. The league situation remains perilous but on Sunday, at least, all their supporters went home happy after defeating City in extra-time of a thrilling, if fractious and disjointed FA Cup semi-final. And while Arsenal needed some luck - Yaya Toure and Fernandinho both hitting the woodwork at 1-1 and Raheem Sterling having a perfectly good goal disallowed - ultimately this was a victory of Wenger’s own design. There have been too few of late.

Maybe it was the pressure placed on him by the fans, and by those inside his own club, which forced Wenger to tactically buckle. Deploying a three-man defence in Monday’s 2-1 win over Middlesbrough, his first use of such a system since 1997, had a hint of a PR stunt about it, a strategy to counter the narrative of Wenger being tactically entrenched and incapable of change. But against City, the new approach was confirmed. Chief executive Ivan Gazidis had made a few eyebrows raise with talk of recent defeats being a “catalyst for change”, and rather than being the victim of that change, Wenger has sought to embrace the concept himself.

It was brave to go into a match against the deep-thinking Guardiola with a formative formation which hadn’t entirely convinced against Boro. “We spoke about what we should do with that system,” said Guardiola, but nevertheless it defeated him and it defeated City. A defence which had been crumbling is now back on its feet, fortified by an extra body. At Wembley, Gabriel Paulista had his best performance of the season playing alongside Laurent Koscielny and the composed Rob Holding, and the two new wing-backs combined for the equaliser as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, man of the match for the second game in a row, crossed for Nacho Monreal to volley home.

Admittedly, it was hardly a perfect deployment. All three centre-backs were completely absent when City scored their opener. Aaron Ramsey lost possession in the attacking third and when Yaya Toure launched the ball downfield, only Monreal was anywhere near Sergio Aguero. The striker’s poor touch gave Petr Cech a chance but the keeper rebuffed it as he fatally hesitated, allowing Aguero to slot it home. City also saw Cech tip a Toure volley onto the post and Fernandinho clatter a header onto the bar as Arsenal held on.

But the early loss of David Silva to injury had effectively lobotomized City. The Spaniard was taken off after a particularly crunching tackle from Gabriel. Koscielny then went in hard from behind on Aguero. Having aped Chelsea’s back three, Arsenal seemed to have further emulated the Wimbledon team of the 1980s as they employed rotational fouling in what was a scrappy first half. Usually more obsessed with the fine arts than the dark arts, this was a surprisingly effective Plan B for Arsenal, with the B standing for Bruising.

If unsubtle, it was more evidence that Wenger might be willing to compromise on some central tenets of his faith as he tries to convince Arsenal’s restless supporters, rather than a seemingly supine board, that his expected new two-year contract will not be a negative development for the club. This was certainly one of his better afternoons. “It was a big test for us today,” Wenger acknowledged, “a mental test, because many people questioned whether we can turn up in an occasion like that, which is why I was very proud of the players.”

There was even a rare moment of respite in the viral campaign for his removal. ‘Wenger Out’ signs have been appearing across the world at myriad events and, ominously, there was a plane flying over Wembley on Sunday. However, ‘Corbyn Out’ was its message. In contrast to his fellow grandee of Islington North, Wenger’s fight is not a general election but a referendum, with a simple in-out question.

But the people have not spoken quite yet. The FA Cup has sustained Wenger before at a moment where fan discontent could have driven him out of the club he loves. Three years ago, Arsenal won the FA Cup final against Hull City and, fortified by the triumph, Wenger signed a new deal. Arsenal followed up with another FA Cup final win in 2015 against Aston Villa. The criticism this season has reached a more jarring crescendo, with bitter barbs directed at Wenger, but Wembley could become a haven once more.

Even Guardiola, the man whose Barcelona team gave perhaps the greatest expression of football in the modern era at this stadium in the 2011 Champions League final, will end the season trophyless, for the first time in his career. “Due to my past the pressure will be on my shoulders to my last days as a manager,” he said, poetically.

The same could be said of Wenger. How many days there are left is the question which remains unanswered, but after seeing off a man who is said to embody the vision and cutting-edge that he lacks, the pressure will have eased off those shoulders, now set to be kissed once again by the warm sun of Wembley.