Highbury – What a send off from Arsenal
Posted by Martin in Football blogs | 8 May 2006
Sunday the 7th of May, will go down in history as one of Arsenals great days and I can say that I was privileged enough to be there.
Even before the match had started we had the controversy over whether Arsenal would be able stage the match. Apparently at one point, the game was just 2 minutes away from being postponed due to the extremely odd bout of food poisoning the Spurs team went down with. However, even that bizarre event was not going to prevent the gunners from staging their farewell to Highbury.
With the game underway, the ground buzzed with a party atmosphere, that was up to the point when Wigan took the lead from a free kick by Thompson, putting Wigan 2 1 up after 33 minutes. (That was not in the game plan !) I have to say I’m not convinced Lehmann was ready and he certainly looked out of position. However, fortunately for Arsenal the lead was short lived, as none other than Thierry Henry was the there to equalise and put the buzz back in the ground and to get the partying going again. With news that West Ham had gone ahead for the second time it looked like being Arsenal’s day, and with Henry rounding of the match with a hat-trick it certainly was.
The post match celebrations continued at the ground for a good couple of hours, with a number of Arsenal greats turning up for this memorable day. The likes of George, Petit, Wright, Seaman were there, to name but a few. I have to say, all credit to the Wigan fans, with a large majority staying to the end, joining Arsenal in their festivities.
So, only two questions remain :
Will Arsenal win the Champions League ? My view is that Arsenal will need to perform better than they did on Sunday if they are to beat Barcelona in the final. However, it does appear that it could be their year. Call it destiny !
Will Henry be at the Emirates at the start of the new season ? Well, he can't of missed the "Sign him up, sign him up" chants from 38 000 fans when being presented with the golden boot and he was one of the last to leave the pitch after all the celebrations had ended. So maybe his history at Arsenal and the call from the fans will help him decide to stay. I hope so, for Arsenals sake.
Thanks.
Martin