He saved the best for last, Arsene Wenger. Or, at least, his team saved their very best performance of their season for their last game.
And if it were to be Wenger's finale after 21 years, if Tuesday's board meeting were to result in something cataclysmic in football terms and wholly unexpected at this late stage, at least he will always have this on which to reflect in his dotage.
A mesmerising Arsenal side outplayed the Premier League champions; they should have won be a far greater margin, hitting the woodwork three times; they played like a Wenger side, but one from twelve years ago. They had panache, obduracy, commitment and zeal.
Forget for the moment that Chelsea failed to show. You could almost forgive them that after their enormous achievement of winning the league.
This was Arsenal's day and Wenger's moment. All year he has endured the abuse; in recent months he has been pilloried and disrespected; and it has hurt his pride. And performances at Bayern, West Brom and Crystal Palace has stretched the patience of even loyal lieutenants.
Yet here he is, with his third FA Cup in four years, surpassing Aston Villa's George Ramsey, who won his first in 1887, as the most-successful of all time in this competition.
And with 13 victories in the FA Cup, has guided his team to being the most successful club of all time in this competition. Not bad for a man on his way out. It's a specialism in failure many would love to master.
Does it rescue the season? To some extent. The bigger question, for another day, was where was this team, this spirit and this strength when it was required in February and March? But on Saturday they summoned of the spirit of a former age and played like a Wenger team should.
Wave after wave they came, those Arsenal attacks. This was a side transformed, more akin to the real Barcelona than the lightweight version Arsenal usually resemble. The back three, a work in progress, suddenly afforded them space and angles hitherto unimagined.
Per Mertesacker, on the back of those 37 minutes played this season, was almost bullying Diego Costa with his dominance in those opening exchanges; Rob Holding looked comfortable on the ball; Hector Bellerin was exposing Marcos Alonso at will.
Chiefly though it was about Sanchez, ably assisted by Mesut Ozil. The Chilean was everywhere: at left back to tidy up; at centre forward to press the goalkeeper; at inside left, where he was actually meant to be, giving Cesar Azpilicueta and Gary Cahill a hard time.
And yes, with his hands up punching the ball on to assist his own goal. He was lucky that wasn't spotted. But still, with his bit between his teeth he is some player. And that opening goal was conceived and delivered by him alone, with a nod to Diego Maradona.
Ramsey had harried Chelsea to win back possession, a constant feature of that first half. But Sanchez it was who chipped it into the box. David Luiz headed away and up leapt Sanchez pushing the ball with his hands into the box towards Ramsey, who had strayed into an offside position.
But he was moving away from goal and as Chelsea hesitated, Sanchez, a bundle of energy, kept on running, chasing down his own deflected chip. Then he pushed the Welshman aside and struck deftly past Courtois.
The flag was raised by the assistant referee but Anthony Taylor seemed less convinced an offence had been committed. He insisted on speaking with his assistant, waving away the delegations of players, David Luiz being the most persistent.
It was the offside, not the unseen handball, they were discussing and on that basis he awarded the goal. Having waited a good minute or so, Sanchez was not be denied his moment. He gestured his team-mates back to celebrate properly near the spot where he scored.
The only anxiety for Arsenal was the fact that they would only score the one goal in the first half, so plentiful were their chances. On 16 minutes, a flowing move saw Ozil find Sanchez, who delivered just an exquisite pass back to Ozil.