Emirates Stadium - Arsenal FC
Arsenal 3-0 Aston Villa
24/03/12 - Premier League
Att: 60,108
Having visited the Emirates Stadium for the Emirates Cup in the summer of 2010, I was looking forward to re-visiting the stadium for a Premier League game. After some very kind help from a Villa forum I secured one of the 1,410 tickets available in the away section and headed to North London, excited for the match.
After buying tickets, it suddenly dawned on me that this match clashed with my brother's stag do in Cardiff, so after dropping my bag off at his, I made my way to the train station, slightly over-dressed for a game of football. The journey to London was easy enough, going straight through to Waterloo and then a quick change on the tube, before arriving at Arsenal station. Outside the station there was the usual array of stalls set up, selling Arsenal merchandise, as well as various touts hanging around, waiting to shift spare tickets to unsuspecting tourists for considerably more than their face value.
It was simply a case of following the shirts as we headed towards the stadium and like on my last visit, I was very impressed. It's design is fantastic and the size of the place is hugely impressive, with it standing alone and making it look all the more imposing. Going over the bridge to the ground there are various pictures of Arsenal legends, as well as images of the clubs past on the walls of the stadium. I found this helps make the ground feel a lot more homely than other new builds, which are generally a mix of breeze blocks and grey concrete.
After a quick look around the stadium I headed to the Drayton Arms, where a lot of Villa fans were congregated. There was a good atmosphere inside the pub, with both sets of fans inside. The travelling fans seemed to be in good spirits, despite the under performance on the team for the second season in a row. After watching the bore draw between Chelsea and Spurs it was on to the ground and after a quick search at the turnstiles I found my seat, towards the end of the row and near to the back.
As with most modern grounds, there's not a lot of character inside, with all sides looking the same. However, it's size makes it an impressive sight, but with the shallow lower tier and the stands being quite far back from the pitch, it felt quite open and as a result there wasn't a great atmosphere in the ground. Another thing of note is the large padded seats - Comfortable to sit on, but very reflective of their target audience.
Arsenal have recovered from an awful start in impressive fashion, knocking up 6 consecutive league wins going into this game. After the draw between Chelsea and Spurs, this was a great opportunity for them to really cement a place in the top 4. Villa, on the other hand, made a steady start to the season, but never kicked on. Only 7 league wins all season, several injuries to key players and a growing feeling of discontent amongst the fans towards the manager and chairman make it a difficult time for the club. After seeing the line up, with Heskey up front on his own, it was clearly a case of damaged limitation before a ball had been kicked. Typical of McLeish and the sort of approach that saw Birmingham drop out of the top flight last season, despite looking pretty safe at this stage of the season.
The ground filled up and the teams came on to the pitch, with a large flag in support of Fabrice Muamba being passed across "The North Bank" at the far end. Arsenal were in their traditional home kit, while Villa turned out in white shirts, with blue shorts and socks. From the kick off it was one way traffic, with Arsenal looking menacing straight away. Villa had difficulty coping with Arsenal's passing and movement and it was no surprise what-so-ever that it only took 16 minutes for the deadlock to be broken, as Keiran Gibbs waltzed through the Villa back line and beat Given at his near post.
With Villa's attacking outlets being Albrighton on the right, who got in behind once or twice, only to waste the ball and Heskey, who did his best to hold the ball up, but with no support the ball went back into midfield and was inevitably lost. It wasn't long before the game was out of Villa's reach, as Theo Walcott added a second before the half an hour mark and with wave after wave of Arsenal attack, it was merely a case of how many the home side wanted to score.
There were no half time changes and the Arsenal dominance continued. 10 minutes after the restart, McLeish finally changed things, with Weimann coming on to replace Heskey. He hadn't been on the pitch long before he got in at the near post, only to cut the ball back when he should have shot. In truth, that was Villa's best attacking moment, which pretty much summed the afternoon up. With 3 minutes on the clock remaining, I opted to beat the queues at the tube station and got an earlier train to Cardiff, meaning I arrived an hour earlier than originally planned. I was half way back to the station when I heard the cheer that greeted Arteta's free kick, to wrap up a comfortable three points for the Gunners.
It was a disappointing, but typical performance from Villa, while Arsenal look a good bet to finish in the top four, which I think Arsene Wenger deserves huge credit for, when you take into account the start that they made to the season. My over-riding thoughts on The Emirates are that it's a nice stadium and one of Europe's finest. But it's a far cry from a proper football ground and is certainly built for the spectator and not the supporter. It's pleasant enough, but I'm more of a traditionalist.
The Emirates pre-match
Arsene Wenger on the big screen
Banners on the North Bank
Teams line up, plus Muamba flag
The West Stand
The North Bank
The East Stand
Panoramic of The Emirates
After buying tickets, it suddenly dawned on me that this match clashed with my brother's stag do in Cardiff, so after dropping my bag off at his, I made my way to the train station, slightly over-dressed for a game of football. The journey to London was easy enough, going straight through to Waterloo and then a quick change on the tube, before arriving at Arsenal station. Outside the station there was the usual array of stalls set up, selling Arsenal merchandise, as well as various touts hanging around, waiting to shift spare tickets to unsuspecting tourists for considerably more than their face value.
It was simply a case of following the shirts as we headed towards the stadium and like on my last visit, I was very impressed. It's design is fantastic and the size of the place is hugely impressive, with it standing alone and making it look all the more imposing. Going over the bridge to the ground there are various pictures of Arsenal legends, as well as images of the clubs past on the walls of the stadium. I found this helps make the ground feel a lot more homely than other new builds, which are generally a mix of breeze blocks and grey concrete.
After a quick look around the stadium I headed to the Drayton Arms, where a lot of Villa fans were congregated. There was a good atmosphere inside the pub, with both sets of fans inside. The travelling fans seemed to be in good spirits, despite the under performance on the team for the second season in a row. After watching the bore draw between Chelsea and Spurs it was on to the ground and after a quick search at the turnstiles I found my seat, towards the end of the row and near to the back.
As with most modern grounds, there's not a lot of character inside, with all sides looking the same. However, it's size makes it an impressive sight, but with the shallow lower tier and the stands being quite far back from the pitch, it felt quite open and as a result there wasn't a great atmosphere in the ground. Another thing of note is the large padded seats - Comfortable to sit on, but very reflective of their target audience.
Arsenal have recovered from an awful start in impressive fashion, knocking up 6 consecutive league wins going into this game. After the draw between Chelsea and Spurs, this was a great opportunity for them to really cement a place in the top 4. Villa, on the other hand, made a steady start to the season, but never kicked on. Only 7 league wins all season, several injuries to key players and a growing feeling of discontent amongst the fans towards the manager and chairman make it a difficult time for the club. After seeing the line up, with Heskey up front on his own, it was clearly a case of damaged limitation before a ball had been kicked. Typical of McLeish and the sort of approach that saw Birmingham drop out of the top flight last season, despite looking pretty safe at this stage of the season.
The ground filled up and the teams came on to the pitch, with a large flag in support of Fabrice Muamba being passed across "The North Bank" at the far end. Arsenal were in their traditional home kit, while Villa turned out in white shirts, with blue shorts and socks. From the kick off it was one way traffic, with Arsenal looking menacing straight away. Villa had difficulty coping with Arsenal's passing and movement and it was no surprise what-so-ever that it only took 16 minutes for the deadlock to be broken, as Keiran Gibbs waltzed through the Villa back line and beat Given at his near post.
With Villa's attacking outlets being Albrighton on the right, who got in behind once or twice, only to waste the ball and Heskey, who did his best to hold the ball up, but with no support the ball went back into midfield and was inevitably lost. It wasn't long before the game was out of Villa's reach, as Theo Walcott added a second before the half an hour mark and with wave after wave of Arsenal attack, it was merely a case of how many the home side wanted to score.
There were no half time changes and the Arsenal dominance continued. 10 minutes after the restart, McLeish finally changed things, with Weimann coming on to replace Heskey. He hadn't been on the pitch long before he got in at the near post, only to cut the ball back when he should have shot. In truth, that was Villa's best attacking moment, which pretty much summed the afternoon up. With 3 minutes on the clock remaining, I opted to beat the queues at the tube station and got an earlier train to Cardiff, meaning I arrived an hour earlier than originally planned. I was half way back to the station when I heard the cheer that greeted Arteta's free kick, to wrap up a comfortable three points for the Gunners.
It was a disappointing, but typical performance from Villa, while Arsenal look a good bet to finish in the top four, which I think Arsene Wenger deserves huge credit for, when you take into account the start that they made to the season. My over-riding thoughts on The Emirates are that it's a nice stadium and one of Europe's finest. But it's a far cry from a proper football ground and is certainly built for the spectator and not the supporter. It's pleasant enough, but I'm more of a traditionalist.
Arsenal Station
Merchandise stalls
Club museum
Outside the ground
Ticket office and club shop
Rear of the Clock End
Arsenal lettering
Herbert Chapman statue
