There may be a sense of existential drift around the squash ladder format of UEFA’s new Champions League, a sense of inertia, of football happening just because money says it has to happen. But you can only beat the 35 teams in front of you and this was a very good win for Arsenal on its own terms.

It was also something new, a 2-0 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in front of a noisy crowd, but also a victory against the champions of France, which is still essentially a sign and a warm-up for other things. The only way to finally end this thing in the first stage is to finish 24th or lower in a 36-team table that also includes Young Boys and Slovan Bratislava. The richer clubs wanted this, a chance to play against each other constantly, to always have fun. The product was done properly here. But for Arsenal it was still educational in its own way.

They kept a clean slate. Mikel Merino made his debut as a substitute. Bukayo Saka was excellent in an exciting match against a good defending team. And the two first-half goals both came from remarkable moves. The first came via a header from Kai Havertz in direct football striker. It was beautifully crafted, Leandro Trossard bringing the ball down the left channel, waiting for the pieces to line up, then dipping the perfect diagonal cross into the path of Havertz’s stealth run behind the defensive line.

Havertz can dart around the field like a medical student taking a fun run. He may have the pale appearance of the minor Jane Austen character who rides off on a horse after a failed marriage proposal. But he is also very good in the air. And this was a wonderful display of skill and physicality, the leap took him up and through Gianluigi Donnarumma, and in the same movement he nodded the ball into the empty net behind. It was Havertz’s third goal in the past week, all syrupy affairs. He’s a leader on this team now.

The second one at 35 minutes was very funny in its own way. On the morning of the match, L’Équipe had made a deconstruction of Arsenal’s threat, concluding with a slightly dismissive hand gesture that, thankfully, this sort of thing is “made for the Premier League”, where “the referee’s body is quite tolerant”. OK. Let’s see how that all turned out.

The goal came from a free kick by Saka wide on the right flank. Arsenal’s five attacking players stood together at the back post. Moments before the ball floated in, they started jogging in a straight line, knees theatrically high, like sailors in a musical production setting out to hoist the rigging. PSG’s defense seemed mesmerized by this, shocked that such subterfuge could exist. Saka fired in the free kick, Trossard waved a foot and the ball floated through the crowd without being touched.

Dark arts. Voodoo ball. Boys running in a line. What will they come up with next? But here too there was planning. PSG had been instructed to mark zonally. And honestly, they were just going to follow those instructions no matter what, even when it didn’t make sense because all the people who wanted to score were running in the other direction.

Best of all, Arsenal produced a welcome bit of game management here. Taking a 2-0 lead after 35 minutes was important, as was the ability to keep it that way. There might be a little problem with the way they win. Intensity is the default setting. This team runs at top speed all the time, has no down gear and doesn’t speed. As a result, Arsenal throw themselves into almost every match like a hot dog to a starving man. And before tonight, they hadn’t won more than a few games in obvious easy fashion since April. So often there is drama, an undermining of the emotional energies. Games stay alive until the last 10 minutes.

Luis Enrique was here in shiny lace-up shoes and a black suit, the look of a visibly haunted executive undertaker. It was a pleasant change to see the opposition manager waving on the touchline as time expired and Arsenal secured a lead that always felt safe. This is, of course, PSG in the post-star phase. The word from France is that this is more of a team now. Yes: the most expensively assembled group of players in mainland Europe is now condescending to actually form a team. And not just any team, but the team-est of all teams. We will now spend all our plasticized project energy on reality.

This is undeniably a different entity, young and energetic with more of a homegrown feel. The test for Paris is, as always: can you jog through the competition and then sprint during the week when necessary? Based on this evidence, they actually found another way to wander. They showed great technical skill in keeping the ball. They created opportunities. They also looked a bit toothless. While for Arsenal this was cold and clinical and exactly the kind of win they probably needed.