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

SheWore: All or Nothing – Episode 2 – Back on Track

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Recap: After 3 defeats in the opening 3 games and 0 goals scored, Arsenal’s 2021/22 season could not have got off to a worse start. Zac continues to follow the team up and down the country in the hope his team gets back on track.

Episode 2 – Back on Track

Norwich (H)

After the nadir of City, Norwich feels like a defining game. Win, and we might be back on track. Lose, and we might be in the mud. 

The Coronet is the choice of pre-match destination this time. Cheap off-brand Jägers do a great job at easing any nerves. 

It’s a scrappy game, but Premier League debutants Takehiro Tomiyasu and Aaron Ramsdale are excellent, and the three points are in the bag. 

We head south to Elephant & Castle and a night of chaos ensues at The Rockingham Arms. 

Two Arsenal fans, a Chelsea fan from Rutland and a Liverpool fan from Bedfordshire allow shots to be fired from corner to corner. We all stumble home as Saturday night gives way to Sunday morning. That’s more like it. 

Spurs (H)

Every North London Derby matters. This one feels like it could define the season’s momentum for the two clubs. The other, well they’ve made a good start, but they never win in Islington. 

Unusually, I choose not to settle in a battler cruiser before the game, instead pacing up and down the Holloway Road and sitting outside the concourse with an old pal before the game to calm my nerves. 

Losing against them is not an option. 

I needn’t have worried. The Arsenal come roaring out of the blocks to go 3-0 up midway through the first half. Dominance has been asserted once again. 

Although I head home a good two hours after the final whistle, the platform at Finsbury Park is bouncing. The carriages have a carnival atmosphere. North London, like it always has been and always will be is RED. 

Brighton (A)

After the derby win, tickets for a Saturday trip to Brighton – actually Falmer – are rarer than the sight of a stocked trophy cabinet at White Hart Lane. 

Miraculously, I manage to secure one after searching high and low whilst on holiday in Denmark. 

The 11 o’clock train from London Bridge is rammed, full of booze, chants and camaraderie. It feels like The Arsenal have returned. 

It’s bucketing it down as we exit Brighton station, but fierce rain on the south coast does nothing to dampen our spirits. Or our vocal chords. The Bright Hemp is heaving, full of Gooners in top voice. 

Around 3pm or so, we all get escorted out for a mysterious reason that has yet to become clear. The rain is worse than earlier as we descend from Falmer Station towards the AMEX. It’s lashing it down. 

The only thing worse than that rain? Arsenal’s performance. We were extremely fortunate to get away with a 0-0 draw. 

A shoutout to Felix, who I met on the train down to Brighton. Absolute top Gooner who I’ve gone to share many games with since. Thank God I had a spare can of lager, otherwise you might have snubbed me! 

Leeds (H) – Carabao 

A half-day at work, at very short notice, is granted to me by my boss at the time. 

The clocks are soon turning back so of course it’s bloody freezing again. Everyone in The Tollington is shuffling their feet like an excited group of penguins. It’s the only solution to this intense cold. 

Leeds are loud, but poor on the pitch, and we duly sweep them aside by 3 goals to 1. Eddie does Eddie things by managing to chip Ilan Meslier before almost surrendering an open goal as he falls over his own feet. 

We don’t do things easily at The Arsenal. 

Palace (H)

Not much happened before this one, aside from a few cans on the painstakingly slow SWR service to Vauxhall, as my boss forgot to reschedule a meeting. 

We take an early lead through Alexandre Lacazette but let Palace back in by far too indecisive on and off the ball. 

James McArthur somehow escapes a red card for a tackle on Bukayo Saka that would start an all-out brawl in an ice hockey arena. Palace lead 2-1, it looks like it’s over. 

Villa (H) 

A Friday night kick-off is good fun, but only if you finish work early enough. 

Dangerously close to missing kick-off after having to commute from home in suburbia, I resort to taking the train to Arsenal station for the first and only time this season. That’s when fans know they really have no time!

The journey is made all the more amusing by us laughing about Villa’s predicament under the soon to be sacked Dean Smith, which their fans overhear. 

We expect some heated exchanges.

Only they join in, lamenting in only the way a match-going fan can about the ups and downs of the drug that is The Beautiful Game. 

A 3-1 win, which The Arsenal dominate, ensures a happy start to the weekend. Jacob Ramsey deserves an honourable mention for scoring one of the finest consolation goals you will see. That was a cracker. 

Watford (H) – ???

Newcastle (H) – Hangover and post-match rave in Hackney 

Xmas trip to Chile

Zac

SheWore: All or Nothing – Episode 1 – 3 Games, 0 Points, 0 Goals

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With Arsenal: All or Nothing launching today, one Arsenal fans tells his story of following the club he loves during the 2021/22 season…

Episode 1 – 3 Games, 0 Points, 0 Goals

The 2021-22 season. Football was back. But most importantly, us fans could be back at The Arsenal. In this mini-series, I’ll take you through an unfiltered experience of my matchdays as a fan, whilst I followed the greatest team on Earth. Sadly, I couldn’t go to every game. So we begin on 22 August, 2021 as Arsenal take on Chelsea at the carpet. 

Chelsea (H)

Excitement was in the air. Heading down the Seven Sisters Road towards the ground, Arsenal weren’t just back home. 

We were back at the home of The Arsenal.

The Tollington was vibrant, people were excited to be reunited with friends at the football for the first time in 18 months. 

Despite the loss to Brentford, I still remember going to this game with some level of optimism. How wrong I was. 

A beautiful mid-August day was turned sour by a timid on-pitch performance and we got exactly what we deserved. 

We were absolutely torn apart by Romelu Lukaku, who made a mockery of Pablo Mari. Remember him?

Ironically, Lukaku has been about as effective for Chelsea this season as Mari was for us last year. 

City (A)

05:30: the alarm sounds. In spite of sleeping as peacefully as a dog in a firework-laden thunderstorm, I’m not one bit tired. 

The 08:05 pulls out of Euston in synergy with cans cracking open up and down carriages. Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka’s chant has caught on after the midweek demolition job of West Brom.

Two and a half hours later at Manchester Piccadilly, the Arsenal faithful descend onto the platform and swarm to The Piccadilly Tavern. 

The walk down Ashton New Road involves some good-natured back and forth between us and the City fans. The highlight being:

“Cristiano Ronaldo, you’ll never sing that”, after the Portuguese superstar snubbed Citizen Blue for Devil Red. 

The game itself makes me feel like my eyeballs have been slit by a thousand paper cuts. 

City fans goad us with chants of “You’ve had your day out, now fuck off home”. 

But I met up with a close Mancunian friend for an early dinner to ease the devastation I’ve just witnessed, before heading back south. 

After three league games, we have zero points, zero goals and are bottom of the league. Statistically, it could not get any worse. 

But for me, Manchester was still a cracking day out. Some MK Dons fans board the train approaching London. We both laugh our team’s inadequacies off over a beer. 

And no, contrary to claims by that horrible tribe they like to call a ‘Fan TV Channel’, absolutely nobody “celebrated” that fourth goal. 

Zac