THEY are not finished. Not yet, anyway.
Arsenal, the greatest selling club in the history of English football, are back where they belong.
Arsene Wenger loves Wembley.
Arsenal are heading there yet again, returning to the national stadium on February 25 for the Carabao Cup final.
They beat Chelsea to do it, recovering from a goal down at the Emirates to force their way through inside 90 minutes.
In terms of recovery, this is right up there.
The heart was beating fast last night, quickened when Granit Xhaka put Arsenal ahead after an hour.
They held out, barely troubled as Chelsea failed to respond to the challenge.
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They had gone ahead when Eden Hazard scored after seven minutes, but began to fall apart when Arsenal equalised with a fluky own goal.
Wenger will not worry about that and neither should he.
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Cup finals keep people quiet, silencing the dissenters by leading back to Wembley next month.
It is there where they will play Manchester City, running into Pep Guardiola’s side a showpiece game.
Last season, when Wenger was fighting to convince people he was the right man to lead Arsenal, they beat City in the FA Cup semi-final. They have nothing to fear.
Arsenal were excellent, seeing off the threat of Chelsea in this blood-curdling second leg.
They are over Alexis Sanchez, shaking him off with an impressive win over Crystal Palace on Saturday, then following it up with this belting result.
Chelsea, in front after seven minutes, are turning into an imitation.
Sure they went in front, with the sort of strike that you will never tire of watching back.
Hazard’s seventh minute opener, crisply finishing beyond David Ospina, was slick and impressive.
It was dreamy stuff, sending Arsenal’s defence out for a hot dog with a clever dummy that found Pedro outside the area.
His through ball was precise, threading his pass into Hazard to run on to beating Arsenal’s keeper. It was Hazard at his finest. What a start to this second leg.
VAR had already saved Arsenal, rescuing them when Pedro rose unchallenged inside the area to steer a header beyond Ospina.
It was all Chelsea, but for some reason it did not last.
They had looked so good, picking up from Saturday’s thumping 4-0 win at Brighton and bossing it inside the Emirates. Arsenal struggled to hold them off.
Then came the revival, the route back into the Carabao Cup semi-final with an unfortunate own goal that bounced impossibly off the heads of Marcos Alonso and Antonio Rudiger before landing in the back of Willy Caballero’s net.
Nacho Monreal claimed it, but Arsenal’s left-back knows that this was a slice of luck that you need in a semi-final – It was a crazy, chaotic start.
Caballero had already done well to save from little Jack Wilshere, saving at his feet before flicking the ball away before Monreal could get to it.
Conte was forced into a change after half an hour, sending for Ross Barkley for his first appearance in a Chelsea shirt after Willian pulled up lame.
Laurent Koscielny introduced him to this fiery London derby when he shoved him into the advertising hoardings.
They were taking it in turns, with Wilshere the next to have a crack when he took him clean out on the halfway line.
Wilshere, eager to show Gareth Southgate that he is a better bet for a World Cup wildcard, was booked. He deserved to be.
Arsenal picked it up, with Mesut Ozil sending an effort wide of Caballero’s post on the stroke of half-time.
Manchester City, Caballero’s former club, are lying in wait for the winners.
Chelsea livened it up at the start of the second half, with Hazard the driving force behind a series of breaks.
Xhaka, much-maligned by Arsenal fans, halted the first with a brilliant recovery tackle on the edge of the area.
It brought back memories of Sol Campbell, the sort of challenge that the big man used to make for fun when he was in his pomp.
Hazard came back for more, clearing the Arsenal defence with his next goalbound run.
This time he tripped himself up, clumsily going to ground when he was in sight of Ospina’s goal.
It needed something special to break these two.
Xhaka set them up for it, putting Arsenal ahead after an hour when he cottoned on to Alexandre Lacazette’s pass.
His cross took a deflection of Rudiger on the way to Xhaka, falling into his path before his shot found its way beyond Caballero.
Conte made another change, sending for Michy Batshuayi to replace Pedro for the final 25 minutes.
It was another desperate move, with Conte running out of ways to get his side back to Wembley.
They were there last year for the final, with their dreams of securing another domestic double scuppered when Arsenal beat them in the FA Cup final.
Wenger’s men have beaten them again, putting Chelsea away in one of the biggest games of the season.
For Wenger, he will believe that this is just the beginning.
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