i will never be one to moan about 'hard' it is supporting arsenal, like some people choose to, as most of the time its not: we do not have horrendous money troubles, we don't flirt with relegation season after season and compared to most, we have a great squad many of which are internationals led by a fantastic manager in arsene. as an arsenal fan, i am sometimes faced with disappointment like everybody else but frustration is the real issue - coming so close to winning a trophy but bitterly dealing with the fact we faded away in a premier league title race or conceding late goals in a cup tie after going ahead.
after the departures of fabregas and nasri in the summer, it was predicted that arsenal would struggle and to a certain extend we have: everybody around us improving their teams whilst we become an apparent 'selling club' to the likes of manchester city or barcelona. conceding eight goals at old trafford in late august confirmed what most arsenal fans already knew; we would not be serious challengers for the league this year and should be looking to achieve other goals, a good cup run and in contention for fourth place.
after a woeful start to the season, we eventually started to look like an arsenal team of a few seasons ago: winning the games that were potential banana skins but of course still making the fans sweat, never learning to do things the easy way (the 5-3 victory at stamford bridge a highlight in our good run). a mixed december meant a good start to 2012 was crucial to arsenal's hopes of finishing in a champions league spot but an almost disastrous january saw arsenal's only victories in the fa cup - one nil against leeds with the return of a certain thierry henry which dominated all the headlines and a remarkable comeback against aston villa winning 3-2 after going in two nil down at half time. there were no league wins at all to report on: losing against fulham, swansea and manchester united, with a 0-0 away to bolton to finish a tough month for the gunners.
the beginning of february offered happier times for us as we recorded back to back league wins, a magnificent seven scored against blackburn and a late thierry henry winner at the stadium of light, secured all three points for arsenal.
the next match was a trip to the san siro in the champions league: ac milan not the side they were but would always a pose threat to any side, particularly in the home leg.
arsenal were torn apart that night, quite distressing viewing as a supporter: everytime milan went forward, you almost expected the arsenal net to bulge. wave after wave of milan attacks saw the gunners defence lucky enough to secure front row seats to the masterclass from the italians. as soon as the second goal went in, our heads dropped and i'm sure many of the players were mentally already on the coach back to the hotel. the game ended four nil to the home side and with arsenal now effectively out of the champions league, the fa cup was our only realistic chance of silverware. within three days, we had been dumped out of that too after our second tricky trip to sunderland that week.
a side clearly mentally (and perhaps physically too) scarred from their midweek european adventure never looked as if we were going to win this tie. sunderland deserved their win and arsenal were forced to kiss goodbye to another competition.
so out of the fa cup, massively inconsistent in the league and realistically out of europe too, could there have been a better time for 'high-flying' tottenham hotspur to visit the emirates? their fans delirious at the thought of doing the double over us and finishing above arsenal in the league, something they haven't done for sixteen long years. earlier on in the week, jermaine defoe boasted in the press that this NLD meant more to arsenal as all the pressure was on arsenal and tottenham didn't need to win it - a foolish comment to make in my opinion. try telling tottenham fans its perfectly acceptable to lose against their arch rivals when a potential thirteen points difference between the sides would almost make it impossible for arsenal to finish above spurs.
mind the gap
for years and years, north london derbies weren't games that made me sick with nerves, they were matches you were just simply excited for. i used to strongly object to tottenham being referred to as our 'nearest rivals', claming they were neighbours. rivals inferred they were close to us in league position and history, which of course they weren't. it wasn't like playing manchester united or chelsea, games where we regularly lost as many as we won. the derbies are our chance to taunt - '61 never again', 'forever in our shadow'. but nowadays, arsenal fans go into north london derbies a little less confident.
over the last few seasons, particularly since redknapp took the spurs job, some have argued recent results indicate a power shift in north london: tottenham now apparently the bigger club and better team (very much depending on who you spoke to!)
by half three on sunday afternoon however, north london was still very much red and white: tottenham humbled and arsenal fans overjoyed. what better way to kick start your season again than putting five past your rivals?!
being two nil down at home after twenty minutes meant i could probably be forgiven for putting my hands over my eyes and muttering 'oh no, here we go again!' under my breath. shambolic defending with a deflected shot gifted tottenham an early goal and an outrageous dive from gareth bale resulted in a penalty to the visitors which adebayor converted from the spot as he so often does. a dive that olympic hopeful tom daley would be proud of, proved to be bale's last significant contribution of the day - 'cheaters never prosper' quite an appt saying here. arsenal weren't playing badly at all but had an enormous mountain to climb. a header from bacary sagna and the sweetest of strikes from captain van persie saw arsenal go into half time level and looking the side most likely to score next.
the second half began and again it was arsenal who looked the brightest: playing with a great tempo and players flooding forwardwith robin van persie at the centre of everything. on 51 minutes arsenal took the lead, a good goal from rosicky who had a great game - not often have i said in recent times, in fact i have been reasonably critical of him but then again, he doesn't put in a performance like this every week either! two goals in four minutes from theo walcott sent the emirates into ecstacy and made sure all three points would be against arsenal's name on the premier league table. two superb finishes from a player who had been virtually anonymous throughout the first forty five minutes, showing this young man still has an awful lot to contribute for club and country - write him off at your peril.
the highlight of the season thus far and a great day to be an arsenal fan, we won't be forgetting the 26th february 2012 anytime soon. ooh to be a gooner!
