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May 11th, 2006
What a day. Highbury’s last, but surely one of it’s greatest. One of my best days too, which is why I’ve recorded it all right here:
1153 Got to the ground, went into the club shop and purchased our yellow away kit, having discovered we’ll be wearing it in Paris. Immediately went and had “Paris 06” printed on the back. I enjoyed the sheer frivolity of my spending for approximately five minutes, before realising I’m a student who can’t really afford to do things like that.
1232 Having spent about 20 minutes asking every programme vendor when he would be restocked, I wondered back into the club shop where a member of staff said he would give me a programme if I gave him my watch. He claimed to have a “watch fetish“. I told him to “watch” himself. Wanker.
1234 In the club shop, they have television screens. On those television screens, they show Sky Sports News. On Sky Sports News, they had a story claiming that up to ten spurs players were suffering with food poisoning, and their fixture with West Ham was now in doubt. The man in front of me amusingly quipped that Spurs didn’t have any stomach problems, but considering the day’s fixture, were almost certainly shitting themselves.
1300 There was supposed to be an official announcement from the Premier League at this point. There wasn’t. I had pretended to look at things in the club shop up till now, instead just watching Sky Sports. At this point, I left.
1313 My brother rang from Alton Towers to say that Spurs were going ahead with the game. Brilliant.
1333 I finally got hold of a match programme. I’ve never opened it. I would’ve bought more than one, but the man in front of me bought thirty-three, and there was only one left.
1357 Went down to The Gunners Pub to meet up with some of the brilliant guys from the forum over at arseblog.com. Nice to recognise some old faces, and meet some new ones.
1422 Dennis is on the bench. Hope he gets on today.
1430 Time to get into the ground, and take my seat in Row Z of the East Upper alongside my uncle. A wide, open view of the pitch, but little did I know my proxi3mity of the roof would put the fireworks that followed the game clear out of sight.
1455 Kickoff coming up, and my nerves are making my stomach churn so much I should probably be playing for Tottenham. I’ve put on my white “I was there” t-shirt. A lovely gesture, but I would probably have rathered a red one. Still, the fact that I’m complaining is genuinely hilarious.
1508 Pires. It’s in. One nil. Get in.
1509 With celebrations still continuing, the noise coming from the Clock End suddenly rises. West Ham have scored! A 30-yard screamer from Carl Fletcher! If the Spurs players weren’t feeling sick beforehand, they are now. Oh look, we’ve conceded a free-kick. As long as we don’t concede…
1510 We have. Bugger.
1533 Another free-kick to Wigan. No danger though. Unless David Thompson curls the ball inch-perfectly into the near post. Which he won’t. Surely. Probably. He has. Shit.
1535 At this point, Spurs and Arsenal equalise almost simultaneously, with Defoe and Henry the scorers. I was celebrating our goal so much I didn’t even find out they had scored until half-time.
1552 Half-time, and David Seaman is on the pitch. He’s cut his hair off. That’s good. The guy in front of me claims that West Ham had a penalty, and Sheringham missed it. I ring my brother, and find out that his claim is false.
1608 The half-time propechy of Sheringham’s missed penalty comes true. Subsequently, I swear a lot.
1613 David Thompson “does a Gerrard” and give the ball to Henry, who round the keeper to make it 3-2.
1633 Ljungberg’s been pulled to the ground. It’s a penalty, Henry to take. Will he score to complete a hatrick in the final game of Highbury? Of course he will. Come on West Ham!
1637 Benayoun! Yes! 2-1 to West Ham! YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!
1650 Full-time at both grounds, and jubilation at Highbury. You couldn’t script this. Just amazing. The players leave, and Highbury is officially closed down with a 90-minute ceremony that, whilst suitably poignant, is calm enough to ensure that our heart-rates return to normal – though mine did skip a beat when Gilles Grimandi made his all too brief appearance.
Going home, I bumped into and spontaneously hugged a West Ham fan. We all ought to be cheering them on in the FA Cup Final – they did us a massive, massive favour.
Now we’re in the Champions League, and the pressure is off for Wedensday’s final with Barcelona.
And a young Gooner, Theo Walcott, has achieved the nigh-miracle of being in the World Cup squad before the Arsenal first team. Full write-up on this soon.
I’m exhausted partly from typing this long post, but mostly from reliving the emotional rollercoaster of last Sunday.
Thanks Highbury: It’s been special.
May 6th, 2006
It would’ve been nice if I’d been able to write up individual reports of these two matches. It would also be nice if my new house wasn’t in the 1% of UK homes where broadband is genuinely impossible. However, due to the latter, the write-ups never happened. So here they are.
Sunderland was a genuinely appalling game. We really didn’t play particularly well, but it says a lot about Sunderland that we still beat them by three clear goals. The first was an own-goal, the second a clipped finish from Cesc, and the last a brilliant free-kick from Thierry Henry. All three came in the first half. Cesc and Henry, indeed, would prove to be the key players over these two fixtures in quick succession.
The win was marred, however, by an inury to Abou Diaby. Sunderland youngster Daniel Smith landed a truly dreadful tackle, dislocating and fracturing Diaby’s ankle – an area where he suffered with injuries earlier in his career. He could now face a 9-month lay-off, and Arsene is rightfully considering legal action. A poor tackle, and a real shame for Diaby to miss the Champions League Final in his home city, Paris.
So onto Thursday night, and Man City away. I didn’t see most of the game as I was otherwise engaged, but from all accounts it was a solid performance. Ashley Cole played the full 90 minutes, and Sol Campbell managed to fall over a lot less frequently than against Sunderland. We took the lead when Henry slid in Freddie Ljungberg for his first Premiership goal in a year. However, David Sommeil equalised before half-time, and it took the introduction of Fabregas and Reyes to swing the match Arsenal’s way – the latter twice finishing brilliantly after passes from Eboue and later Henry.
So the 6 points we needed have been achieved, and now Spurs know that they have to beat West Ham. Arsene has rather cleverly suggested that the Hammers too must win, and Alan Pardew has insisted he will field a strong side.
Now what we must do is go out and beat Wigan, hoping that Spurs simultaneously slip up. Coming fourth would take the pressure off us ahead of the Champions League final, and maybe even persuade Henry to stay. The importance of it cannot be underestimated.
Let’s just home that tomorrow, we’re blowing bubbles.
April 29th, 2006
(Because the picture of Chelsea celebrating upset so many readers, I decided to replace it with this one, showing Roman Abramovic being taught how to clap.)
…Again. Buy one get one free, it would seem.
Fair play to them. The way in which they dispatched Man United 3-0 was an indication of just how good a side they are. And with the levels of investment that Abrahmovich offers, they will doubtless continue to improve.
However, their dominaton has to end sometime. And for Arsenal, the aim now has to be the first club to break their title-winning streak. It might not be next season, or the season after, but everything comes to an end eventually. These quotes from Mourinho show that there is nothing permanent about Chelsea’s revolution. When the Roman empire crumbles, we need to make sure our club are in the best possible position to suceed the throne.
And we’re going the right way about it. A new stadium with increased income, and the possibility of maintaining several key players, like Ashley Cole, mean we have fantastic potential. If our young stars continue progressing, there is no reason we can’t leapfrog Man U and Liverpool in the race to suceed Chelsea.
If we’re serious about long-term success, we need to be able to beat teams like Sunderland in the short-term. There are a few injury worries, but the aforementioned Cole could return.
A word for Arsenal fan Harry Redknapp, who has managed to keep Portsmouth in the Premiership at the expense of West Brom and Birmingham. It’s a fantastic achievement, and he deserves a lot of credit. Perhaps he’ll retire on this final note. Great stuff.
And well done Chelsea. See you next season.
April 28th, 2006
We all owe Jens Lehmann a hell of a lot. When one considers how poor our domestic season has been, and counter that with the fact that Lehmann has been the best goalkeeper in the Premiership, it’s a horrible thought wondering where we’d be without him. As it is, with him, we’re in the Champions League Final, thanks to an 87th minute penalty stop from Juan Roman Riquelme.
Tuesday night was some time ago now, and I’m sure you’ve all had time to celebrate the win before booking your Eurostar, or, failing that, beginning to walk to Paris. If you have to, do. If you can get there somehow, then do not miss out. This probably won’t happen again.
Especially if we churn out many more performances like Tuesay night. We were stilted in attack, and nervous in defence. We badly missed the injured Philippe Senderos, and Mathieu Flamini was withdrawn after just 10 minutes, you couldn’t help but fear for the team. They were obviously full of fear themselves – they were on the brink of something extrsaordinary, and their nerves showed. Diego Forlan missed an abolsute sitter in retro Man U style, before the terrifying penalty incident.
But now we’re there. And like I said, do anything you can to get there. And when you do, enjoy it. I for one know that I genuinely can’t believe I am going to Paris to see my team play in the Champions League Final against Barcelona. It certainly has a nice ring to it.
I’d love to stay and write more, but I’m paying for this by the minute. No internet access, you see. I’ve just moved house, and anyone whose done that recently will know how much of a nightmare that can be.
Sunderland on Monday is the next important date in your diary. Please just don’t let us lose that one.
April 23rd, 2006
…and at the moment, that’s not Arsenal. I’m glad I didn’t write something yesterday, when the game had put me in a truly foul mood. My feelings have calmed somewhat since then, and I no longer feel the need to throttle anyone in a white shirt.
I don’t think what the Spurs players did was so bad. There’s no point in trying to take the moral highground – if we’d’ve scored that goal, we’d be saying the same things they are, especially with Wenger’s tendency to not see critical incidents.
Truth be told, we were lucky not to be out of the game by half-time. 1-1 was a fair result in the end, but in the first 45 minutes Robbie Keane and Aaron Lennon were causing us a multitude of problems.
I find it hard to understand not starting with Henry or Fabregas. For me, this game was the priority. Surely beating Tottenham, Man City, Sunderland and Wigan is an easier way of guaranteeing Champions League qualification than winning the competition itself?
Even so, winning that competition is now not just a possibility – it is a must. For Wenger’s gambling to pay off, we must beat Villareal and win in Paris. Otherwise, we will probably be entering the Emirates without European football, and most likely without Thierry Henry.
Henry’s goal was a masterstroke after good work from Adebayor, instantly controlling the ball and flicking it across Robinson. A winner would’ve been too much to ask, but sadly, a win was probably needed.
Bolton and West Ham need to do us favours and take points of Tottenham. Maybe they will, I don’t know.
I still find it hard that we gambled with team selection for such a crucial game. Still, we must now look forward to Tuesday, and the second leg against Villareal, without Philippe Senderos.
Eek.
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