Arsenal have swapped St James’ Park for San Siro, but the score has remained the same. In the space of a few days they have lost to Newcastle and Internazionale. They’ve also lost Edu, and when the corridors of power are emptier, the number of setbacks grows.

And yet, although they repeated their result in Newcastle on Saturday, it was a defeat with a difference. Meekly on Tyneside, Arsenal rediscovered their resolve. After their worst performance of the season came one of the better ones. There are no prizes for winning a shot on target and corner kicks, but Arsenal recorded resounding victories of 5-1 and 13-0.

But they lost the match to Internazionale. Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty was part of a trilogy of setbacks for Mikel Merino; denied a penalty on one side, blameless as he conceded one on the other side, cleared at half-time, it was not one Spaniard’s day. Nor anyone else’s; Mikel Arteta has his own problems with referee Istvan Kovacs. He is first given a yellow card and then a final warning for his assessment of the Hungarian’s efforts.

Perhaps more intriguing was Arteta’s message to his own team. There are times when he can seem too cautious. But not to the 2023 Champions League finalists and the 2024 Scudetto winners. When Merino left at half-time, Arteta was short of midfielders – Martin Odegaard returned to the bench after twelve games, but only made a cameo in stoppage time , while his return was offset by the loss of Declan Rice – so he took the handbrake off, brought on Gabriel Jesus, moved Kai Havertz a little deeper and essentially played a front five. If Thomas Partey looked lonely at times as 4-3-3 could become 4-1-5, Arsenal signed Inter. The Serie A champions, to use the favorite verb of many an Italian manager, had to suffer. They did just that, with Yann Bisseck and Denzel Dumfries excellent, and their determination and concentration underlined why only they and Atalanta have kept a clean sheet in the Champions League this season.

Arsenal’s full-blooded efforts suggested they had passed a test of character and yet were in vain. Dumfries cleared Mehdi Taremi’s header off the line and saved the striker an own goal. Havertz had a curler cleared by Yann Sommer and a shot went wide by Bisseck. Arsenal perhaps missed the moment of class or ingenuity, perhaps something a fully fit Odegaard could have provided, but not the application. They camped in Inter’s half.

It may have changed the mood, if not the outcome. In a group setting, Arsenal may not need the equalizer they were looking for here. However, in the context of their week, they needed an answer.

They got one when the first signs were worrying. They started with the sound descending from the towering stands of San Siro, as the early energy came from Simone Inzaghi’s side onto the pitch. Dumfries rattled the underside of the bar after 100 seconds, Calhanoglu shot narrowly wide after 150 seconds. Welcome to Milan.

And yet Arsenal wingers Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka made their first appearances as they grew into the game. Inter had made many more passes, but Arsenal first leveled and then advanced past the hosts, finishing with 60 percent possession. Which again doesn’t change the rankings.

The temptation for Arsenal would be to see it as a game of two decisions. First Merino unceremoniously clattered through Sommer as he headed Martinelli’s tempting cross just wide. No penalty was awarded. Then Teremi hit the ball on Merino’s hand, the Spaniard was too close to react. On the stroke of half-time there was another decision and Calhanoglu stroked the ball past David Raya.

And although Inter trailed for much of the remainder of the match, the result provided vindication. They already faced the top two of the Premier League last season, drawing against champions Manchester City and beating Arsenal at home. They have all been working with a seemingly weakened team.

If the new Champions League format was intended to deter managers from qualifying with weakened teams, the presence of Nicolo Barella, Federico Dimarco and Marcus Thuram on the Inter bench suggested that Sunday’s clash with Napoli became more important for Simone Inzaghi . Still, Inzaghi can excel in perms from his team; his decisions were reaffirmed and now the Champions League standings, in which Inter are in fifth place, look healthy for them.

For Arsenal, a first defeat in this year’s competition comes with different types of losses. About twenty years ago, Edu was the scorer in the semi-final of the Invincibles, who won 5-1 against Inter at San Siro. Once again Arsenal conceded one; this time they didn’t get the five. But if they couldn’t take a point back from Italy, they could at least return with an example of their tenacity.