Our member Simon Clarke shares his visit to The Arsenal to watch the team take on Sporting Lisbon and Crystal Palace

Arsenal vs Sporting

My son Billy and I landed in London at 3.20 on Thursday with the match that night. We quickly got on the road to my brother’s house, with a quick turnaround to shower before heading into the match.  Travel was complicated by a train strike which meant we had a nervous hour in a taxi in a major traffic jam to get to the nearest tube.  

Luckily, we made it to the game 10 minutes before kick-off, but we didn’t have time to sample the pre-match atmosphere. We got into the ground and met Nasir, our fellow Arsenal Singapore Gooner and the atmosphere began to rise. The Sporting fans were in fine voice, although they did draw the attention of police and fire officers with their flares.

You’ll all know the result and how the match went but the atmosphere was great, the best I have experienced since Highbury. This was the first time I have been to the Emirates since Covid and everything everyone says is true. Having started well and been on top in the first half Arsenal let Sporting into the match in the second half and they got their goal. Whilst the substitutions that brought on Thomas and Martin made us more competitive and we got back on top we were unable to find a winner and the game went to penalties.  It was not to be on the night, but we got our money’s worth with 120 minutes plus penalties and the atmosphere was excellent throughout with fans continuing to sing on the way from the ground and waiting for the tube home, with several references to Tottenham getting battered, always good to here and always relevant.

Arsenal vs Crystal Palace

For the Palace game we had much more time and there was no train strike. My eldest son Sean who is at University in Ireland was also going to the game having bagged a ticket from a friend so we all met up before with plenty of time to spare. The atmosphere outside was excellent and we had time to get some pre-match fried food, and a sneaky pint inside the ground for me (my eldest son had disappeared to a pub with his friend) while we enjoyed the atmosphere at the ground which was even better than on Thursday.

We went to our seats and met up with Nasir and Aloysius, our other travelling Arsenal Singapore fans. We were seated close to the Palace fans who were, as always, in good voice, setting off a couple of smoke bombs as the game kicked off to help make the atmosphere even more electric. We got off to a great start but the possession didn’t turn into goals and we had a massive scare when Ramsdale luckily failed with his impression of Emi Martinez. After this there was only one team in it and we were treated to some fantastic play, great goals and an atmosphere that was excellent throughout. Many songs and chants were sung and, especially as an older Gooner, it was great to here the regular singing of the Vieira song in support of Patrick following his sacking by Palace (not you this time Fabio, sorry).

At the end we won comfortably but the fans and the fantastic atmosphere made the day as much as the team. It was a pleasure to spend the match with fellow Arsenal Singapore Gooners and I’d like to thank Arsenal Singapore for getting us our tickets. I’d also like to thank Arsenal for being by far the greatest team, the world has ever seen. COYG!