Nine parts Arsenal against 10 parts Liverpool turned out to be the over-heated and bizarre recipe that delivered retribution to the Gunners for defeat by Liverpool in the FA Cup final last year.
All sprinkled with spice through three red cards, a wild coin-hurling incident and the frank, realistic assessment of Arsene Wenger that: "It was all good entertainment, wasn't it?''
At the end of the 95 minutes of rain-drenched mayhem and magic which had just passed, Thierry Henry and Sol Campbell began leaping maniacally around and punching the air in triumph.
The way football has lived on the edge lately, it is a delight to report that is all they were doing, rather than punching someone else or even each other.
But then this was - at last - the afternoon when the old game finally took on some sort of demented order, as chaotic as it had seemed in the second half when Martin Keown, Dennis Bergkamp and Jamie Carragher were all sent off in a four-minute spell.
On this occasion, the latest episode in the now regular weekly Sunday afternoon eruption, referee Mike Riley was correct all three times he flashed his red card.
And Arsenal, beaten so cruelly in Cardiff by two late Michael Owen goals last May, righted the wrong with a display of brilliance and superb determination.
The topping for this particular helping of vengeance - which might have passed as incidental amid all the trouble which followed - was a winner delivered as elegantly as usual by Bergkamp in the 28th minute. Even when he heads them in, it happens with grace. This time, it seemed as if he just glided upwards to direct the ball in from 15 yards.
The build-up had been just as impressive, with Henry and Giovanni Van Bronckhorst swapping passes in a neat one-two which sent Arsenal's French striker bounding down the left flank to cross.
It was a divine goal, but was almost obscured because of those incidents which flared up firstly in the 67th minute.
Owen, scurrying away after a goal-bound pass, is a sight to unnerve any defender and Keown did what all the traditional practitioners of his art know they have to when the death-or-glory moment arrives.
He tugged Owen's shirt and sent him sprawling into the mud and puddles just on the edge of Arsenal's penalty area.
The rule, of course, is that if you pull down the last forward when he's headed away towards goal, you get an instant red card - which is exactly what he got. In fact, Riley did not hesitate over all three dismissals.
The next came just three minutes later as the temperature of the match was rising, thanks to a tasty tackle by Sami Hyypia on Henry.
When Hyypia then got away with a blatant handball, it was all too much for the normally ice-cool Dutchman Bergkamp and he launched himself two-footed and tried to stamp on Carragher's boot. Off he went, for the third time in his Arsenal career, a fact which suggests he is not quite as cool as everyone thinks. That led to the next incident, as a coin was hurled from the crowd at the prostrate Liverpool defender.
In a flash, he leapt up, picked up the coin and chucked it with some force back into the East Stand.
It was violent conduct and Islington police might yet want to investigate it along with the FA.
Afterwards, you knew that ref Riley had got it spot on because neither manager complained - not even Wenger, who has made a speciality of dreaming up excuses while watching his team get 42 red cards during his five-year reign.
When peace was restored, Arsenal were left playing a 4-3-1 formation and Liverpool should have shown no mercy. But when they did get forward, Arsenal - Campbell and keeper Richard Wright in particular - heroically repelled them.
Wright made an excellent save to block the free-kick from John Arne Riise which followed Keown's dismissal.
The Gunners keeper did brilliantly again in injury time when he stretched to tip wide another frightening Owen chance.
It would have been seriously rough justice if either had gone in after Arsenal's thrilling early display. Even the loss of the influential Robert Pires with a back injury after only 20 minutes failed to upset their stylish rhythm.
Patrick Vieira was a giant in midfield as usual, Van Bronckhorst and sub Ray Parlour never stopped running and Bergkamp and Henry went through their full repertoire of flicks, tricks and incisive passes.
Only three minutes had gone when Henry and Bergkamp teased in a chance, Riise forced to scoop off Sylvain Wiltord's foot at the back post.
Later, both Wiltord and Ashley Cole flashed in wicked, angled shots which Jerzy Dudek stretched to punch over.
And in the 34th minute, Bergkamp just failed to pull off a variation upon his goal when his leg just failed to connect with Cole's left-wing cross.
Carragher had to block on the line from Henry in the 53rd minute and Stephane Henchoz blatantly obstructed Cole in the 86th minute as he surged in.
When Owen then missed, Liverpool were in the same state as Arsenal in Cardiff last May.
Done to a tee.
ARSENAL: Wright 7; Luzhny 6, Cole 7, Keown 6, Campbell 8, Vieira 7, Pires 5 (Parlour, 20, 6), Van Bronckhorst 8 (Grimandi, 85, 5), Henry 9, Bergkamp 7, Wiltord 6.
LIVERPOOL: Dudek 7; Wright 7 (Murphy, 80, 6), Carragher 5, Henchoz 7, Hyypia 8, Hamann 7, Gerrard 5, Anelka 5 (Litmanen, 46, 7), Heskey 6, Owen 7, Riise 5.