One or two?

By Boris Mellor
January 17 2013

Well it was quite a New Year mega moan in at the greasy spoon opposite the ground before the kickoff. Simon68 moaned about Walcott’s ludicrous wage demands, no way is he worth £100K pw according to Simon68. Syd the cabbie believed the board had hammered Wenger into the ground, and I moaned about the usual. Syd had Chicken for a change as did I, and Simon surprised us all by not having his normal breakfast, he must have got up early.

Now I know a lot of you will moan about our moaning, but would you deprive us of a little enjoyment before a match we had no idea what to expect. When we got to the ground we went our separate ways scattered around the upper tier. On the way in I popped into the lower tier to give Brian of BOF the last two episodes of Breaking Bad which has been far more exciting this season than most home games.

 It was time to hurry to make the ascent to the upper tier as it was a 7.30 kick off, I started to think back to when all evening matches started at 7.30, and actually ended at 9.10pm, which meant getting home at a reasonable time. Of course in those days half-time was 10 minutes, now it’s far longer as there are expensive pies to be sold.  So it would be a 9.20 finish if lucky.

 When I got to my seat the ground looked half empty with 5 minutes to go, but by 7.35 the ground was three quarters full. It was mostly season ticket holders and club level that were missing. Swansea had brought barely a 1000, and the Clock End lower was the most packed part of the ground, I assume these were fans who had got tickets through the general sale. Even though the crowd was small the atmosphere wasn’t half bad and the team was well supported throughout the game.

 Why the long prologue you ask, well the answer is only two things of note happened in the first half, one was when the rather large Swansea trainer came on, and the crowd wasn’t sure if she would make it to the centre circle without collapsing, I wasn’t convinced it was one person, and that two trainers had climbed into one tracksuit to keep warm. The second was Arsenal nearly scoring just before the half time whistle, and the excellent Swansea keeper somehow keeping the ball out, or was it the post? It was hard to tell as it was the opposite end.

 Winter Wilshere Wonderland

It had been claimed that the temperature would drop to -8, but in my seat it was a comfy  -5, and the long johns were doing their job, but as Arsenal continued to miss chance after chance I began to regret not wearing two pairs of socks. The crowd were getting anxious, Swansea had mainly reserves on, and every time they made a substitution we all muttered it was Michu coming on to mug us, but it wasn’t.

 Arsenal had 16 shots on target, and Swansea only 1, but the Swans were blocking everything, and sure enough with 19 minutes to go on came Michu to mug us. It looked like it was going to plan for Laudrup. The crowd responded by singing Wilshere Wonderland, and one Jacky Wilshere. Even before he scored he was having a great game and was Man of the Match by a country mile. Meanwhile my feet were getting colder, and my recent reading of The Worst Journey In The World was becoming more real by the minute. However, the crowds fears were translated into urging the team on and one player listened.  Cometh the hour cometh the man, well I hour 26 minutes to be precise, a slick exchange with Giroud saw Jack hammer the ball home from just on the edge of the box, he probably won't mind the fine for unsporting behaviour by Wenger (ie shooting from a distance before the keeper is ready).

The crowd erupted, but no one more than my neighbour who had 16-1 on Wilshere to score first, which was bad luck for Syd, as he had Walcott down to score  as he was sure Theo would break his four match duck, but wage negotiations seem to have taken the edge off him.

 Now the crowd, apart from me and Jack, began to scream for a second goal but Jack heeded my advice and kept playing for the corner pin. What a wise old head on young shoulders. Thanks to Jack Swansea never got their chance to mug us, and my feet finally warmed up.

 Also thanks to Jack we got the early finish, and not extra time and penalties,  but when I got to the bus stop it was an 18 minute wait for the next bus home, it was so cold I couldn’t face the wait so I did something I rarely do and that was get a cab home. Once in the warmth of the cab there was even more good news, Chelsea were drawing 2-2 at home to the Saints. It’s time for Wenger to come out with his they will lose games statement to ruffle Rafa’s feathers before Sunday’s match. Simon68 is convinced they will.