Just outside Arsenal tube station, pinned up against a wall next to a chip van, there is a poster depicting Alessia Russo and her Arsenal team-mates with the words ‘Champions’ emblazoned across it.
It is not for sale. It is simply a reminder to those passing by supporting the team in blue that which they so badly crave is currently held by their greatest rivals.
Chelsea have conquered so many realms in the past decade, but one of them remains untouched. The only one, the prized Champions League, is the one that seems to interminably elude them.
To rub salt in the wounds, it is their bitterest rivals who became the first English team, and still the only English team, to call themselves champions in 18 years.
And, at this rate, it will remain so for a little while longer, for Chelsea have given themselves an almighty task in overcoming this two-goal advantage next week at Stamford Bridge.
It felt poetic then, that the player who returned the crown to north London for the first time in nearly two decades was the first name on the scoresheet here at the Emirates on Tuesday night, in the first ever meeting between these two sides in this competition.
Alessia Russo scored Arsenal’s third against Chelsea in their Champions League quarter-final
Arsenal’s Swedish super striker Stina Blackstenius, whose name will go down in local history for scoring the only goal in the triumph over Barcelona in May, put the Gunners ahead here after a testy opening few minutes which saw Chelsea hit the woodwork twice.
Alyssa Thompson and Lauren James had both come agonisingly close to finding the advantage, but a free-kick awarded to Arsenal quickly ensured that the holders would be the ones controlling matters.
Katie McCabe, whose services will be deeply missed if she is to depart the club after 11 years this summer, sent a wonderful curling ball into the box and Blackstenius rushed forward and nodded in.
The goal appeared to visibly deflate the visitors, and Arsenal’s boisterous home crowd grew in clamour.
Ten minutes later, the ball found an unmarked Chloe Kelly 25 yards out, and the 28-year-old did what she does best: popped up in an important moment with an important intervention.
Kelly lasted only an hour before she was replaced by her young protégé Olivia Smith, but her decisive, bouncing first-half strike which slipped and scrambled under her England team-mate Hannah Hampton ensured Arsenal’s advantage was sturdy.
‘Champions of England, you’ll never sing that,’ the 19,000 strong Emirates crowd taunted the visitors. They laughed as Erin Cuthbert uncharacteristically sent a free-kick straight out to touch. They jeered as Lauren James picked up a yellow card for a soft foul.
Kelly’s bouncing first-half strike which slipped and scrambled under her England team-mate Hannah Hampton ensured Arsenal’s advantage was sturdy
And they celebrated when Chelsea’s 19-year-old defender Veerle Buurman was adjudged for having pushed Arsenal’s Laia Codina from behind when jumping up to nod home from close range on the edge of half-time.
It was a harsh call, and one which VAR should probably have overturned despite their lengthy deliberation on the matter. But they stuck with the referee’s on-field decision, and Chelsea’s prospects looked rather bleak heading into the break at half-time.
Lauren James appeared riled up yet struggled to influence matters after that early chance had gone against her. But with the game trudging on towards a second-half of a lack of drama, James briefly set it alite with a wonderful goal which matched Kelly’s for distance.
But Arsenal had no interest in giving up their advantage, and Alessia Russo returned the two goal advantage with a clinical finish from inside the penalty area.
Chelsea have had a turbulent season, and their boss Sonia Bompastor now has a week to ponder how to turn go about winning their most important of games.
‘Are we playing the world sevens tomorrow?’ she joked in her pre-match press conference when asked about her side’s training session the day before this game containing only eight outfield players.
Big names such as Nathalie Bjorn, Millie Bright and Aggie Beever-Jones were out due to injury. And Australian striker Sam Kerr was ruled out of contention after a lengthy journey home from her homeland following defeat in the Asian Cup final to Japan meant that she landed on matchday. A jetlagged Ellie Carpenter only just managed to drag herself onto the bench, but remained unused.
The return of that pair, should set them in good stead for the grudge rematch.
And if not, there will be little surprise as to what the Arsenal fans will be singing at their next meeting.
