Amazing Arsenal-amazing news!

Ok the news first! I just got a text from my mum saying this guy has Arsenal tickets for this Saturday for £40 sitting behind Arsene Wenger...and she turned them down because I have to work at the dumpy library-boo I hear you all cry! Can't quite believe it-so close and yet so far away-but next time an offer like this comes up-I will not be refusing! I'm so sorry Cesc and Tomas, I'll be there next time!

Now to last nights match! What can I say, I am almost speechless, but not quite as in fact I have loads to say about it-it is perhaps one of my favourite ever matches of all time (bearing in mind that I'm relatively new to this football malarky!) I've come up with a headline to sum it all up-hopefully The Sun wont steal it for their back page-Missfiring Gunners (hehe!)
I was quite torn last night as there was so much good TV which all happened to clash-Desperate Housewives, Nevermind the Buzzcocks, The Brits and of course the Arsenal match! Of course we watched Arsenal V Bolton match but every now and then I did flick over to the Brits because I love Russell Brand; it was a night of Russel Vs Rosicky. As the remote does not work, I had to keep on climbing out of bed and changing the channel by hand, so it did stay on Arsenal for most of the time. The match was brilliant, explosive, ummm suggestions for other amazing adjectives?

It was a very fast paced start, both teams raring to go, Arsenal perhaps knowing that scoring first was vital to securing a win agains their bogey team. There were loads of free seats at the Reebok stadium which I resented becuase I could have sat there and cheered away-was it becasue all the men were at home for Valentine's Day? or perhaps a protest at the extortionate prices that are being charged for tickets these days. I would have loved to have spent the night watching Rosicky and all those lovely players. Of course there was lots of elegant paasing from the Arsenal boys and after just 13 minutes of high tempo action the toned and long limbed Adebayor found the back of the net with the help of a Bolton defender. Much respect to Jussi Jääskeläinen, known for his impressive saves, but he couldn't get this one. Stealing a stat from the Match of the Day commentators-every match in which Adebayor has scored, Arsenal have won. I then flicked over to the Brits and say Snow Patrol singing Chasing Cars so flicked back over to the match.

Tomas Rosicky was outstanding, he was in the midst of it all, almost scoring himself early on in the match (and looking absolutely gutted to see it narrowly zoom past) and setting up chances for the other players, such as when he played a beautiful cross into the penalty area which Baptista failed to convert into a goal. He was propelling Arsenal forward with his little curtain hairstyle bobbing about which looked ever so appealing! (Keep it professional Izzy!) We’ve noticed that Rosicky seems to really excel when Cesc is not playing, has anyone else noticed this? A quick switch to the Brits to observe Russell Brand who is almost as elegant as Arsenal’s play; Amy Winehouse is on collecting an award or something-lose interest and return to the footy. Arsenal still putting the pressure on Bolton. I love Russell Brand-his style, his mockney accent combined with his impressive grandiloquence. Some people are very critical of him; I think he’s a Marmite case-you either love him or hate him, what with his werewolf appearance and obsession with his genitalia (everyone complains about this latter characteristic but whenever I see him, he’s never talking about it), but I learn something new every time I watch him and for this I am grateful and reverential. The Brits are a joke, but Brand is aware of the joke and therefore escapes the ridicule that the others receive-no wonder the Arctic Monkeys sent a video message. James Morrison won an award, dedicating it to “every singer songwriter who’s still playing in pubs-this one’s for you”.

At the 42nd minute Bolton surge and in quick succession produce three fine chances which are all sadly missed. One was extremely unlucky as it hit the top corner of the post. Arsenal then go on the counter attack and fly down to the other end of the pitch where it was one on one but Baptista falls over and doesn’t score. He appears to be a rather mercurial player-he can play awfully and then have moments of brilliance and totally redeem himself. Turn over to see Take That-sounds like a lot of high pitched screaming-lots of “aaaaarrrrrrrr” in the highest octave possible, sing along for a bit before returning to Arsenal where the Bolton fan’s relentless singing is more in tune than the stuff on the Brits.

At half time Match of The Day shows yesterday’s Middlesbrough v. Bristol City match which looked absolutely intense and explosive. Probably would have supported Bristol City had I watched it having just recently visited the city of Bristol and found it much to my liking.

The appearance of the Red Hot Chili Peppers singing Dani California mean that we miss the start of the second half-was surprised to see that Anthony has copied my hair cut-we look exactly the same-same length, colour and style (slightly layered). There was frenergetic (a combination of energetic and frantic) drumming from Chad and as we returned to the match this pace was paralleled here too.

Players are on the floor all over the place-I’ve never seen so many fouls and tackles-so it was inevitable that it would happen in the penalty box. Baptista is the one to go down, although from other angles it does look as if the Bolton player did touch the ball which would have invalidated the claim for a penalty, the ref doesn’t see this angle though-and Gilberto (standing in as captain for Henry) steps up for the spot kick which he sends flying high into the sky, “a wild penalty”. What happened? Did the fierce booing of the Bolton fans put him off? It was hit with conviction but lacked direction, as if the ball had taken a Stellious easyJet flight as far from the goal as possible.

The pace is still going strong from both sides-it’s almost tiring to watch. Ljunberg was about to come on as a sub but I wondered whether he would want to launch himself into this frenetic orgy of tackles which is not exactly easing himself into it. That shows how much I know Ljunberg-he was absolutely fine, played really well in fact-sorry Freddie for doubting you for a moment.

Campo tried to get a penalty of Rosicky but it was clear to all that the Little Mozart had been trying to leap out of his way and had not stopped Campo in anyway who was then promptly booked for his diving antics.

Adebayor then flew down the other end, dodged and danced around Jussi and then went for goal only to see it ricocheted against the post, the MOTD commentators exclaiming “a worse miss than the penalty” however, if you ask me, Adebayor’s attempt was closer than Gilberto’s.

With only two and a half minutes left, it looked as if Arsenal had clinched a narrow and extremely tight 1-0 win; however the perseverance of Bolton and the belief of their fans saw them grab a last minute goal just when we thought it was all over. The stadium literally erupted (well almost literally). This meant 30 minutes of extra time was to be played, but being 10 o’clock on a Wednesday night meant Desperate Housewives time so we turned over to visit Wisteria Lane. In one of the many and lengthy commercial breaks we turned over to see that Arsenal were 2-1 up at 19 minutes of extra time. My heart was in my mouth as Anelka almost scored from a free kick. And the rest I’m afraid to say I don’t know-I didn’t see it but did hear about another missed penalty from Baptista this time, and two goals-another from Adebayor and one from Ljunberg to secure a 3-1 victory. Love all round on Valentine’s Day for Arsenal and Bolton’s exquisite play. (Especially for Rosicky, my main man, and man of the match.)