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Aston Villa vs Arsenal 1st December 2007 – Premier League – Villa Park Today’s match is a 5.15pm kick off. This turns out quite well as there’s time to do weekend stuff before the match - I get my barnet chopped and buy a Christmas tree! I leave for the match at 1.30pm and head to the train station where I pick up a mate before driving up the M40 towards Birmingham. During the journey we agree that if Arsenal win the match then we will stop on the way home for some congratulatory Chicken at the services Away matches are great. I love the sense of community than comes from being in the minority and being around the hardcore Arsenal supporters. Those that go home and away rain or shine. The atmosphere is always better and we don’t stop singing throughout the match. There are no problems getting to the ground but as we get closer the memories of my last visit come flooding back. It was the FA Cup Semi-final defeat to Man Ure back in 2004. I am hoping for and confident of a better result this time. It will be a hard game against a good Villa side that will be full of confidence after their impressive 4 nil win over Blackburn in midweek. I think I’d be happy for a point today. I park close to the ground, or so I think, and after walking about a mile we arrive at Villa Park. I trust my friend’s sense of direction and we head off the wrong way around the stadium to the away section. It’s one of the better stadiums actually, except for the toilets which reminded me of a British Legion or Church hall with the old fashioned (and cheap) metal urinals. We join a long queue for food but it doesn’t take long to get to the front, even though there were two power cuts during this time! It’s amazing what a difference good staff make. The quality of the food is exceptional too considering we are at a football stadium. The Arsenal Board should visit the food outlets at Villa Park to see how wrong they have got it at Emirates. My only gripe is that there was no beer for the Away supporters. After some more poor navigation from my friend we eventually find our seats. We are in the furthest possible point of the lower tier but it’s actually not a bad view. Like I said before, it’s one of the best stadiums to watch football. The team is: Manuel Almunia Emmanuel Eboue Kolo Toure Gael Clichy William Gallas Bacary Sagna Lassana Diarra Mathieu Flamini Alexander Hleb (Theo Walcott 60) Tomas Rosicky (Gilberto 73) Emmanuel Adebayor (Nicklas Bendtner 90)  It’s a bright start to the match and Arsenal look comfortable on the ball. We do however go a goal behind though after about 15 minutes. Villa attack on the break and after Carew breaks on the left from what looks to me as an off-side position he crosses the ball to Craig Gardner who slots the ball into the net. The Villa fans make their first noise of the game as they suddenly start to support their side. The new support for the Villa only seems to spark life in the Arsenal side as they start to turn on the style. There’s attack after attack all linked with quality inter play, passing and moving. This is Arsenal at the best, and most dangerous. It was after one of these attacks in the 25th minute that the ball finds its way to Flamini who unleashes a powerful left footed drive. The keeper can do nothing except pick the ball out of the net. Flammers goes mental and so do the Arsenal faithful. The Villa fans just go quiet again. Arsenal continue as they left off and 10 minutes later take the lead when an excellent Adebayor header beats Carson from close range. England, England number 1!!! We show boat a little up to half time which comes to quickly for my liking. Half-Time During half time I notice that the whole directors box vanishes in about 10 seconds of the whistle blowing as they steam in for their prawn sandwiches and fizzy wine.  The second half starts and it’s all Aston Villa. They completely dominate the second half and Arsenal can’t get out of their half. I haven’t seen them pegged back so much for some time. It doesn’t help that every time we get out of our half we give the ball away. The biggest culprits are Adebayor and Eboue. When you are under pressure trying to be flash doesn’t help the cause. We literally hang on in the second half and somehow we manage to keep Villa out. We get an underserved 3 points but we leave happy. KFC here we come!!!  |
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