Last night I took my son to Arsenal for his first match. He was buzzing all day for it.
I wasn’t sure if it he’d ever go as he has autism.
Once we were in the ground he struggled with about 50,000 people shouting and was having a hard time.
Halfway through the 1st half I could see he wasn’t going to get used to it so we had to leave.
When we left the stadium, a steward (blonde lady, wish i got her name), asked why we were leaving and I told her. She asked me to hold on and contacted someone else.
Next thing I know, we’re being walked towards club level.
Arsenal have got a sensory room there where we could watch the rest of the match.
The gentleman running the room, Luke Howard, was fantastic. As was everyone in there.
Between Luke & the stewards that helped, it turned my lads first game night into a great memory.
The club worked in conjunction with The Shippey Campaign, who call Arsenal’s two rooms “a wonderful sensory haven”.
The Shippey Campaign was set up by Kate Shippey MBE & Peter Shippey MBE.
They have 3 children with autism and the eldest, Nathan, fell in love with football.
In 2014 they took Nathan to his first game – armed with ear defenders, headphones with his favourite music, hats, ear plugs and a bag filled with his favourite comforters. By half time they were one their way home.
It was at this point they came up with the idea of sensory rooms in sports stadia.
They started with their home town club Sunderland and the Nathan Shippey Sensory Room opened in 2015.
They have since worked with the likes of of Arsenal, Watford, Notts County, Middlesbrough, WBA, Everton, Airdrieonians (the first sensory room in Scotland) and Rangers.
Celtic, Liverpool, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Newcastle United, Coventry, Tottenham, Brighton and Manchester City have also opened sensory rooms.
The Shippey Campaign has now gone worldwide – with them consulting on sensory rooms at the Khalifa International Stadium in Qatar and The New Perth Stadium in Australia, as well as Hong Kong, France and Germany. They have recently welcomed a USA Ambassador on their team.
In an era where clubs seem to focus more on commercial income rather than the experience of match going fans, sensory rooms are one area where the likes of Arsenal deserve high praise. Football is for everyone.
To read more about what Arsenal do to embrace diversity and equality, Arsenal for Everyone – written by friend of the site Dave Seager – is at Legends Publishing or you can wait for the official Arsenal launch at the Armoury on the 27th of November at the match. (Look out for details…)
(4-2-3-1) Bernd Leno; Cédric Soares, Rob Holding, Ben White, Sead Kolašinac; Mohamed Elneny, Ainsley Maitland-Niles; Nicolas Pépé, Emile Smith-Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli; Eddie Nketiah.
Substitutes: Thomas Partey, Bukayo Saka, Alexandre Lacazette, Nuno Tavares, Calum Chambers, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Folarin Balogun, Aaron Ramsdale.
Scorers: Calum Chambers (55 mins), Eddie Nketiah (69 mins)
Yellow Cards: Cédric Soares
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 44%
Referee: Andre Marriner
Assistant Referees: Harry Lennard, Scott Ledger
Fourth Official: Andrew Madley
Attendance: 59,126
As expected with the Carabao Cup matches, Mikel Arteta has made nine changes to the Arsenal side that featured in the victory over Aston Villa last Friday, and from that team, only Ben White and Emile Smith-Rowe keep their starting places. By the way, just in case anyone has forgotten, VAR will not be available in this competition until the semi-final stage.
Getting the tie underway, we were quite assertive in the early stages with our forwards testing the visitors’ defence on several occasions. Sead Kolašinac came very close to opening the scoring in the ninth minute when he picked up a loose ball after Ainsley Maitland-Niles was tackled on the edge of the penalty area, but his left-footed shot hit the side netting from close quarters. Our confidence was there for all to see as we started to stroke the ball around in midfield, looking for a way through a very tight Leeds United formation that seemed to cope with our constant probing and pushing. Although the visitors tested Bernd Leno on several occasions in the first twenty minutes, their efforts came to nothing and we managed to regroup and start again fairly easily. However, Daniel James ran through the Arsenal defence onto a long ball from Diego Llorente which looked very concerning, but fortunately Bernd Leno ran out and smothered the ball to neutralise the threat. Nicolas Pépé was unfortunate not to score when he had two goalscoring chances that went nowhere, but a couple of minutes later, Bernd Leno kept us in the match again when a driving Jack Harrison shot was superbly saved by him when his shot went low to his left. Leeds United started to push us back into our own half and although they caused us one or two problems at the back, we managed to hold them at bay. The match started to move from end to end now, and the pace begand to get frenetic, which was only broken up by a foul on Gabriel Martinelli by Cody Drameh in the midfield area. It was becoming noticeable that Leeds United were catching us on the break on several occasions in this half, and in doing so, looked quite dangerous. Three minutes before the break, our best chance of the first half came when Sead Kolašinac’s header from about ten yards from the visitors’ goal was headed off the line, and Emile Smith-Rowe blasted the ball wide from the edge of the penalty area, which was the last chance our forwards had before Andre Marriner blew his whistle signifying the hiatus.
The visitors started proceedings for the second half, and within a minute of the restart won a free-kick and commenced to stroke the ball around, but we managed to grab the ball off them and made a decent attempt to score before our attack was broken up by Leeds defenders. Nine minutes after the restart, Ben White went down with a recurrent injury, and Calum Chambers replaced him; within a minute he was in the fray, and incredibly scored the opening goal with his first touch of the ball! He met Nicolas Pépé’s clever knockback to power home a header that went just over the goalline. At first it looked like an awkward save by goalkeeper Illan Meslier, but after a glance at his watch, referee Andre Marriner awarded the goal; Calum Chambers then ran to the touchline to celebrate with Mikel Arteta and was mobbed by his team-mates, in celebration of an incredible couple of minutes in his career. After that, we certainly came alive and started to hunt for a second goal. Gabriel Martinelli and Nicolas Pépé came mighty close after some clever play, and it looked like the momentum was with Arsenal now. After a terrible mistake by Liam Cooper, our man Eddie Nketiah just got there first, tipped it over the goalkeeper, and clipped the ball with the edge of his right foot, and the ball just rolled into the net, with under twenty minutes of the match remaining. After seventy-two minutes, Emile Smith-Rowe and Mohamed Elneny were replaced by Alexandre Lacazette and Albert Sambi Lokonga respectively; then a couple of minutes later, Nuno Tavares was substituted for an injured Rob Holding, and we continued to press for a third goal. We looked strong and confident now, as the visitors started to fade away, the minutes ticking past until the final whistle. Although the visitors started to push long balls deep into our half, the parade had already passed them by, as we managed to contain them. Just before injury time, Alexandre Lacazette was unlucky not to score when he took the ball from Kalvin Phillips, and blasted the ball over the bar from just outside the penalty area. In the four minutes injury time, although there were a few chances on goal, nothing materialised of any worthy comment, and so we ended the night as winners, advancing into the quarter-finals of this oft-maligned competition.
Although it could be said that the visitors put us under pressure at times during the first half, nothing was delivered, and in the end, we managed to regroup successfully and at times looked comfortable both on and off the ball as we managed to end the evening victorious. And, let us not forget, we kept a clean sheet against a Premiership club with nine replacements in the team, with eight matches undefeated across two competitions. A good evening all round.
Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Saturday, 30th October at 12.30pm(Premier League). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.
Steve
Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon.
(4-2-3-1) Aaron Ramsdale; Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhães, Nuno Tavares; Thomas Partey, Albert Sambi Lokonga; Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith-Rowe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang; Alexandre Lacazette.
Substitutes: Bernd Leno, Martin Ødegaard, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Rob Holding, Cédric Soares, Nicolas Pépé, Mohamed Elneny, Sead Kolašinac, Gabriel Martinelli.
Yellow Cards: Albert Sambi Lokonga, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 54%
Referee: Craig Pawson
Assistant Referees: Richard West, Dan Robathan
Fourth Official: Michael Salisbury
VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Michael Oliver; AVAR Peter Kirkup
Attendance: 59,496
Alexandre Lacazette will make his first Premier League start since April, whilst Bukayo Saka has been passed fit to start tonight despite being injured in Monday’s 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace; however, we have made three changes from that match, with Alexandre Lacazette, Nuno Tavares and Albert Sambi Lokonga replacing Kieran Tierney, Nicolas Pépé and Martin Ødegaard. And, interesting to see that both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette make a start together tonight too!
We kicked off proceedings, and within seconds Oli Watkins received the first yellow card of the evening when he threw Gabriel to the ground unnecessarily. It could be one of those nights methinks. After that unsavoury incident, both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka came mighty close to opening the scoring when both of their inspired efforts came to nothing, sadly. Arsenal applied pressure to the visitors’ defence, and it looked as if they had no answer to our relentless, goal-hungry play. We had a goal disallowed after eight minutes when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang managed to get the ball in the net, but unfortunately referee Craig Pawson cancelled it out because Alexandre Lacazette fouled an Aston Villa player (apparently) just before the disallowed goal. The game started to turn into a physical battle of wills, with Arsenal getting the better of the visitors time and time again. After nineteen minutes, a Bukayo Saka free-kick into the Villa penalty area found Thomas Partey, who was desperately unlucky in hitting the bar with his trusty right foot from almost point-blank range; four minutes later, Thomas Partey opened the scoring (and his Arsenal account also) anyway, when a Emile Smith-Rowe corner found his head and he managed to glance the ball into the net. Having scored the opening goal, we made every effort to break down the Villa defence in order to grab a second one. Having said that, on the half hour, Nuno Tavares ran down the left wing, unselfishly crossed the ball into the Villa penalty area, but sadly Bukayo Saka failed to score in a one-to-one situation with our old goalkeeper, Emi Martinez. However, we continued to dominate, and as shot after shot rained down on the Villa goal, there appeared to be only team on the pitch tonight at the Emirates, and it certainly was not the visitors! Complete control. On the stroke of half-time, Albert Sambi Lokonga received a controversial yellow card for a foul on John McGinn; however the resulting free-kick came to nothing. Deep into injury time, Matt Targett went straight through Alexandre Lacazette, when attempting to clear the ball. Craig Pawson had a look at the pitch-side monitor, subsequently gave the penalty (quite deservedly), and despite objections to the fourth official from Villa manager Dean Smith, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang took the penalty, which was unbelievably saved by Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez, but he was straight on to the rebound in a flash and unceremoniously whacked the ball past his former Arsenal team-mate and into the net at the second time of asking. Craig Pawson blew the whistle for both the goal and the half-time break, and we went into the hiatus deservedly in the lead.
The second half started pretty much where the first one finished, with Arsenal showing their class and dominance again. To be fair, the visitors tried to make a better fist of things, but we managed to contain them. After one or two unlucky attempts on goal, ten minutes after the restart, after Emile Smith Rowe intercepted John McGinn’s error on the edge of the Arsenal penalty area, he ran down the pitch as a couple of passes were bouncing around in pinball fashion, before the ball reached him racing down the left-hand channel. Emile Smith-Rowe lined up a right-footed shot that looked like it took a deflection off Tyrone Mings’ leg before hitting the left post and the back of the Aston Villa net for our third goal of the night. Brilliant and superb. What a player. Although the visitors came back in the game just after the break, the match was now so heavily weighed in our favour, that was starting to look halfway to a rout. Just after a pointless booking for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang when he tackled Douglas Luiz rather strongly, Martin Ødegaard replaced an injured Alexandre Lacazette after sixty-seven minutes, and the Arsenal express train just continued. Albert Sambi Lokonga made way for Ainsley Maitland-Niles with eighteen minutes of the match remaining, and his mere presence on the pitch fired up the chaps even more. With three goals to the good, the match started to level out a bit now, and every time we went forward we looked extremely dangerous, and our ability to move into the forward positions is truly a sight to behold. Douglas Luiz fouled Bukayo Saka on the edge of the penalty area, and the subsequent free-kick from Martin Ødegaard was acrobatically saved by Emi Martinez. Not again. Just nine minutes from the end of the match, after a bit of a mix-up on the edge of our penalty area, Jacob Ramsey struck a right-footed shot that went past Aaron Ramsdale into the net, giving him absolutely no chance to save it. This goal gave the visitors the impetus and desire to get something out of this match, when in all essence, they looked as if they had no chance to do so. Now was the time, if there ever was one, to start employing game management, and with just minutes to go, we did just that, in order to preserve our lead and take the sting out of any possible Villa attempt to score, of which there was one or two, all of which went happily wide. In injury time, a limping Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was replaced by Gabriel Martinelli, who immediately tore into the fray. Our hearts were in our mouths when, with a minute of the match remaining, Aston Villa had a free-kick awarded to them on the edge of the Arsenal penalty area; thankfully Jacob Ramsey’s inspired effort went over the bar, and seconds later, Craig Pawson blew his trusty whistle and we ran out worthy winners. And in doing so, we moved into the top half of the Premiership table, in ninth place. A good night’s work all round.
A superb win, well deserved, no doubt about it, and tonight there were several players that played unbelievably well, namely Bukayo Saka, Ben White (who was immense again at the back) and Emile Smith-Rowe, of course, whose talent and skill positively lit the stadium up with their brilliance. For eighty minutes, Arsenal were literally the only team on the pitch, but then Aston Villa scored a consolation goal, and we started to wonder if history was going to repeat itself. Thankfully, we pulled ourselves together enough to regain control and collect the three points, which was badly needed. This win should give them the confidence to defeat Leeds United on Tuesday, and Leicester City next weekend; but we’ll see. That’s football.
Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Leeds United at the Emirates on Tuesday, 26th October at 7.45pm (Carabao/EFL Cup). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.
Steve
Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon.
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 