I am told that if you had asked any football fan in the decades that preceded and followed the Second World War, ‘What is the most recognisable stadium in the game?’ the answer would invariably have been ‘Highbury’. What follows is an appreciation of one of football’s most famous theatres.

The story of how Arsenal came to be in N5 is a fascinating tale of intrigue and suspicion. In season 1912-13 Arsenal finished bottom of the first division after winning just three of their thirty-eight matches, and it was rumoured that the club’s bank balance had plunged to just £19. Henry Norris, later knighted, had taken over Woolwich Arsenal two years previously and failed in an attempt to merge them with Fulham. The problems facing the club have a familiar ring with many today. Rising transfer fees and falling gates made a move to a more populated area the only chance of survival. As the Mayor of Fulham, and later the Member of Parliament for Fulham East, Norris cultivated ‘influential’ acquaintances. He was able to persuade the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and an old friend, the Archbishop of Canterbury no less, to lease the playing fields of St. John’s College of Divinity for a twenty-one year term in return for just £20,000. Arsenal moved into the catchment area of Tottenham Hotspur and Clapton Orient. Crucially though the site, and nearby transport links, were closer to central London than either of its new neighbours.

Arsenal now faced a race to build the stadium in time for the new season. The builders, under the supervision of architect Archibald Leitch, made sufficient progress to enable the Gunners to kick off the 1912-13 home campaign against Leicester Fosse with a 2-1 win. A measure of the task was that the pitch had to be raised eleven feet at one end, and lowered by five feet at the other. A new stand, designed to house 9,000 spectators was not completed until later in the season, and for the first few games the players washed in bowls of water, pending completion of the changing rooms. The most famous tale of the construction, since dismissed as a myth, was that whilst tipping hardcore into the foundations of the North Bank a horse (complete with cart) backed into the cavernous pit and was buried alive.

Following the intervention of the First World War Norris was able to ‘engineer’ Arsenal’s return to the First Division and in 1920 the ground hosted its first international fixture. The arrival of Herbert Chapman as manager in 1925 heralded the rise of Arsenal to the pinnacle of the game. In the same year Arsenal paid a further £64,000 to buy the Highbury site outright. The purchase enabled Arsenal to play matches on the ground on Good Friday and Christmas Day. A condition of the original lease had prevented this from happening.

The 1930-31 season saw Arsenal clinch their first Championship with a 3-1 home win over Liverpool. As Arsenal’s fortunes were in the ascendancy, so the stadium began to take on the appearance we would recognise today. In 1932 the impressive £50,000 West Stand, with 4,000 seats constructed over a 17,000 capacity terrace was completed. The unique design of architect Claude Waterlow Ferrier, in association with William Binnie, was the symbol of the ‘Bank of England club’, as Arsenal were then known. Ever the innovator, Herbert Chapman insisted that the new stand should be equipped with floodlights to be used for training. His persuasion of London Transport into renaming the Gillespie Road underground station to Arsenal was even more forward looking and inspired.

On 9th March, 1935, a record 73,295 spectators witnessed the league match with title rivals Sunderland, the resulting draw contributing to the Gunners third consecutive League Championship. In the close season of 1935 a cover was erected over the North Stand, which led to the move of the now famous clock to the southern end of the ground. 1936 saw the completion of the new East Stand at a cost of £130,000. Almost identical on the playing side to its ‘opposite neighbour’, the art deco style structure included 8,000 seats in two tiers, and the most luxurious facilities in the game. The famous marble halls were decorated with a bust of the sadly deceased Chapman, and the changing rooms incorporated under floor heating.

During the final season before the outbreak of the Second World War, Highbury was to bear witness to another ‘first’. In the final home league match against Brentford the visitors wore white shirts and the match scenes were shot as part of ‘The Arsenal Stadium Mystery’, a film based on Leonard Gribble’s novel of the same name. Later that summer Highbury became the set for the completion of the movie.

From 1939 to 1945 Highbury was converted into a home for Air Raid Wardens and used as a first-aid post. Barrage balloons were sighted on the training pitch behind the Clock End. This made the site a ‘legitimate target’ for enemy bombers. Two R.A.F ground crew were killed when the South terracing was hit by a 1000 pound bomb. Incendiary devices collapsed the cover of the North Bank, which would not be rebuilt until 1956. The ground was sufficiently restored for home matches in 1946-47, and was chosen to host football during the 1948 Olympic Games. Three years later ‘match’ floodlights were installed on the roof of both East and West stands and first used for a match between teams representing boxers and jockeys! 50,000 watched Arsenal’s first floodlit contest with Hapoel of Israel. Shortly afterwards 10.000 were locked out when Glasgow Rangers were invited for this novel evening experience.

In 1964 under soil heating was installed to ensure that the pitch was playable year round. During the preceding season Arsenal had made their bow in European competition, hosting Staevnet of Copenhagen before bowing out to Royal Liege in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Two years later another top sporting event came to the Arsenal Stadium as avid Gunner, Henry Cooper, attempted unsuccessfully to defeat Muhammad Ali in a non-title heavyweight boxing contest. In 1969 an additional 5,200 seats were installed in the lower West Stand, just in time to witness Arsenal’s first European trophy. The European Fairs Cup of 1969-70 was captured with a 3-0 defeat of Anderlecht in the home leg, following a 3-1 away defeat.

It was not only spectator facilities that were being improved. The old training pitch behind the Clock End found itself converted into an indoor training centre and car park. In later years this centre would also provide a popular community venue. The days of the Clock End as an uncovered terrace came to an end in 1989, as the current construction of executive boxes and additional offices were added. Four years later the seating was installed in two phases. The remaining terracing in front of the East and West stands was also converted to seating by this time.

The redevelopment of the North Bank, in the art deco style of it’s older neighbours, took just over a year from May 1992 to August 1993, during which time the backdrop was provided by a never to be forgotten mural of an artist’s impression of the finished stand. One of the most famous ‘ends’ in the country was replaced by the 12.000 capacity, two tier construction under architect Rod Sheard of the Lobb partnership, and mainly financed by the controversial ‘bond scheme’. When the all seating schemes, required by the Taylor report, were complete the capacity of the famous old stadium had been cut to under 39,000.

The advent of the Premiership, the Champions League, and digital televisions millions led to the inevitable investigation into a new larger home. Successfully filling Wembley for the early Champions League matches strengthened the argument for a bigger base. Watching the resulting elevation of the Ashburton Grove site has filled all with confidence for a healthy future. However, for at least one more generation, the spiritual home of this fabulous football club will always be Highbury. How good it is to see the main East and West structures, listed buildings both, and the playing area, being sympathetically incorporated into a new and lasting design for its future.

The atmosphere of days gone by has been recaptured during the farewell season. That Highbury feeling has always been more than just the bricks and mortar. The old half-time scoreboards that stretched around the south-east and north-west corners of the ground. The Metropolitan Police band and Constable Alex Morgan singing his heart out. The ‘Make money with Arsenal’ girls of the seventies and eighties. The terrace vendor with his sack, and piercing cry of ‘peanuts’. On and on the memories go. How fitting that the last few seasons of an iconic venue should have witnessed the teams created by Arsene Wenger. I think Norris and Chapman would have approved.

Thank you for your time.

The mind is awash with conflicting thoughts. We must invest in the team this summer so that we don’t find ourselves in this position again. This was the worst Arsenal side of the Wenger years for me, but how do I square the circle that those who have played ten unbeaten Premier League fixtures since the debacle at White Hart Lane had even bigger plums than Jonas Gutierrez finished with today?

At the first whistle today we came out positive, but created little. Bacary Sagna’s best cross in a long time sailed across an empty area. Newcastle found their feet and it is fair to say had the better opportunities to open the scoring. With Per Mertesacker having a rare nervous day we were grateful on more than one occasion to see the leader alongside him, Laurent Koscielny, snuffing out the danger.

Our clearest opportunity was cut short by an erroneous offside flag as Lukas Podolski bore down on Steve Harper, tears still in his eyes after receiving a standing ovation from the Geordie faithful. Newcastle, prompted by the slippery Ben Arfa, were looking a far cry from the team that only escaped the threat of relegation when we beat Wigan.

I don’t know what Arsene says to the team at half-time these days, but he may care to consider giving the same speech an hour earlier. We started the second-half looking much more of a threat. Harper denied Theo Walcott in the opening seconds and seven minutes in was picking the ball out of the back of his net.

The thirty million pound goal, as it is destined to be known, was scored by far and away the outstanding performer on the day. The finish was that of a supreme sniffer of half-chances. Laurent Koscielny’s deft flicked volley brushing Harper’s temple on it’s way into the goal. For a second there was silence, and all eyes turned to the assistant referee. No flag. “YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGH!” The management came to witness the banshee in the flesh. I was doing what passes for a jig these days. Sawdust must have been falling downstairs.

Those who visited the drinks just before kick-off will have seen that I had a late back-up punt on 1-0 to the Arsenal. Now all that stood between me and collecting was the longest 38 minutes of my life. By my reckoning the referee added about three hours. A handful of chances were traded and Newcastle ramped up the pressure as the ninety minutes finally officially expired. News that the neighbours had scored didn’t help, so many stings in the tail have there been in recent weeks in the lower leagues.

Then another “it’s up for grabs now” moment. Theo slalomed his way through the thinned ranks of the home defence, goal at his mercy, and hit the post. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAGH!” The management, fearing the worst, came galloping in again. “They haven’t?”

“No dear, they haven’t”

Finally we took several Kruls over a corner kick and the whistle blew to confirm our top four berth for the sixteenth consecutive year. The immediate reaction, a mixture of relief and elation. Don’t tell me fourth place isn’t important, but neither is it a trophy, I know. Tonight it matters not a jot, and hopefully some will now consider the words of Gary Neville in the aftermath. His praise for what Arsene Wenger achieved once more despite having a net spend of nine million pounds in ten years (or was it the other way round?) was fulsome.

I’m not saying Arsene knows best, or whatever cheap and worthless label some want to apply. He was a Laurent Koscielny goal away from facing justifiable questions about his future. and yet the weakest first-choice eleven he has had to work with battled for him over the closing weeks to deliver what for me was a surprising and welcome achievement.

I would argue we should have splashed a bit more than we have in the last eighteen months, but then again I am itching to see us take advantage of the incredible position we have put ourselves in. To have built that stadium and maintained a place in the top four is commendable, but this summer gives us an opportunity to make a statement about where this club is going.

Nobody, surely, wants that future to include yet more scraps for third and fourth place with one hand tied behind our back.

Today though, it will do.

Of course none of that detracts from the fact that supporters the world over will be massively lifted or disheartened or angered by whatever transpires at St James Park (oh yes it is!) and the tumbledown dump at the other end of Seven Sisters, not forgetting the bus stop in Fulham. The possibilities are too many to torture yourself with. Pure and simple we have to assume that the neighbours will win at home. Therefore only a win for us in Newcastle will do, and only then can we cast an eye in the direction of the result in West London.

Regardless of what some will say tomorrow evening the table is decided over 38 games. If at the end of nine months we find ourselves third for the second consecutive season it will mean we are still the third best team in the country, but that will apply equally if we end up fourth or indeed in the position we cannot speak of. That we are in control of our destiny after losing at White Hart Lane at the start of March is a testimony to the way the squad has collectively pulled together in the ten match undefeated run that has ensued.

Newcastle, like Queens Park Rangers before them, have had their future resolved before we play them. Those who feared relaxed opponents would prove difficult will find some comfort in our only goal triumph at Loftus Road. A similar victory would rob thousands of their fingernails, but would be more than welcome once the dust has settled on the season at around ten to six on Sunday evening. Typically our trips to Newcastle have tended to end up as draws of late, but never before have we gone there with something so tangible at stake.

The team news, such as we have, floats through the atmosphere on the wings of Chinese whispers. Mikel Arteta may or may not be fit, but I suspect that if necessary he will have pain-killing injections, be wrapped in horse placenta, and have monkey glands inserted where monkey glands should never be inserted to get him out there. The other big decision for Arsene Wenger will be whether or not to put Olivier Giroud back in the starting line-up ahead of Lukas Podolski. I haven’t the foggiest, and frankly both options carry positives and negatives. Arsene will opt for the line-up he feels will get the job done, and will be acutely aware that he will be judged on the outcome, harshly or otherwise.

I have been warned off punting the ‘holic pound on the 2-1 win that could set up a third place play-off at Villa Park. Just as well really, as that is the bookies favourite outcome and therefore poor value in my opinion at a point or so either side of sevens if you check the odds comparison sites. I’m almost wishing an afternoon of mental anguish on myself by taking the 110/1 against us winning 4-3. You didn’t expect anything else, did you?

As usual may I offer massive respect to the travelling Gooners, many of whom are already sampling the atmosphere in the land of the horse-beaters as I type on Saturday evening. Many more will follow tomorrow. I pray the long journey will be made thoroughly enjoyable by the outcome. It is a long way to travel back with a heavy heart.

All we can ask, as supporters, is that the team gets a result by hook or by crook, and that they give everything they have to ensure that. Even if not all of you will be back in Arsenal colours next season, the rest of us will. A tradition depends on you.

Get the job done.

Fourth place isn’t a trophy, and we should be setting our sights higher from next season forth, but it was patently obvious tonight how important it is for those that have Arsenal blood running through their veins. It won’t go into any record books, but the lack of a crack at the one trophy to have avoided our grasp thus far would cause quite the reaction, and totally understandably.

Tonight was as good an opening spell as we have seen from the boys for a while. For around half an hour we fizzed the ball about and had Wigan chasing shadows. The first opportunity produced what might have been a most untypical and unlikely Arsenal goal. Theo Walcott, returning to his best in the last couple of weeks, produced one of many quality balls into the box and Santi Cazorla went close with a downward header. Yes, Santi Cazorla went close with a header!

Soon we had the goal our early dominance deserved. Another Theo cross was cleared for a Santi corner from which Lukas Podolski headed home his fourteenth goal of his debut season. Pressure relieved, we awaited the second that our control of the contest surely warranted. With the benefit of hindsight the possession we worked for would pay dividends later on as Wigan tired, but with Mike Dean in charge we could surely be forgiven for thinking a second goal was needed.

That seemed even more relevant when he denied Santi a free kick for an exaggerated fall when tugged back, only to award a free-kick to Wigan when Maloney leaned into Mikel Arteta. The equaliser was inevitable and duly arrived from the resulting free-kick. More frustration would result at the start of the second-half as Wigan, buoyed by the strike, were clearly in the ascendancy. Only a great save by Wojciech Szczesny denied Kone a second. Nerves were being tested.

Then, having exchanged chances in an increasingly open game we were ahead again. Santi set up Theo who celebrated wildly. It showed the determination of the side to get the job done. I’m not sure if the half-time talk included the instruction to take it beyond the reach of another dodgy decision, but five minutes later we had effectively sealed Wigan’s fate and put our own firmly in our hands. Santi’s third assist set up Poldi’s second goal.

Earlier frustrations were brushed aside as the ‘holic pound drifted back into my mind. Aaron Ramsey, having a mixed evening but undoubtedly putting in a shift, scored a clever fourth (yes, Santi got the assist!) and twenty minutes were left for my prediction to come true. It didn’t. A deflated Wigan were beaten at last, but what an effort they put in so soon after lifting the FA Cup on Saturday evening.

The post match news of Arteta’s injury took the gloss off the relieved celebrations. Hopefully the early signs are misleading and he will be fit to take his place on Sunday. Tonight he cropped up all over the place. Little Santi may have deservedly taken the man of the match honours for his quartet of assists but Walcott, effective in attack and defence, and Arteta were also critical to the securing of the three vital points.

So it is all up to what we do at Newcastle on Sunday. Of course we can hope Sunderland nick something at the brown and sticky end of Seven Sisters, in which case we will be ok, but we have to assume that the neighbours will see off the side we saved tonight. In that case only a win will do for us, and in an end of season where so much has been decided in the closing minutes in the various leagues who wouldn’t be surprised to see the battle for third and fourth place go down to the wire.

Think your blood pressure was up tonight? Wait until Sunday, my friends, wait until Sunday.

zicoinexile  5.31pm

That, I would imagine, pretty much sums up the approach we as supporters would like to see the team adopt as Wigan return to London for a fixture arguably more important than their FA Cup Final triumph on Saturday. I think we can expect the visitors to arrive with something similar in mind. Both clubs need the three points, and that is need with a capital N. It is our job to end Dave Whelan’s club’s relationship with the Premier League.

You have only to look back thirteen months to see the threat that Wigan will bring. In the corresponding fixture last season they were two up after eight minutes, then soaked up almost everything we could chuck at them barring a Thomas Vermaelen consolation midway through the first half. Having said that if you go back just seven days to their home defeat by Swansea you will see why we really should throw the kitchen sink at them. They are in the relegation predicament they are in for a reason.

The webwatchers have come to the conclusion that the training snapshots on the official club site today mean Gervinho and Keiran Gibbs are preferred to Lukas Podolski and Nacho Monreal. Check out the bib colours. I have to say I have wondered this before and found it an unreliable conclusion to arrive at, but I have to confess I would consider those very changes.

As for Wigan, they celebrated their triumph at Wembley with Irn Bru and Horlicks and will have had three early nights before coming out for another huge test. The key for us will be to limit any set pieces in our half. Avoid the daft challenges that allow finely-balanced players to tumble in key areas and we will increase our chances. Better still to keep the ball ourselves and be positive with it for as long and often as possible.

Both sides know the consequences of anything but a victory, so considering the possibilities now serve no useful purpose. All that remains is for me to rule out one scoreline by picking it as the ‘holic pound. I’m throwing a hail Mary in a bid to make it a profitable season. Look around and you will find 150/1 against 5-3 to the Arsenal. That’s a possibility if early goals are traded.

Isn’t it?

Yours in desperation,

‘holic.

The build up, such as it was, took the cringeworthiness of the pre-match ‘entertainment’ to a new low. From the close up shot of some diva’s left breast, through the torture of an alternative operatic rendition of Abide With Me, to the signs proudly proclaiming the association with Budweiser. The Football Association’s flagship competition was holed below the waterline. We waited for oil money to provide the last rites and an entirely predictable return on a billion pound investment.

Someone forgot to tell Wigan Athletic. They became the second club in my lifetime to rise from non-league to lift the famous old trophy at Wembley, and thoroughly deserving of the triumph they were. They worked harder than their illustrious opponents and were rewarded with a flying header from a set piece, just like Wimbledon twenty-five years before them. In ninety unmissable minutes they single-handedly saved the most famous cup competition in football from total ignominy.

The post-mortem started immediately with Roy Keane sharing with us his view that City lost today as a result of under-investment in the team. Really. He said it. There are a billion reasons why that is an incredible summary. Wigan Athletic’s team is reported to have cost eleven million pounds. Let that sink in for a moment. It will be used, and not without some basis in reason, when I and others express a desire for Arsenal to devote more of their undoubted financial clout to strengthening the squad. We should still do that, but today City gave the clearest example yet of why spending an arm and a leg doesn’t guarantee you anything in football.

That was not the only lesson to be learned from the day, for at the end of the Cup Final the winners should be able to chuck copious amounts of alcohol down their necks before jumping on an open top bus ride through their home town. They should then head off to the beaches of the world to bask in the glory of being FA Cup holders. This should have been a remarkable finale to an unremarkable season, but no. Now they have to get over their euphoria and get their professional heads on again to fight for their Premier League status in two final matches in a week.

That we have to beat them to keep Champions League football next season in our own hands is not lost on any of us. If we do what we have to then Wigan face the ultimate last day of the season heartbreak. To get relegated and then win the Cup Final makes for a decent summer. To do it the other way round because the FA sold their soul would be incredibly sad.

So well done Wigan. At least the fans (where did they all appear from!) can celebrate long into the night, and probably a good chunk of Sunday as well. Thank you for salvaging something of the magic of the Cup, if all too briefly. Without wishing to be unkind I hope you have lost that sparkle on Wednesday morning, having been condemned to last day torture. Don’t blame me for thinking that way. Blame the governing body of our game for slaughtering their own golden goose.

Not Only, But Also…

In  town on Monday night? Want a really good laugh or several? Then get yourself to the Comedy Store for another great evening in aid of the Homeless FA. All the details are here. Now, all together after me…

Balls to homelessness.

Android?

Big thanks again to Arthur who has updated his brilliant Goonerholic android app. Click on the android logo in the sidebar for the link.

Still he has received not a drop of Guinness for his work. I will have to do something about that the next time we play in Reading.

What?

Oh…

Chelsea are at Villa Park on Saturday lunchtime, and 24 hours later the neighbours go to Stoke. The weekend in which we are inactive could be huge for us. Old wisdom says we need only worry about winning our last two matches, but let’s not kid ourselves eyes won’t be cast elsewhere on the penultimate weekend of the season.

My last word on the neighbours? I wonder what the response will be to Glenn Hoddle echoing Wojciech Szczesny’s view that Spurs lack quality in the squad? Just saying…

The other story of the day that you may have missed (yeah, right!) is the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson. Fair play to my friend from Bath who told us in the pub weeks ago but I suspect most were more than a little surprised when the news was confirmed. At the risk of sending regulars blood pressure soaring I have to say there is a reason he is the lead story on all the news bulletins I have seen or heard today. Like you I have found so much of what he has said and done down the years repugnant, but you cannot take away his record of success, or deny he is a football man first and last.

The years before we moved and the new money arrived when ourselves and his club threatened to turn the Premier League into a two horse race were special for all of us. The two matches against United each season became the biggest fixtures on the calendar. We will miss him, one way or the other, and one can only hope United will too. Those of us who remember their rapid decline in the wake of Sir Matt Busby moving upstairs will be praying for a touch of deja vu.

What about Arsenal news, I hear you cry, or maybe I don’t. The expensively assembled team that have been put together to bring new revenue into the club have made some great strides in recent weeks after what has seemed a long period of precious little. The announcement of a very good new kit deal with Puma has to be acknowledged as a very positive step. Commercial income has been an issue for the club for some years now, and although many opportunities remain it is great to see progress being made in providing the sort of money we will need to invest in the team in order to get back to challenging for honours.

The dream scenario would be for us to win our last two matches, Chelsea slip up to allow us into third place, and spend that money early on some quality. Let’s worry about the alternatives if and when they crop up.

Oh, and if anybody wants a cold, I appear to have a belter developing. I’m off to ease my misery with a hot toddy or three.

Keep the faith, ‘holics.

We could not have made a better start. Theo Walcott’s goal was the result of a combination of excellent interplay and some comical defending by former Gunner Armand Traore and his colleagues. Twenty seconds in, although we didn’t know it at the time, the game was over.

For much of the opening half we controlled the play and dominated possession, but human nature being what it is I have to confess to fearing what might happen if we did not convert that superiority into a second goal. Theo almost had a second but was denied by a combination of Green and the goalpost. That aside though we were unable to fashion the chances that such domination should produce.

Rangers, perhaps surprised to be still in the game found their feet and started to get forward with some menace themselves as the end of the half neared, with Townsend to the fore. Arsenal’s defence however remained pretty assured and we got to the break with the advantage deservedly intact.

Now this is where people will presumably have stronger feelings than I. As the second half progressed I followed the live text on the official club app, checking in every five or ten minutes whilst supping contentedly on some fine Wiltshire ale pre-meal. Returning home those typed words came to life.

Rather than risk your wrath with my take on the half long after the whistle I will make just two points more. Firstly, whatever ailed Wojciech Szczesny as he struggled for form earlier in the season seems to have been largely cured by his enforced rest. His astonishing save from Remy capped a very good display. His best was needed today and he did not let us down.

Secondly, at this stage of the season the only thing that matters is that we get three points. Today was a lot closer than some would have hoped given the nature of the start we made. I understand a degree of frustration when we struggle to close out a game we should have won more comfortably. but we won by scoring, largely securing ownership of the football, and defending competently. I have seen us when those things have not been the case.

Frankly I could accept us having an absolute ‘mare, being under the cosh throughout, and having an undeserved winner deflecting in off the referee’s gonads if that is what it takes. We were a little more secure than that in Shepherds Bush. Third place is ours again but we face an agonising ten days out of action before entertaining Wigan at the Grove. Before then Chelsea play Manchester United, Tottenham and Aston Villa, while the neighbours follow their trip to the bus stop in Fulham with a trip to Stoke.

I would say it is likely that we will be out of the top four after that little lot, but we will have two games to play while they will have just one. This is going to the final day. You know it, and I know it, and letting that eat you up won’t help anybody. We do decisive last days rather well, and that is what I will be clinging to for the next fortnight.

Be strong, all.

By the time we take to the pitch at Loftus Road it is likely that we will have slipped a place with the neighbours entertaining Southampton in the afternoon. We cannot influence their result, but we can focus on gaining the win that would lift us back into third place before Chelsea visit Old Trafford on Sunday.

The team news, such as it is on a Thursday night (sorry, I am not around tomorrow night after Arsene’s presser), is good. The only definite absentees are Olivier Giroud (suspended) plus the injured Lukasz Fabianski and Abou Diaby.

As the rest of the squad will have had a free midweek to freshen up I suspect the decisions Arsene has to make centre around who plays at right back, and who will lead the line. Many would support a recall for Carl Jenkinson, but it is probable that Bacary Sagna will be retained for his experience and his ability in the air, particularly as Giroud remains unavailable.

There could well be a change up front however. Lukas Podolski would be the starter of choice if fully fit, but there remains a doubt. If we could perform with the intensity evident in the first-half last Sunday then Theo Walcott and Gervinho could both be given a start. This would give us the option of rotating them and causing some confusion for Armand Traore on Rangers left flank, not to mention the likelihood of a less than mobile partnership in the centre of the home team’s back four.

Often we are criticised for concentrating only on our performance and not preparing to combat the strengths of the opposition. How difficult will that be this weekend given the lack of any sort of fight from Rangers as they have lost their Premier League status? Amusing though it is that ‘Arry has struck again there is the awful possibility that an expensively assembled squad free from the enormous pressure of a relegation dogfight will finally relax and show what they are capable of.

However we look to have developed an ability to get results by hook or by crook of late and so the ‘holic pound will seek a return on an away win. An early goal for us could open the floodgates, but I am anticipating something a little more strenuous on the heart. Favourite with the bookies is a 0-2 to Arsenal but I am taking Rangers to make it a nervy one with a goal of their own. Shop around for 17/2 against Arsenal winning 1-2.

Not Such A Quiet Week

With no midweek action there has been increased focus on what the club is attempting to achieve off the pitch. I have to say that news of a new Junior Gunners Lite membership and cheaper tickets for 12-16 year olds is a positive step for me. Such an enclosure was a feature of Highbury that many of us experienced. You served your apprenticeship in there looking up at the North Bank and dreaming of the day you made that step up. I’m looking forward to hearing some high-pitched encouragement for the team next season, and I’m sure that will spread to the rest of the Family enclosure as well. Well played on that one Arsenal.

I’m told there is further news to come about ticket availability and distribution for next season. It will be interesting to see the exact nature of that. Nobody wants to see empty seats in the ground most weeks despite the fact that all of the matches sell-out. From personal experience I know there are many conflicting pressures on the box office.

Some season ticket holders either cannot or will not attend every game and should be given more straightforward ways of making those seats available to fellow members. Clearly ticket exchange is not working for all. Silver members, long-standing Gooners often feel that they are being squeezed paying a premium for membership and tickets invariably available only in the expensive upper tiers. Red members demand a bigger slice of the pie as well. Throw into the mix obvious gaps in Club Level this season and there is clearly some scope for the club to make some popular decisions. We’ll see what transpires soon enough.

So…

That’s it for another preview. Those fortunate enough to have tickets for Loftus Road, have a great evening. I know you will create all of the atmosphere there. For many of the rest it is a bank holiday weekend (sorry if it isn’t for you). Result permitting let’s eat, drink, and be merry.

Finally a special mention for Dizzy. Glasses will be raised to you all weekend mate.

Cheers ‘holics.

Of course in the middle of it all was the distraction of a football match, although you would have been forgiven for thinking we were about to witness a contentious guard of honour followed by a period of civil disobediance on a scale unseen since the Tottenham riots if you checked the redtops beforehand.

Needless to say, as I had suggested, the majority of the home support afforded the new champions a mixture of generous applause or at worst total indifference as they came out. Until of course the last man loomed into view to face a chorus of boos about as loud as they got all afternoon.

The accoustics in the Grove aren’t the best. The cut away corners that allow sunshine and air in to help the playing surface also leak noise. From sixty yards away we could see the visiting fans opening and closing their mouths like a sea of mangy Surrey goldfish but couldn’t hear them, and so my next point could well be disputed by those who sat elsewhere. That song, you know the one, didn’t feature. A couple of times a handful of people tried to start it up only for it to die a quick and natural death.

It was therefore something of a surprise to read Alex Ferguson’s comments afterwards.

“We have a great spirit of applauding players when they come back to our club. I expected the booing to be honest with you.”

Is that so pal? You have a short memory. Those same great supporters couldn’t wait to race up the M6 to dish out far worse abuse to one of your own than we afforded to van Stapleton yesterday.

Enough of the sideshow. The action on the pitch was captivating. United have a way of playing us that has invariably proved successful in recent years, inviting us on to them before countering with pace. Yesterday was no different and yet should have proved their undoing. We needed no invitation to get forward and had the boost of a Theo Walcott goal in the opening couple of minutes. Frankly we should have added to that as we pressed, pressed, and pressed again in the opening half.

Before turning to the moment it all went pear-shaped a word of praise for the spine of the side. Wojciech Szczesny, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Aaron Ramsey, and Tomas Rosicky were outstanding. I have read too much criticism of those who didn’t play so well. These five fed off the encouragement of a crowd largely inclined to get behind their own than spit bile at the little boy inside one of the visitors.

Enough has been written about the contribution of Bacary Sagna to the equaliser. It has been clear this season that he has not returned to the heights he hit before Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Bradley Johnson broke his leg last season. His inclusion these days gives us experience and a player still so strong in the air, but the time is approaching when Carl Jenkinson will surely step up.

The second-half was a much more even encounter as United found the breaks that had seemed beyond them in the opening forty five minutes. We had a couple of decent shouts for spot kicks, but survived a couple of scares so on balance a draw was probably the right result in the end.

It could all have been so different though had we capitalised on our early dominance. The lack of a fit striker didn’t help, but this was our chance to finally finish off one of the top four this season, and once again it was beyond us.

That is a lesson to carry into a critical summer.

I cannot leave the day there. A big thanks to all who came and said hello in the Tollie before and after, and not just the ones who force fed me with various concoctions. So much is made of the differences between the various elements of Arsenal’s support that we overlook the many hours of thoroughly enjoyable socialising in so many of the pubs in the vicinity of the ground. That was my last for this season as the reorganisation of the Wigan game rules me out.

Thanks to you I can’t wait to get back there in August.

Cheers.