Hot town, summer in the city

Arsenal-v-Manchester City 25/08/2007 (KO: 3pm)

On a scorching and sun drenched afternoon, I arrive at Emirates surprisingly hot, sweaty, and hoping that our boys bring Man City’s unbeaten start to the season to a screeching halt. My mood is brightened when I see that my friendly fireman (who sits a couple of seats away from me) is back – he’d been absent for the Fulham game and I had thought he’d managed to get a seat together with his mates on the other side of the ground. Turns out he’d instead been stuck at work and was gutted to have missed our opening game. Poor lad. Glad to have him back though, it’s nice to see a familiar face!

Back to the match. First half was well played by both sides, although we lost Bacary Sagna to a back injury (after colliding with Flamini) about twenty minutes in (replaced by Denilson). Added to Senderos (who aggravated his Achilles during the warm up) our injury list is growing…

Man City were predictably physical in their game, interrupting the flowing pace which we prefer, but both sides played well and shared chances on goal equally. Both Almunia (who, incidentally, has bleached his hair – leading me to think for a fleeting second that we’d managed to clone young Schmeichel in our desperation) and Schmeichel made their fair share of saves. The teams seemed evenly matched as the whistle blew for half time.

The second half continued in much the same vein as the first, until Van Persie had a penalty stopped by Schmeichel in the 65th minute. His frustrated attempt seemed to invigorate our boys, and we peppered Schmeichel’s goal with shots from Rosicky and Hleb – until, with ten minutes left, Cesc Fabregas blasted home a high drive which sent the crowd into ecstasies of delight.

Injury time came and went, and thankfully the score stayed at 1-0, although not from lack of trying on the part of City. Schmeichel, who obviously takes after his father in more than just looks, came up for a corner and actually won a header!

One nil to the Arsenal, and a well earned victory in my eyes.

Final score: Arsenal 1-0 Manchester City