Lovely weekend...

I'd planned to make this post mainly about pictures, but it's pretty hard for me not to write anything, so you'll have to deal with my waffle again! ;)

So yeah, right up until 12.45pm on Saturday, all I had planned for the day was a trip to the Emirates for the Burnley game then back home, and that was good enough for me. But with only 10 minutes to go before I HAD to leave home, a got a phone call from my friend saying she was coming down to Hertfordshire later that day for her cousin's graduation and she wanted me to come as well. After loads of 'erm, erm, I dunno's, I agreed to come along and also stay over as well, meaning I had try and sort out an over-night bag and what to wear to the party, asap! A frantic 10 minutes ensued, but I managed to find most of what I needed,but only after I'd thrashed my room a bit. Happy days!

Anyways, so that was me off to the game. I don't like sitting 'alone' at games, so I always have to get someone to go to the game with. It tends to be Chris most times, so I was to meet him at Finsbury Park. I actually sat with a couple of Burnley fans on the train into London; a father and son. They were talking predictions, the father going for 3-0 to Burnley! I think the son went for 1-0 to Burnley. Aww, bless 'em! They've got to be the most optimistic fans ever! I just sat there trying to suppress the widest grin, ever! They eventually sussed that I was going to the game.

Got to Finsbury Park about 30minutes before kick-off, but had to dash to Highbury & Islington with Chris for a quick drink and 'Hi' to Sharon (@SharonGooner) at the 'Famous Cock' pub, then on to the Emirates. Surprisingly, I've never been Highbury & Islington before, but like you'd expect, there were loads of people walking from there to the game, so we just tagged behind!

We eventually got to our seats with a few minutes to spare- perfect timing! Thinking about it, this was actually my first Saturday 3pm kick-off game. Should go to more...

It looks like all the players are wearing white kits, but ours had white 'GET WELL SOON AARON' T-shirts. There were a few banners around, but I didn't actually see any of them. There were loads of times doing the game when everyone was singing Ramsey's name, and I'm sure if he was watching the game, he would have felt the love!

Compare to how we've started the last few games, we actually started really brightly. Before the game, I had a theory as to how the game would pan out. The other 2 league games I'd been to at the Emirates this season were against Blackburn and Bolton, and this one was against Burnley. Notice a pattern? Other similarities between between both games were that we conceded first (conceding 2 in total); scored at least 4 (4 against Bolton, 6 against Blackburn!); Cesc, Arshavin & Tommy V all scored. So my theory was that Burnley would score first but we'd go on the win, thanks to goals from Cesc, Arshavin, Tommy V and I don't know, Theo or someone else!

But well, that theory was blown out of the water when we scored first through Cesc- not that I cared, really! :D And it was a brilliant goal too! Nasri floated a lovely lovely ball over the Burnley defence through to Cesc who had made a clever run into the box, leaving him with an 'easy' side-foot through Jenson's legs! Fabulous goal! I actually thought it was Nasri who scored at first, as I was at the opposite end and these 2 just look so similar from afar, and wear the same coloured boots to make it even harder! Shame Cesc got subbed shortly after due to a recurrence of his hammy. Wenger's just confirmed he's going to miss Porto. Bummer!

It was half-time soon after and we really ought to have been out of sight, but we just couldn't find the target! Theo was causing havoc down the right and Burnley just couldn't live with him! A bunch of us gooners on twitter had agreed to meet at half-time outside Block 4 for a quick 'hello'. I was upstairs in Block 99, so had to hurry downstairs and back up, so as not to miss the start of the second-half.

From left to right: Me, Brian, Paula, Sian, Louise and Paul- Nice to finally meet you lovely people! It was the briefest of 'hello's, and then we were all off to our seats for the restart.


We'd completely dominated the first half, so it wasn't that much of a surprise that a goal was scored barely 5 minutes after the restart. But it was a surprise though, that it was a Burnley goal! That was a goal as against the run of play as you would ever see! Okay slight exaggeration there, but it came out of the blue! I was half-expecting the flag to go up for offside, but it didn't and the match was level, David Nugent the scorer.
There was no need to worry though, as Theo scored about 10 minutes later. It was another brilliant goal and one Theo totally deserved. He cut in from the right side, and from just inside the box, passed the ball expertly to the far side of the goal, on his left foot! His celebration was a bit of a bizarre one, put apparently had to do with him missing the team bus on Friday and having to hitch a ride with one of the back-room staff. That's why he was tapping an imaginary watch on his wrists!

Rosicky got subbed for Arshavin almost immediately after the goal. I was really happy Theo had a storming game, after all the criticism levelled at him after the England v Egypt game. Totally unwarranted criticism in my opinion. He scored a brilliant goal and could have had a number of assists. The crowd responded very well to him, especially after he had a bit of a coming together with one of the Burnley players after he got tackled. It was a fair challenge, but it was good to see Theo getting upset and showing some emotion. I loved it! "Theo, Theo, Theo". I bet he loved it too!

We really ought to have scored loads more goals, but Nikky B was having a shocker in front of goal. Theo created a number of decent chances for him, but he couldn't take any. But apart from his finishing, I thought he had a good game. His link-up play was excellent as usual, and he picked up an assist for Theo' goal.

Nikky B after one of his misses! I think!

Although his misses were quite bad, it was all really funny to me! I just couldn't stop laughing. Not really sure whether it was just the nature of the misses, or whether it was the look of horror etched on Chris' face next to me, but I thought it was hilarious! The crowd seemed to accept it was one of those days, didn't get on his back and kept singing 'Super super Nick'. He even got a standing ovation when he got subbed for Eduardo later on and he managed a wry smile in response. Good-natured stuff.

 

Bendtner getting subbed...


It didn't matter though- all the misses- as Arshavin made it 3-1 in injury-time with another fine goal. He's been out for a while, so it was nice to see him back amongst the goals. I thought he seemed a bit jaded before he got injured, so I hope he's refreshed now and back to his best or near enough. He has a big part to play in deciding whether we win something or not this season so we need him firing.

 

Then it was full-time... Time to go home...

 

Freezing, but in no real hurry to leave!

I thought Nasri also had a very good game. He was doing well before Cesc got taken off, but he did even better afterwards. He's hit some form of late, so hopefully that continues for a while. Theo was my Man of the Match, but Nasri ran him close. Tommy V was superb as well. But to be honest, if he was to ever have a bad game, I probably wouldn't notice! :) And no picture of him. Gutted!

We've got quite a few players coming into form or coming back from injury, so I'm really looking forward to see how far we go this season. 

I think there was more I wanted to write about the game, but I can't remember! :(

Anyways, we actually saw Nikky B on our way home. He was driving home (presumably), but had stopped to sign a few (loads) autographs. One of the fans actually asked him if he'd left his shooting boots at home, but he simply smiled and kept smiling. I think it was the same fan who then got him to speak to his girlfriend on his mobile, which Nick actually did! He stayed for about 5-10minutes before eventually driving off. Lovely lad!

So that was the trip to the Emirates done. Great game, great atmosphere and even greater 3 points.

Didn't get home until Sunday evening thanks to my impromptu detour, but it was a fun weekend! Saw quite a few of my friends on Saturday and Sunday which was really good.

Not sure when next I'll be going to the Emirates, but I hope it's pretty soon! :)

We've got Porto at home in the Champions League on Tuesday. Massive game. Not overly worried about it- not because Porto are pushovers; they're not- but because I'm confident we'll be able to pull out the performance and result we need. I hope I'm not proved wrong!