Forward scored against former club in pulsating draw but was nonetheless still celebrated by fans in north London

It is an exceptionally rare sight to see the home fans in the lower tier of the Emirates Stadium’s west stand all rise in unison to applaud and salute a visiting player being interviewed by the away team’s club media team, but that was the scene behind the Manchester City technical area at the end of this absorbing 2-2 draw.

There had been a distinct air of inevitability about the idea of Vivianne Miedema scoring on her return to Arsenal, the club where she was idolised during a seven-year spell which saw her score 125 times for the club. So there were absolutely no surprised faces in the stadium when it was the Netherlands forward who delivered the first-half equaliser, flicking the ball between Lotte Wubben-Moy’s legs before firing in with a deflected strike.