By the time that the Carling Cup final kicks-off this Sunday afternoon, 5 years, 9 months, 6 days and 15 hours will have elapsed since Patrick Vieira sidled up and stroked his penalty past Roy Carroll to win the FA Cup for Arsenal.
It would prove to be Vieira’s last act as Arsenal’s standard-bearer and captain, as the Frenchman duly departed for Juventus a month later – a move which, with the application of perfect 20/20 hindsight, effectively brought down the curtain on the club’s glorious domination over domestic proceedings during the first half-decade of the 21st century.
Over three million minutes have drifted away, up and out into the cosmos since that final in Cardiff back in May of 2005.