Behind Enemy Lines: My Epic Experience at the Emirates

As a Spurs fan, it didn't fill me with joy at the thought of going to the Emirates Stadium to watch Arsenal vs. Liverpool. However, as a football fan, I couldn't wait.

There were 4 of us making the journey south, My daughter, my wife, her father, and I. Laura supports Liverpool, and she's trying her best to get Bobbi on her side. Luckily, Bobbi has style and is slowly swinging towards the Tottenham way of thinking.

We headed down to Cockfosters with a loose plan, but in fairness, it couldn't have been any easier. straight onto the Piccadilly line all the way to Arsenal.

Even if there's no plan, it's just a case of following the red scarves. Andy challenged me to wear a spurs shirt under my jacket, I don't think that would have landed well with the Gooners, the minute we stepped off the tube the anti Spurs chants started and they weren't being very nice 🤣🤣🤣

We passed Fat Harrys burger shack and turned the corner with the crowds of fans in North London, I think we can all agree, a walk to a stadium through a residential street is a proper warm up for a football match. Here we go up the steps and over the tube and there it is, instantly I liked the atmosphere, quite friendly and warm. I suppose it reminded me of a smaller Wembley. It's an impressive design, we did a full loop of the stadium to find our entrance. Our tickets were on club level so we were welcomed with smiles by the Emirates ladies and shown to the escalator to the next level which was all quite plush.

I think we could have completed a full loop on this level which has window viewing to the players warming up on the pitch and bar and restaurant access. I think there was another VIP ticket level on this floor as there was Emirates lounge and swanky looking restaurants. We opted for a pint of Camden Hells and a burger and chips which wasn't cheap but was also decent grub not just stadium fodder.

Ordinarily you would enter the pitch side from the concourse up some concrete steps, however this was through glass doors to our padded seats, this added a layer of exclusivity. Don't think that we were isolated in a box away from everybody, this was still very much amongst fans just with some comfort and some of you die-hards may hate me for this, but I liked it. Luckily, I was brought crashing back down to earth with more chants at the expense of Tottenham.

I won't go into the details of the game; it was a top-of-the-table clash that saw Arsenal victorious, but in my opinion, it was no classic. Arsenal were by far the better side, the fans however were electric, now I have heard there isn't much atmosphere at the Emirates but from my experience it was awesome, we were closer to the North stand where all the chants and songs seemed to erupt from but even looking across the pitch to the west stand their flags and scarves being waved continuously. I can now see why it is regarded as the second best stadium in North London.

At the final whistle the home fans were jubilant understandably but for me seeing our Bobbi's face, she seems to love live football so much. We left with the herds of fans, shortstepping and shuffling our way all the way to the tube, crammed ourself on the first train, I mean literally crammed, the doors closed on my arse. All that was left to do was head north while discussing the highlights, there were no negatives, and it pains me to say it, but I had a bloody good day hosted by the Arsenal.

No matter where you go, football is football.