I started the day with wander around Arsenal's new stadium, to have a good look at the side I never get to see, away from Highbury. On the way around the ground, we encountered a band of marauding Stoke fans, who seemed determined to "defend" the side of the road that they were walking on, by walking to the middle of the road with arms outstretched, singing "We Are Stoke". Given that this was a residential side street, it all seemed a bit sad - maybe they were getting too excited on their big day out. On reaching Holloway Road, we then saw an endless procession of Stoke coaches driving towards Highbury - lots and lots of away fans out for this one.
At many points in this game, it even looked as though they might have done the unthinkable and won the game. After a shockingly dull first half, devoid of any spark of invention from Arsenal, Stoke took a surprise lead on the stroke of half time. We sensed a battle in the second half, but in reality, the shock of conceding seemed to wake Arsenal up, and they started to play properly in the second half, Reyes equalising within 5 minutes of the restart. Arsenal got stronger as the half went on, and took the lead with around 20 minutes to go.
Irritatingly, having made such hard work of getting the lead, Arsenal then seemed to relax completely, making for a tense final 20 minutes. Why they didn't just press on and put Stoke out of the game is a mystery - it seemed like they actually wanted to go up to Stoke on a Wednesday night for a replay! But, after a final Stoke goal scare with about 3 minutes to go, Arsenal eventually held on to progress to the next round.
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