Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur - Emirates Stadium, London - Wednesday 31st January 2007

After what felt like a victory in last week's game, it was the second leg, and a chance to finish the job. I came straight off a plane from Dubai, but getting to the ground, it seemed that no Arsenal fan doubted the fact that we would get to the final. Despite a lacklustre FA Cup performance in between the 2 games, the general consensus was that our kids were going to humiliate Spurs (again).

The first hour or so of the game was pretty tight - Arsenal had the better of the play, and the better chances, but couldn't score. At this point, many in the crowd were starting to get suspicious that this was a deliberate Spurs tactic - don't concede, but don't do that much attacking either, to set up the very late smash and grab. So it was a considerable relief when Emmanuel Adebayor put Arsenal into the lead with about 15 minutes to go.

It didn't last too long, though, as Spurs had thrown Mido on in attack, and he was looking lively. With about 3 hours of the January transfer window left by this point, it was alleged that he had a mobile phone down his sock, so that his agent could contact him with contract offers. But he scored a decent goal on 85 minutes to equalise.

Then, almost at the end of the game, he came very close, too close, to scoring again - if his attempt had gone in, it would have been quite comfortably the worst moment in Arsenal's recent history. We have to lose at our new stadium some time, but a last minute winner from Spurs, to put them into a cup final at our expense - no way. So the final whistle of normal time was another relief.

Extra time was generally one way traffic - Arsenal were all over Spurs, who had either completely run out of energy, or were playing some inexplicably strange tactics - they seemed to just let Arsenal overrun them. Perhaps the fact that our team had played less football recently meant that they were stronger at the end of the game, but Arsenal were dominant throughout extra time.

The winner came from Jeremie Aliadiere, a fitting reward for his hard work in the Carling Cup campaign so far, where he has looked like a pretty decent player, but perhaps not got the recognition to show for that. A few minutes later, a combination of Tomas Rosicky and Pascal Chimbonda (who shouldn't even have been playing, the thug), got the ball into the Spurs net again, for what in the end was a very decent victory.

This of course set up another swift exit from the stadium from the "best fans in London", so much so that by the time the final whistle went, there was hardly anybody left in the away end to taunt any more!! Such a shame that the Tiny Totts failed again, against a group of Arsenal squad players. That shows you the gap between the 2 sides. Chelsea will be much tougher in the final, mainly because they will probably play a full first team, but I think the kids deserve to play again, if only for the experience of such a big occasion.

Work trip to Dubai, United Arab Emirates - 28th to 31st January 2007

After my first trip to Dubai, back in August, I was mostly just wowed by the sheer ridiculousness of the whole place, so it was great to get a reasonably quick chance to go back for another look. This time, it wasn't all work, because I decided to work in a day off to try to see something of the place. What I saw was money, sand, camels, terrible traffic, even worse drivers, and sunshine.

First, the money. I spent a lot of time hanging around hotels - it is the thing to do in Dubai. Business meetings happen in them, I obviously stayed in one, but generally they seem to be the places that make the world go round out there. Much as it is casinos in Las Vegas, or shopping malls in Singapore, or even pubs in London - hotels in Dubai are the place. And they are all full of people that seem to be eager just to show off their wealth.

That includes rich British chavs who are there to go shopping for tacky but expensive designer labels; and rich Arabs who have more money than they know what to do with. In fact, there is a LOT of money floating around the place, along with conclusive proof that it does not buy refinement or class. I saw more Juicy Couture tracksuits on orange British women in 3 days, than I ever wanted to in a lifetime.

On my day off, I went on what they call a desert safari. They pick you up in a 4x4, then take you out into the desert. You hammer over sand dunes in the jeep, which is a fantastic and exhilirating ride. You stop in the middle of nowhere for the chance to take a photo of sand.

Then they take you to a camp in the middle of the desert, where you can do camel riding, sand boarding (like snowboarding but on sand), henna tattooing, sheesha pipes, and they feed you a nice barbecue. It was a great 5 hours or so, and I'd fully recommend it as being worth the £30 or so I paid to do it. I would slightly doubt quite how "in the middle of nowhere" we really were, because I had a mobile phone signal throughout the trip!

That day, the UAE were playing Oman in the final of football's Gulf Cup. On the way back into the city, it became apparent that they had won. People started to fill the streets, hooting horns, spraying aerosol cans and lighting them to make flamethrowers, and even spraypainting their new and expensive cars in UAE national colours. As well as the jeep here, I also saw a brand new BMW 7-series, and a Hummer that had been spray painted all over.

Complete madness, and another sign that some people there seem to have no money worries. So, what should have been a 20 minute drive to my hotel, ended up taking 2 hours, as the streets became totally gridlocked. For a group of people that don't drink, I have never seen such riotous celebrations - OK, so the won the Gulf Cup - if they won the World Cup, Dubai wouldn't be still standing after the celebrations had finished!

This gridlock was only slightly worse than the usual Dubai traffic jams, which are not helped by the appalling standard of driving out there. In the UAE, only about 20% of the population are native Arabs, and they literally own the place. They are natives, everybody else is a foreigner, and they are so rich that traffic fines make no difference to them.

So, when they are out driving, they will just drive wherever they want to, to get somewhere quicker. That means if there is a traffic jam, and a pavement next to the road - just drive on the pavement! Or the central reservation! Or across the mouth of a junction, then cut back in again!! All of which of course causes the most horrendous traffic jams at all hours of the day and night, as well as a fair few accidents. All good fun to see just how incredibly cheeky some of the queue-jumping drivers can be. I would hate to have to drive a car out there, especially given that every other car seems to be a Toyota.

So, a good few days, rounded off by an hour in the massive duty free mall that is the airport. At the end of January the temperature easily got to 30 degrees each day, making this actually a pretty good place to go and get a winter tan. Which is what many of Britain's chavs seem to have decided to do. The money obsession everywhere is a little but vulgar, but there is at least a little bit beneath the surface to be going along with. Dubai, however, seems to be turning into the world's version of the Costa Del Sol.

Work trip to Milan and Brindisi, Italy - 25th to 27th January 2007

This was what I believe is known in the holiday industry as a “two centre holiday”. Except that it was a two centre work trip. Firstly a day in Milan, followed by a day down in the south of Italy, near Brindisi, which is right on the “heel” of the country.

The Milan part of the trip was pretty standard – it was cold. Very much colder than the UK, in fact there was a steady stream of snow falling as I got off the plane. It was a really clear, crisp cold that cut right through you – an ideal time to stay indoors really.

The following morning, I got up obscenely early to catch a flight down to Brindisi. The south of Italy is pretty undeveloped, there isn’t a lot there, and in fact in many ways it has little in common with urbanised, Western Europe. It feels like the end of the civilised world, or beyond. Flying into Brindisi airport, the first thing I noticed was how flat the whole area was – there were no hills, or any other kind of geographical feature to speak of.

Brindisi airport has a mammoth 10 flights a day arriving (only one of them international, thanks to Ryanair), and the same number leaving, so our arrival woke people up for the first time that day. We walked off the plane into what is effectively a shed, and waited for the single, creaking baggage belt to stir into life, which it eventually did. Driving out to the place I was headed for, there were olive trees and vineyards all around, lots of ruined outbuildings, and very little traffic on the roads.

I was staying at an old castle which has been converted to a hotel. The grounds are full of fields growing olives, grapes and oranges, and the surroundings were absolutely beautiful. There was a large orange juicing machine in the hotel, and you could go outside, kick an orange tree, pick up some of what fell, and shove it into the machine – free orange juice, from oranges that had been on the tree no more than a minute earlier. Delicious.

Later in the day, we took a visit to a town called Ostuni. This is an ancient town on just about the only hill around, which is built around a castle. Every building in the town is a brilliant white colour (the whitest town in the world, apparently), and the streets around the fortress are incredibly narrow. I took the opportunity to get some fantastic Italian ham for a stupidly cheap price, before heading off for a multi-course Italian meal. I can’t help thinking that this area would be great to visit in summer, because it is relatively underdeveloped, traditional, and uncrowded. I’d love to go back.

Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal - White Hart Lane, London - Wednesday 24th January 2007

The Carling Cup draw gave us an unexpected extra opportunity to visit the Middlesex swamp this season, to run the gauntlet of homicidal Spurs fans, and experience the “delights” of Tottenham High Road – how lovely! It was also a fantastic opportunity to showcase the gap between the two sides, as Spurs rested a number of players in preparation for this game – whilst Arsenal used the game itself to rest players for the more important other fixtures that we face. Spurs also fell 800 tickets short of selling out their stadium for what is like a cup final for them – and they talk about needing a bigger ground!!

A pretty much full strength Spurs team started off against a much changed Arsenal side – admittedly still with 5 full internationals (if Walcott counts) on display, but very much the second string nonetheless. As expected, Spurs came flying out of the traps, their idiot fans encouraging them all the way. Our defending for the first 20 minutes didn’t really help us settle into the game, as it seemed that the entire back 4 was on a mission to create chaos and confusion! Berbatov opened the scoring after being left pretty much unopposed, then Baptista scored a calamitous own goal to make it 2-0. I was fearing more goals and our kids being blown away.

We got to half time with the score still at 2-0, and having had some decent play and chances towards the end of the half. Then, amazingly, Spurs completely seemed to take their feet off the gas in the second half. Making the classic Spurs mistake of thinking they had won the game, they allowed the kids back into it. Attacking the end by the Arsenal fans, the chances got better and better as the half went on.

Eventually, Baptista scored, and the celebration in the Arsenal section was incredible – people falling over, ending up several rows from their seats, and generally taking the opportunity to abuse the now very quiet Spurs fans across the fence. The Spurs fans (and team) seemed to be crapping themselves that they would balls it all up, and we sensed that we could go on and win the game. So, when Baptista scored again to equalise, it was not entirely unexpected, but did provoke another amazing celebration, and lots of good taunting of Spurs fans.

From that point on, if anybody was going to win the game, it was Arsenal (youth team). Some fans were almost dreading a winner, because it would have made getting out of the stadium alive a near impossibility. But, despite a few good chances, the winner never came.

Outside the stadium, we had the usual hard man nonsense from Spurs fans, but the best part of the whole experience was hearing them moaning and bleating all the way down Tottenham High Road. They really thought they were going to beat us (for the first time in 7 years, I might add), but they failed. Again. Hearing them all miserable and nearly crying was quite possibly the best part of the evening.

Still more to do to win the tie, but this draw felt like a win – particularly after being 2-0 down, and particularly because it was our reserves against their first team. Bring them on at home, and I hope that Thierry Henry plays, to give them the beating they so richly deserve.

Arsenal vs Manchester United - Emirates Stadium, London - Sunday 21st January 2007

The games at the new stadium gradually get bigger, and the visit of Manchester United was the latest “first” at the stadium. After seeing off Liverpool and Spurs already, the mood was that United would be much, much more difficult. Nevertheless, spirits were high in the pub before the game, especially given the decent cup and away league results over the past couple of weeks. Whilst not expecting a win, most people seemed to be more than hopefully of one.

The match started in typical fashion for a United game. The referee booked Toure very early in the game, then proceeded not to book a succession of United players for things that seemed worse that Toure’s offence. No change there then. The first half was even enough, and at 0-0 at half time, I felt that Arsenal were playing well enough to get a decent result. It was not a classic game, but was nicely in the balance, so was certainly intriguing.

Ten minutes into the second half, United went ahead, after our defence went to sleep and allowed big fat Wayne Rooney to get in at the far post for a header from a cross. In a reasonably even game, it wasn’t hugely deserved, but it wasn’t entirely undeserved either.

In response to being a goal down, Arsene Wenger did something that I have often complained about the lack of in the past – he radically and quickly changed the game plan. Putting 2 subs on so that we had 4 strikers in effect (Henry, Adebayor, Van Persie, and Baptista), with the hardly un-attacking Rosicky there as well, it was a bold attacking move to try to rescue the game. Some pressure, some decent chances, but also some unproductive huffing and puffing followed.

With around 10 minutes to go, apparently Andy Gray on Sky started to praise the professionalism of United’s performance – to go ahead, then close out the game to secure a 1-0 win. Excellent, then, that they collapsed in the last 10 minutes. Arsenal were going all guns blazing, and Van Persie slid in from a seemingly impossible angle to divert a cross into the roof of the net with 7 minutes to go. The North Bank went mental, and with 4 strikers on the pitch, there was a real feeling that we would turn the screw and win the game.

A further 7 minutes, plus 3 of injury time later, came the moment we had all been waiting for, and which sparked the best celebration in the new stadium yet. A cross from the right, Henry rose in the middle to get an excellent header, which beat Van Der Sar, hit the back of the net, and made the entire stadium erupt. I was very glad that some fool in front of me had left when we were 1-0 down, and missed the whole thing. When the final whistle went, Henry went ballistic, pumping fists, jumping up and down, and coming over to the north west corner for prolonged applause to the crowd. A magnificent comeback and a magnificent result, which surely gives the team belief that they can beat anybody, anytime.

I had been saying, earlier in the season, that Arsenal urgently needed to get some memorable results under their belt as soon as possible - to help fans and the team identify with the new stadium, and ultimately to help make it an intimidating fortress. Well, despite good wins against Liverpool and Spurs, nothing quite beats an injury time win against table-topping Manchester United, after being 1-0 down with seven minutes to play. In fact, not many games beat that at all.

It was a pretty lucky win, United were the better team for a majority of the game, and to be honest, it actually helped Chelsea more than anybody else. But, a magic, magic game, and I always love an opportunity to stick it to the arrogant Manc hordes. Sky TV pundits were practically in tears that their beloved team could have lost like that. We have now taken 6 points from them, after our great away win earlier in the season - if only we could do this for 38 games, we would be unstoppable as champions.

Jamie T - Islington Academy, London - Wednesday 17th January 2007

The second free gig this week, this time thanks to XFM. I first saw Jamie T all the way back at the end of 2005, which seems like a bloomin' long time ago now. Back then, I thought that he upstaged the Mystery Jets, who he was supporting that night.

He has had a fairly quiet year since then, but now his album Panic Prevention is a week away from release, and is being touted as one of the potentially very big releases of 2007. Those that have heard it swear that this will be a huge mainstream crossover album, and are expecting the world to be surprised by how successful it becomes. Must be OK then, unless Virgin are spending their huge marketing budget in the mere hope of making it so.

Jamie T (and his band called the Pacemakers - hasn't there been a backing band called that before?) came on stage just before 9pm, and went straight into the opening track from their album, Brand New Bass Guitar. The audience, most of whom were lovely and white and middle class, but with a few chavs in evidence, seemed to approve. Jamie seemed to be playing up to them, and there was definitely a very enthusiastic hardcore at the front, constantly jumping around.

Obvious highlights of the set were the singles - Sheila, If You Got The Money, and new one Calm Down Dearest, as well as set closer Salvador. The recorded versions of each of these were familiar to me, and in most cases the live versions sounded even better - very mental and manic. Many of the less familiar songs sounded like lots of fast guitars with shouting over the top, but then the songs I knew would have sounded like that had I not previously known the well-produced and recorded versions. So I suspect that, when I am more familiar with the rest of the album, that I'd really like to see the songs again in a live setting.

Overall I really enjoyed the set. Many of the songs are pretty chaotic live, so it definitely helps if you know the recorded versions, so at least you can follow what is going on in all the live chaos! I suspect that the album tracks, if there are hopes of mainstream success, sound significantly different, probably quite a bit slower, and they probably make a better job of showcasing the very clever lyrics that many Jamie T songs have. But a great show, a UK tour to come, and I suspect that the album will be one of the first highlights of 2007.

The View, 1990s, The Magic Numbers - Channel 4 Album Chart Show, Koko, London - Monday 15th January 2007

After going to watch Channel 4's Album Chart Show being filmed last March, I was somewhat put off by the experience of seeing bands play songs that you don't really know; and waiting for ages in between bands, whilst attention-seeking TV presenters embarrass themselves. So, despite tickets being free (and missing an amazing show in October that Kasabian, The Killers and Beck all appeared at), I haven't really been arsed to go back. This time though, The View were playing, so it had to be done.

I was pleased to find that, in general, the show was better organised, and much more enjoyable for the audience than a year ago. In fact, if you choose to, you need not even notice too much that filming is going on, for much of the time at least. Which, given that it is free, makes for a decent evening if you like the bands. £4.20 for a can of Fosters is, however, not amusing at all.

First band on were the Magic Numbers, who played 3 songs from their new album, which of course is not as good as their debut album. I have to admit that I have become a bit bored with the Magic Numbers, and can't help feeling that many of their songs would be great if they lasted for 3 minutes, but are a bit tedious when they are getting on for 5 minutes long. I think they released their second album too soon, and should have waited until they had 12 better songs to go out with. Their opener was This Is A Song, which was good. The other 2 songs were quite forgettable.

Next up was a short set from 1990s. Last time I saw them, I was impressed, and they sounded a million times better than that this evening. They played 3 great songs, sounded really tight, and the guitar sound in particular was fantastic. They also looked like they were having a great time. The Channel 4 people messed up the filming of their first song, so they had to do it again, which is always a bonus at these things. Overall, I was really impressed with them, and I couldn't believe it was the same band that I saw 5 months ago.

Next up were The View. With a single out that day, they had comfortably the biggest cheer of the night when they came on stage. They played Coming Down, Same Jeans, Skag Trendy, and The Don, all of which sounded fantastic. Unfortunately again, the filming went wrong, so they just had to play Same Jeans again, which had the crowd very excited the second time around. With some unintelligible on-stage banter in between songs, we were treated to the full View experience, if a somewhat shorter version.

Bloc Party did play after The View, but I'm going to see them in a couple of weeks, so didn't really want to wait around for half an hour, just to see 4 songs. And, you can't watch bands play after The View these days, they are a proper headline band now.

Winterkids - Borderline, London - Saturday 13th January 2007

When you walk into the Borderline, just off Charing Cross Road in London, there are dozens of lists on the wall, showing all of the people (famous and non-famous), that have played there in the past. Winterkids will obviously now be joining that list, and I suspect that they will end up being one of the more famous bands to have played here on their way up.

Coming on stage at 8:45, for a short set, the singer was immaculately decked out in a suit, and couldn't help reminding me of Johnny Borrell - his hair and face were more than a bit reminiscent. With his sister on keyboards, her boyfriend on drums, and 2 guitarists, their songs sounded very easy on the ears. I was reminded of the Magic Numbers in a way, but some of the songs had (good) echoes of some of Idlewild's past highlights.

During about the third song, the power failed. When it was restored, I realised that we had hardly been able to hear the lead guitarist up until then - so the set was much improved after the unscheduled interval.

Winterkids were very tight as a band, and clearly already have an album's worth of good songs already. They seemed to be very much in the same vein as the Magic Numbers, a band that sound "nice", and would have a very friendly audience. Because of their obvious wide appeal, to indie kids as well as daytime radio listeners, I suspect that they will do well, when they eventually sign a record deal in the UK.

There were a decent number of pretty committed fans at this gig. Their songs are good, and in some cases they are great, and the look and image of the band is also excellent. I expect that they will do very well - you will be hearing about them before too long!

Arsenal vs Charlton Athletic - Emirates Stadium, London - Tuesday 2nd January 2007

Three days after rounding off 2006 with a frankly pathetic defeat at Sheffield United, there was an early chance to get a good start to 2007, with a home game against Charlton - a banker, surely, given Charlton's struggles this season. Still, with Alan Pardew newly appointed as manager, they could have caused us some problems as they looked to impress the new boss.

A big boost at kick off with the news that Thierry Henry was back in the side, and he looked up for the game, rested, and explosive again, after his lacklustre and injury-ravaged season so far.

As the game started and then progressed, it became apparent that Charlton are where they are in the league for a very good reason indeed. They are largely inept, most of their simple passes were incapable of being completed successfully, they weren't even trying anything too ambitious, but seemed incapable of even doing the easy stuff properly. A very poor side.

The first goal came when a Fabregas shot looped up, and left a rebound for Van Persie to tap in. As he was on his way to tap it in, he was pulled back, and the ref immediately awarded a penalty and red card. So, Charlton were one down and down to 10 men, and there really was likely to be no way back from there. Just before half time, a good 1-2 involving Justin Hoyte resulted in Hoyte slotting in the second, to a great reaction from the home crowd, no doubt proud that an English player had scored for Arsenal.

The second half contained more of the same, and Arsenal could have easily reached double figures in that half alone. A Rosicky shot that hit the post, an Henry goal that was wrongly disallowed for offside, lots more wasted opportunities by Arsenal, and a series of heroics from Scott Carson in the Charlton goal - all conspired to keep the score at least vaguely respectable. Carson was magnificent, the only Charlton player to emerge with any credit at all, he was making save after save after save, to the point that Arsenal fans started singing England's Number One, and Sign Him Up.

Arsenal did score 2 more in the second half, a penalty which was won by Henry and absolutely crashed into the roof of the net by Van Persie, and a late second by Van Persie again, to round off a great evening. Many of the reports made much of Henry's return, and it was a good one - he scored a penalty, won another, and set up a third goal. He seems to be raring to go, which is a great sign for all Arsenal fans.

This was an easy game, and Arsenal are unlikely to have an easier time of anything for the rest of the season. As a result, you just take the 3 points gratefully, but I couldn't help wondering how Arsenal might have done against better or more competent opposition. The number of chances that were missed, the number of attacks that failed to produce concrete chances, all make you wonder how we will get on in the tougher games to come - if we do not become more clinical. Still, some good shooting practice tonight, with mixed results, against easily the worst Premiership team I have seen this season.