Category Archives: SheWore: All or Nothing

SheWore: All or Nothing – Episode 5 – The Collapse

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Recap: After 5 wins in a row, Arsenal sit 4th in the table. Champions League in their own hands. Facing the club now is games against Crystal Palace, Brighton and Southampton. Relatively easy fixtures considering what is to come…

Episode 4: The Collapse

Saints (A) 

The only downside to securing tickets for this was that we had to (somewhat) monitor our booze consumption on the Bank Holiday Friday. 

No matter, we were equipped with cans and, bizarrely, a bottle of watermelon vodka gifted to us by a fellow Gooner outside Waterloo. 

The rattler down to Southampton was packed out not just with The Arsenal, but also a herd of tourists venturing to the seaside in Bournemouth for the first time. 

We arrive into Yates bang on 11:30 and proceed to see one of the group – who shall remain nameless for the sake of his own pride – pour a can of Fosters into an empty plastic cup.

‘A smart strategy’, you may reason. To our amusement, that statement proves to be wrong when the result is 95% foam!

If there were Football League-wide awards handed out for the level of efficiency at letting in away fans, Southampton would be expelled into non-league. 

The queueing system outside St. Mary’s was an absolute shambles, meaning we only just made it to our seats for kick-off. 

On-pitch events will not be mentioned due to the ineptitude of the performance. 

Whilst we were all in good spirits after arriving back at Waterloo, my personal away record in 2021-22 was dismal. 

Four games attended, six goals against, no goals and two Arsenal red cards. Football, eh.

Zac

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SheWore: All or Nothing – Episode 4 – Back on Track II

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Recap: Arsenal’s rollercoaster of a season continues as the club have gone from bottom of the table to 4th on New Years Day. After a winless January they sit 6th in the league with 15 games today. Zac is still drinking his way through Islington.

Episode 4 – Back on Track II

Brentford (H)

It was absolutely bucketing down just as we flocked out of The Arsenal towards the Emirates.

The players did not let it dampen their spirits though, delivering one of the season’s most complete, controlled performances to earn a 2-1 victory. 

Oddly enough, I stood in Block 7 of the North Bank next to two season ticket holders from Wiltshire who turned out to be Manchester United supporters. 

They had been given the tickets through work and told me they were North Bank regulars. 

Despite disagreeing with their original choice of team, I had a lovely time after the final whistle with them in The Faltering Fullback, treating them to one of London’s best pints of Guinness. 

If you haven’t been there, give it a try next season, you won’t regret it! 

Wolves (H) – best atmosphere of season

There was a sense of cautious optimism in The Victoria Tavern preceding a midweek match under the lights. 

We had beaten Wolves at Molineux, the only blemish for them whilst they were in their best form of the season and pushing for a Europa League spot. 

Consequently, we all feared the worst when Hwang Hee-Chan pounced on a Gabriel error to give Wolves an early lead. 

In fact, that shock concession worked in Arsenal’s favour as Wolves sat back, seemingly intent on stealing a 1-0 win. 

Yet Nicolas Pepe’s introduction from the bench changed the game.

Full of purpose, the Ivorian levelled with six minutes to go before playing an influential part in Alexandre Lacazette’s deflected winner to send the stadium into delirium. 

Only four rows back in the North Bank, it was absolute bedlam. 

The anxiety of the previous 90 minutes poured out from inside each and every one of us, to bring an end to an unforgettable night. 

This could well be a contender for one of the best games of the Emirates era.

Zac

SheWore: All or Nothing – Episode 3 – (un)Happy New Year

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Recap: Arsenal have recovered from that start to sit 4th going into the New Year. Zac returns from his Christmas trip to Chile and continues his journey…

Episode 3 – (un)Happy New Year

Liverpool (A) – Carabao minibus 

Coming back fresh a chilli from Chile, it was time to get back to it. 

It was an early start for the minibus up to Liverpool, but due to traffic on the wretched old M6, we made kick-off by the skin of our teeth. 

People who watch a lot of games on Sky say that the atmosphere at Anfield is to akin to a ferocious cauldron that bubbles away, making it hell for the visiting side.

It’s anything but. 

All we could hear were chants of 

‘Fuck the Tories’. This was simply ironic as the man many Scousers once adored, Jeremy Corbyn, presided over the constituency of Islington North. 

Granit Xhaka had one of his all too familiar hot-headed moments, but after going down to ten men, we dug in. 

That was until Takumi Minamino had the goal at his mercy, only to blaze over in front of The Kop. Enter stage right Ben White, who gave us one of the images of the season by leaping in front of Minamino to celebrate. 

Anfield cleared like wind in a desert storm, aside from 6,000 Gooners, who virtually had to be forced out to head back to London. 

If a Liverpool fan tries to convince you that their atmosphere is unmatched, they are lying. Their support was worse than even Southampton’s, but that’s for another day. 

Liverpool (H) – Carabao pins 

Still on a high from an unexpected draw in the first leg a week earlier, the Arsenal faithful had strong reasons to believe they would make it to Wembley come the end of the night. 

Catching up with an old school friend in The Twelve Pins was a lovely way to start proceedings, but it only went downhill from there. 

We were abject on the pitch, certainly undeserving of a place in the final, but the fact that we got ourselves in a position to do that after the first leg made me incredibly proud of Mikel Arteta’s men. 

Burnley (H)

In the Pins for the pre-game once again, a scarcely believable occurrence took place. 

We were moved outside for “chanting too loud” and refused entry back inside. Needless to say that was the last time I went there before a match for the rest of the season. 

The game was the most nondescript affair of the whole campaign. Burnley stuck 10 men behind the ball and were disciplined enough to earn a point. 

A winless January with one goal scored across the entire month, combined with zero signings despite numerous outgoings, meant this month can rightly be looked back on as a missed opportunity.

Zac