English FA Championship/Arsenal - 2 Leicester - 1: Arsene Wenger was at the back of the podium and, after a few moments, he stopped bouncing on the balls of his feet with the rest of the squad. Since Arsenal had just been presented with the Premiership trophy it is unlikely he was feeling his age.
Perhaps he realised there was no sense in trying to bob above giant players.
Even if only sitting quietly in his office at London Colney, Wenger already looms over Arsenal and English football to an even greater extent than Thierry Henry. The unbeaten record that was completed on Saturday, repeating the achievement of Preston's Invincibles back in 1889, has seemed certain for so long that onlookers have had to remind themselves to be amazed.
They need to recall, for instance, that when it comes to net spending on players Arsenal have had a mid-table position since Wenger came to Highbury in 1996. With a new stadium to be paid for, that will not change, and suggestions he may buy David Beckham might be feasible only if he countenanced the unthinkable and sent Patrick Vieira to Real Madrid in a swap deal.
Arsenal are doing beautifully just as they are. They are the artists of the Premiership and they rounded off the season by introducing admirers to their minimalist phase. With a couple of brush strokes they created a day fit to hang in the gallery of football history, but only after Leicester City had made a determined effort to slash the canvas.
The visitors led by a Paul Dickov goal, and it was only as the interval approached that the first signs emerged of the trouble that would shortly engulf them. Although Micky Adams' team, often with 10 men behind the ball, had blocked a perfunctory Arsenal, they started to enjoy the occasion too much in a passage of play in which they kept the ball from the hosts and their fans cheered each pass.
Leicester started to play Arsenal's game, and were bound to pay. The opposition relaxed just when Dennis Bergkamp was at his most dangerous.
In the 47th minute he sent a chip over Frank Sinclair's head and the defender, in a panic, turned and brought down Ashley Cole for a penalty converted by Henry.
After 66 minutes Bergkamp surveyed the scene before delivering a ball which Vieira walked round goalkeeper Ian Walker.
There had been a deadly economy to the Dutchman's work on an afternoon when Arsenal, by their normal generous standards, offered very little. Henry remarked later on the awkwardness, once the title had been clinched at White Hart Lane, of preserving the undefeated run while trying to reserve energy for Euro 2004.
Everyone assumed Arsenal would find the balance. Aren't they, after all, a quick-witted club? They have certainly supplied the ideal response to the misery of 2003. During the celebrations on Saturday, Van Morrison's voice swaggered out of the loudspeakers, singing "From the dark end of the street to the bright side of the road". That has indeed been Arsenal's course.
This has felt like a season of ineffable superiority, but it has also been a fightback. A year ago Arsenal squandered a championship; this time, for all the lavishness of the entertainment, they have held it tight in a miser's grip.
At the end, the scoreboard invited everyone to think of Arsenal as The Untouchables, and it would have been churlish to refuse in the blissful sunshine, but in reality there are teams who can do more than just lay a finger on Wenger's side. They are all to be found in the Champions League.
ARSENAL: Lehmann, Lauren, Toure, Campbell, Cole, Ljungberg (Keown 87), Silva, Vieira, Pires (Edu 70), Bergkamp (Reyes 82), Henry. Subs Not Used: Parlour, Stack. Goals: Henry 47 pen, Vieira 66.
LEICESTER: Walker (Coyne 78), Sinclair, Heath, Dabizas, Stewart, Scowcroft, Freund (Brooker 76), McKinlay, Nalis, Bent, Dickov (Benjamin 85). Subs Not Used: Gillespie, Guppy. Booked: Sinclair. Goals: Dickov 26.
Referee: P Durkin (Dorset).
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