Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur - Emirates Stadium, London - Saturday 22nd December 2007

After my work Christmas party the previous day, the last thing I needed was a 12:45 kick off, especially against Spurs. Just when I needed to channel all hatred at the opposition, and crank the vocal chords up to the maximum, I woke up feeling rubbish, and unable to do anything except feel like death. Things didn't get much better on entering the stadium, and finding out that Robin Van Persie was nowhere to be seen - injured again when we are facing a run of games where we really need him.

There was much to talk about before the game - Spurs improvement since Juande Ramos took over (not that they could have got much worse); the very exciting (if a little daunting) Champions League draw against AC Milan; the promising win by the kids at Blackburn in the Carling Cup during the week (with a totally different 16 to the one we had today - that's strength in depth for you!); and the subsequent semi final draw, which gives us 2 bonus games against Spurs next month - lovely! That and Christmas meant that there was barely time to squeeze all that chat in before the game started.

Luckily, the first half was so uneventful that the conversation could continue, if only as a necessary evil to break up the boredom. Arsenal just didn't seem to be trying at all - in fact, you could almost believe that it was a deliberate tactic, to contain Spurs, conserve energy, and try to play the match in the second half only. Spurs were working hard, chasing everything, and doing all the running - with Arsenal doing just the bare minimum to avoid going behind. Perhaps we were cruelly toying with them before beating them later, or perhaps we just had an off half - but at half time, there were some frayed nerves after a most un-Arsenal-like performance.

The second half was much more exciting all round, containing more incident than many whole games. It also saw a much improved Arsenal performance. After 2 minutes or so, we had taken the lead, a fantastic move cutting right through Spurs, and a brilliant backheel from Fabregas to Adebayor, who finished very coolly indeed. That woke both team and fans up, and Arsenal had a couple of good chances in the minutes that followed.

After a while though, Spurs started to claw their way back into the game. Robbie Keane missed a chance that it would have been much, much easier to score, much to the amusement of everybody at the northern end of the ground. A few minutes later, though, Spurs did equalise - Keane feeding Dimitar Berbatov, who drilled a fantastic shot at a very difficult angle, to about the only place that Manuel Almunia wouldn't have been able to save it. Berbatov did look like their only world class player (that's because he is), but he did also spend lots of the game standing around with his hands on his hips, looking completely disinterested.

Things turned even more into Spurs' favour (briefly), when they were awarded a penalty, one about which we could have no complaint. Robbie Keane then stepped up and took a very poor kick, which was saved by Almunia. After some scary pinball in the box, we finally got the ball clear, and that proved to be the turning point of the game. Suitably warned about the dangers of being slack, Arsenal stepped up a gear. Spurs players heads dropped, and the balance of power started to swing back in Arsenal's direction.

The game was won just after the 70 minute mark, when Arsenal won a corner. We sent on Nicklas Bendtner whilst Fabregas was waiting to take the kick. Spurs also sent on Jermaine Defoe as a sub, breaking the first rule of coaching, that you are not supposed to make a substitution when defending a corner or free kick. That is because people don't know who they are supposed to be marking - and thankfully, nobody was marking Bendtner. Cesc floated the corner in, and Nicky rose up to head it in with his first touch. There were a few tense moments between then and the end of the game, but Arsenal were pretty competent in closing out the victory.

A very good win - Spurs haven't beaten Arsenal since 1999 (or 20 games), so it is always good to cheat the law of averages again (although it can't be long before it bites us). We won without playing particularly well, and arguably without playing at all for half of the game. Six points from games against Chelsea and Spurs isn't at all bad, so we are still top of the League at Christmas. A very nice present for Gooners everywhere. The Observer match report is here, as is another review, with some good Arsenal vs Spurs stats. We'll see the Spuds again in January, for (hopefully) some more Arsenal victory.

Arsenal vs Chelsea - Emirates Stadium, London - Sunday 16th December 2007

After a disappointing false alarm last season, where Cashley Cole failed to show up and face the wrath of Arsenal fans, thankfully he turned up this time - allowing everybody to get him out of their system. It was actually a bit of an anti climax in the end, the level of hatred falling far below that at last season's game (when he wasn't even there), and well below the abuse he deserved. Of course, the little shit was booed every time he touched the ball, and laughed at every time something went wrong for him (which was quite a few times, as he had a stinker of a game), but I think many were expecting something more. The crunching last minute tackle from Fabregas was one that many Gooners wanted to make themselves, and his possible FA charge for flicking a v-sign at the Arsenal fans is amusing - but compared to what Sol Campbell got on his return to Spurs, I can't help feeling he got off a bit lightly.

Anyway, enough about a money grabbing little bastard, and on to the game. It was fairly uneventful for much of the first half, with not much of interest going on really. Chelsea looked very good when they got the ball and went forward, something that I hadn't really seen from them since the pre-Mourinho era (which seems like a very long time ago now). In fact, at certain points when Chelsea were on the attack, they seemed to be playing Arsenal's kind of game, although in fits and starts. Arsenal couldn't offer all that much in return, partly because of Chelsea's very effective, but quite cynical, fouling - just enough fouling to break up Arsenal moves, but not enough to attract too much attention (or too many yellow cards). A very clever way to break up a good side's play. That said though, Arsenal did take some time to settle in, the return of Fabregas, Flamini and Hleb to the team probably not helping the cohesion.

Many people had already left their seats for half time when Arsenal scored the winner. What seemed like a routine corner was floated over, straight at Peter Cech for an easy keeper's claim. Except that, for some inexplicable reason, Cech didn't get to the ball, and Gallas was waiting just past him, for an easy nod into the net. Watching the TV replays, the corner looks like such a straightforward one, that would have been claimed 99 times out of 100. So, a lucky break, but Arsenal are probably due one of those against Chelsea - its been a while.

The second half was significantly more open and eventful than the first - both teams created some good chances, and the ball flashed across Manual Almunia's 6-yard box on far more occasions than I would have liked. Chelsea seemed to miss Drogba, and I got the feeling that they would probably have scored if they had had him up front instead of Shevchenko, who looked useless. Still, Arsenal were missing Van Persie for much of the game too, and when he came on with 20 minutes to go, it was obvious what a big loss he is to the team, and how much of a boost it is to have him back. He was electric, quick, skillful, and his presence completely transformed Arsenal's attacking game. Wow, now I'm really excited that he's back, because that appearance reminded me how good Robin Van Persie can be when up for it and at his best.

Special mention in this game must go to referee Alan Wiley, who was lucky not to have needed a police escort out of North London - only the fact that Arsenal held on for the win saved him. As well as seeming to give most of the small free kick decisions Chelsea's way, he disallowed 2 Arsenal goals in the last 10 minutes, at least one of which was for no discernable reason whatsoever. He then saw fit to add a whole 5 minutes of injury time, to a second half where I don't even recall seeing either physio, at least not for very long. And, 5 and a half minutes into injury time, when it was all kicking off between Fabregas and Cole, he totally bottled out of doing his job, by blowing the final whistle. A hard tackle by Fabregas had sparked some pushing and shoving, and had seen Cole appear to punch Fabregas. Justification to punish Cole there - but he booked Fabregas for the foul, then blew for full time - a disgraceful chickening out of making the right decision.

Still, we got the result in the end, and that is what matters. Gallas's performance (again) was outstanding today, and the displays by Fabregas, Van Persie, Flamini and Hleb showed just how much we miss them when they aren't there. We are still top of the League (and maintained our ground) with another tough game out of the way, so it was a good day all in all. I can't help thinking that winning the title this season will depend on how many games we can keep a small band of players fit for - and the 4 mentioned above are most of that group. Their presence will be vital if this season is to live up to the miracle that may be on the horizon.

Work trip to Chicago, USA - 10th to 14th December 2007

A chilly week in freezing Chicago for work, a city that most Americans seem to have only nice things to say about. I have often heard Chicago called "the typical American city", bearing in mind the fact that New York and Los Angeles are both a bit unusual in many ways. So, I was pretty excited to see what it was all about, until I read on Chicago's Wikipedia entry that one of its twin cities is Birmingham. Oh well, nowhere is perfect I suppose.

Arriving at O'Hare airport, I was very quickly reminded that Chicago has a huge Polish population (in fact having more Poles than any city in the world except Warsaw). If you think that the UK has a lot of Polish people, Chicago beats it hands down. In the airport, most of the staff were talking to each other in Polish, and it seemed that only the immigration people themselves spoke English routinely. At the taxi rank to get into town, pretty much every cab driver that pulled up, plus the despatcher, were speaking quickfire Polish, and we went past a number of big Polish churches on the way to my hotel.

The Chicago skyline is very impressive indeed, from the Sears Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the world, to just an "average" skyscraper of 20 to 30 floors or so. There are big buildings everywhere, and that certainly gives the city a sense of importance. By contrast, the Chicago River, running through the city centre, is very small, reminiscent of the Singapore River in being a small river surrounded on both sides by very tall buildings. This even adds to the effect there, because when you are standing on a bridge over the river, surrounded by buildings, you feel very small indeed.

Chicago is also one of the only places I've ever been to that has the weird phenomenon of double decker streets (Hong Kong is another one, to some extent). These generally feature a lower level that carries through traffic, and a level above it, where you can see daylight, where all the traffic lights are. In much of the city centre, the double decker streets feature railways on the upper level. Seeing this, and thinking about it, it looked familiar from films (probably ones that feature Chicago), but it was a strange sight to see "El" trains running directly above the street.

To say it is extremely cold in Chicago at this time of year, is a massive understatement. For the 5 days I was there, the temperature never got above freezing, and the lows in the evenings were down as low as -10. Added to the wind chill in the "Windy City", and it could be bitterly cold indeed. I managed to miss the huge snowstorms that hit the north-east of the country at the same time, but it was more extreme weather than you get in Britain - even though we aren't exactly renowned for good weather, we don't seem to have crazy extremes like that.

As well as going to see The Lemonheads and some ice hockey, I of course spent some quality time eating typical gut busting Chicago food. Deep dish pizzas, big thick hotdogs, huge steaks and all sorts of other unhealthy stuff, made sure that my stomach was full, but they probably take a few years off your life. One particular highlight was a trip to a steakhouse, where there was a 48oz steak on offer, topped with a couple of lobster tails - all for $90, and the most unnecessarily over the top meal in the world. When they also point you towards their "family style" (i.e. massive, big enough for a family to share) portions of side dishes, you know that you aren't going to go hungry. I thought you could eat well in Philadelphia and New York, but the default in Chicago seems to be for huge amounts of gut-busting food. Brilliant for a week, but I'd imagine that it would get tiresome (or you would get fat) after a while.

With the amount of work I was doing, I didn't get as much time as I'd have liked to explore the city - and the visibility wasn't great, which made a trip up the Sears Tower rather pointless anyway. I did get to go out to the Wicker Park area of the city, which was full of cool shops, bars, restaurants and venues - rather like South Street in Philadelphia. The city centre was nice, although pretty business like, and I got the feeling that it emptied out quite a bit after 6pm, as everybody went back to their neighbourhoods. The shopping drag of North Michigan Avenue was entertaining for a (very cold) evening, walking past the Tiffany and Cartier shops, to get to the Apple shop for a play with their new toys.

All in all I had a good few days in Chicago - it was a nice city, with a real sense that you are in a big, important place. I have to say that I could easily live here, but at the same time, I don't really get why the Americans I know all seem to love the place so much. It is a good city, but lets not go overboard about just how good.

Chicago Blackhawks vs Los Angeles Kings - United Center, Chicago, USA - Wednesday 12th December 2007

Tempted as I was to go and see The Lemonheads for the second night in a row, peer pressure meant that we all headed off to the ice hockey instead. The Chicago Blackhawks have been having a bad time for the last 15 years or so, usually playing to a half empty United Center, and with thousands of fans staying away in protest at the owner and some of his decisions (like banning games from being shown on TV). The fact that the unpopular owner died a few months ago, the games are back on TV, and the club isn't a complete circus any more, has seen some fans start to return to the arena. However, it was still under half full for this game, so it was easy to wander up 10 minutes before the start of the game, and pay $15 for seats at the back. We didn't sit in them, of course, because there were so many empty seats towards the front, that were just begging to be used instead.

I've always thought that ice hockey (or just "hockey", as the Americans call it), is the best of the big 4 American sports, probably helped no end by the fact that the game is Canadian, and all of the players are either Canadian or Eastern European. There aren't as many stop-start interruptions as in American Football, Baseball or Basketball, so you tend to get much better and longer periods of uninterrupted play. The fact that, in principle at least, it is quite like football, also helps the enjoyment.

The game experience was a weird one, with lots of drunk idiots at the back of the arena, whooping and cheering at inexplicable things. Whilst the game was going on, everything was relayed on a huge screen suspended over the ice - so it was hard to work out whether you were better off following the ice, or the TV coverage of what was happening on the ice. And, any game that is divided into 3 periods of play, is pretty weird as far as I am concerned.

When you go to a hockey match, you really want to see 2 things - goals and fighting. Thankfully, the one (and probably the only) game I went to had lots of both. It finished 6-3 to the Blackhawks, which is apparently quite a few goals for a hockey game. And, there were some good punchups between the players, including an extended fight in the first period. The venue punctuates the fighting with comedy punching noises, which makes it clear that everybody sees the fights as a key part of the overall action. They ranged from semi-serious to comedy play fighting, but were amusing. We also saw hockey sticks get broken, some sin bin action, and some powerplays. Generally, much of what want on passed me by, but I obviously managed to understand the basic premise that teams were trying to score some goals.

This was an interesting experience, although not one that I'd go all out to repeat in a hurry. Of course, going to a half empty arena took something away from the whole thing, I'm sure it would have been much more enjoyable if it had been full and rocking. However, getting in for $15 was fantastic - I guess it was a direct result of the obvious trouble that the Blackhawks have in selling out their games, but it certainly made for a decent evening's entertainment at a very reasonable price. Given that, I don't know why more people don't get off their arses, move away from the TV, and go to fill the arena.

The Lemonheads, Racoon, The New Rivals - Double Door, Chicago, USA - Tuesday 11th December 2007

I was very pleased one day last month, when a lazy look at Pollstar told me that The Lemonheads were playing in Chicago when I was due to be in town. A visit to Ticketmaster later, and I had willingly relieved myself of a bargain $20 for a ticket, plus an utterly less reasonable $18 on top for booking fees and stuff. A Tuesday night gig, not even starting until 9pm, promised to be very bad for the jetlag, but a good night nonetheless.

The venue for the show was the Double Door, in the Wicker Park area of the city. Sitting in the cab up there, we passed by lots of cool looking shops, bars and restaurants, before finally arriving at the venue, so named because it sits on the corner of 2 roads, with a door on each street. After getting in and settling down with a beer, I was pleased to hear Anarchy In The UK amongst the many punk songs that the DJ was playing. It seemed quite strange that I was about 4000 miles from home, listening to a song sung by a man that grew up a couple of hundred yards from where I live, and with Americans singing along loudly, in awful Cockney accents.

The first band on were called The New Rivals, a band from New York who were fronted by a hyperactive man in a red baseball cap, unfortunately resembling Fred Durst a little too much. No matter, his band were pretty good, playing a highly energetic set, of what could I guess be described as College Rock - sounding not totally unlike the soundtrack to American Pie. The songs were good, and the singer was a very engaging frontman indeed. I enjoyed their short set, and it looked like they were enjoying it too.

After a short break, during which the DJ surpassed himself by playing Ice T's Cop Killer, the main support band called Racoon appeared. They are from the Netherlands, and although the singer spoke with a classic Dutch accent, he sang with a classic American one - most unusual. Their set was very interesting, mixing some obvious grunge influences (although fairly soft and melancholic ones) with a funky sound that the Red Hot Chili Peppers would be proud of, and adding hints of country and folk influences as well. A really entertaining mix, and something that was always going to go down well with American audiences. They are a pretty "soft" band, cheesy almost, but their set was generally excellent, and the singer fronted it all extremely well.

When The Lemonheads came on stage just after 11pm, I was just about ready to collapse and fall asleep, but the opening bars of Hospital quickly woke me up again, and No Backbone immediately afterwards kicked things up another gear. What followed that was an hour and a quarter of absolute mayhem, almost overwhelming at times, considering how quickly the great songs were coming. I counted 25 songs in all, in a little over 75 minutes, which shows how many great (short) pop songs Evan Dando has written, and how they were working hard to cram them all into a very intense set. Fairly typically, there was a 45 minute set of full electric noise, followed by some Evan Dando solo stuff, including a fairly rare playing of Different Drum, then a few more electric songs to finish.

Evan Dando's guitar sounded absolutely amazing throughout, with incredible distortion and feedback just adding to the sense of excitement - especially on songs like Down About It, and It's A Shame About Ray, which were extra distorted, and sounded great. The songs came thick and fast, with virtually no chat in between, occasionally the odd bit of feedback, but most often just ploughing straight from one song into another, giving quickfire excitement as you recognised another great song starting. Incredible stuff, and a reminder of what a great band The Lemonheads are when in full flow - driven of course by the genius of Evan Dando.

For this gig, there can't have been more than 200 people in the venue, which wouldn't have held all that many more anyway. Despite this being a fairly normal gig on a normal Lemonheads US tour, the venue was much smaller and more up close than anything you would see in the UK - if only because they need to play fairly big venues in the UK to make the trip worthwhile. In the office on the day before the gig, most people had heard of The Lemonheads, but it seems like they just don't sell all that many tickets in the US any more - although the crowd on the night were typically devoted. All this made for an unusual and special experience, and the chance to see one of my favourite bands in such a small place.

Leyton Orient vs Cheltenham Town - Brisbane Road, London - Saturday 8th December 2007

A cold Saturday in December seemed like the perfect time to make the now traditional trip to see Leyton Orient take on Cheltenham Town. With friends supporting both sides, they have been in the same division for a few years now (although that may not continue for much longer on current form), which gives a good opportunity to see a Saturday 3pm kick off, and have a few beers into the bargain.

We had the most expensive seats in the ground, which I was slightly shocked to find cost £35, so more that I pay at Arsenal. That was for the equivalent of Club Level though, with access to a nice warm bar, and with seats practically on the half way line. Amusingly, at about 25 minutes before kick off, the Leyton Orient manager came up to the gallery to speak for 5 minutes, giving his thoughts on the team, and on the game ahead. Incredible to see a professional football manager doing that right before the game, and it made Arsene Wenger's reading of the team on telly seem a bit tame by comparison.

The game itself was played in the pissing rain (it always seems to rain when I go to Leyton Orient), and on a pitch that started off Ok, but which cut up fairly badly as the game went on. Not that much slick passing was happening on the pitch, of course. This was a game between a top four side and a bottom four side, and there really wasn't all that much between them - certainly not as much as there would have been between opposite ends of the Premier League. League One is definitely more even, and it was probably only the home advantage, plus a couple of dangerous looking moves, that made the difference for Orient.

One amusing sight at the game (apart from some of the "limited" skills on show on the field), was the fact that John Terry's brother was playing - sporting the classic Terry good looks too! He must be annoyed occasionally, that his brother is England captain, whilst he is gracing the pitches of League One, making a living, but probably only just. He looked like one of the better players on show, and for some of the others, it was quite hard to believe that they actually play football professionally, for their living - such was the clogging on display.

The other main observation from the game (other than the £3 programmes - shocking!) was that there were a good number of robust challenges to entertain us. What in the Champions League would be a likely red card, and in the Premier League would get a certain yellow card, you may not even see a free kick at this level. Part of that is because the players aren't as good - and if you punished everything with Champions League standards, there would be 3 players left on the pitch at half time. But it was good to see the "victims" of these challenges mostly getting up immediately, unscathed, and getting on with the game.

After a number of post match beers, in Leyton and elsewhere, the final pub stop of the evening was in Whitechapel, at the Blind Beggar pub. This was the scene of one of the Kray twins' murders in the 60s, although sadly now, the pub has been tarted up significantly, and is overrun with Kray tourists. They even give you special "Blind Beggar" pound coins in your change, which consist of a black sticker on every pound coin - most strange. Standing at the bar, I couldn't help wondering if the salad with chorizo and rocket was a feature of the 60s menu too. A very surreal venue, kind of a 21st century pub, but still very much trading off its past.

The Courteeners, Black Kids - Kings College, London - Wednesday 5th December 2007

I got a lift to a gig tonight (an elevator, not a seat in somebody's car), for a show at Kings College's 4th floor venue. The Courteeners were in town, for their biggest London headline show yet, and the venue was long since sold out. It seems that, although not many people have heard of them yet (most of the people I tell them about still look confused and say "who?"), those that have are an ever growing number, and are pretty hardcore - knowing all of the words to all of the songs for example. Last time it went absolutely mental, and this gig was 3 times the size - an exciting one, that's for sure.

Support band were Black Kids, a band from America who are over in the UK for 4 or 5 quickfire gigs in as many days (actually, they are doing 2 gigs on one day during their trip). I missed the beginning of their set, but managed to catch enough to form an opinion. They weren't bad at all, an interesting sound, and some decent songs - especially towards the end of the set, which brought them a decent cheer from the crowd as they departed.

The Courteeners came on stage just before 10pm, and kicked things off with Aftershow and Kimberley as normal - happily getting my 2 least favourite Courteeners songs out of the way first. After that it was just one fantastic song after another, with many of the crowd again singing all of the words back, much to singer Liam's bemusement at some points in the show. The band had just had a bit of a bad review in the Guardian, which Liam mentioned on a couple of occasions, and which attracted boos from the crowd.

As the 45 minute set went on, the songs got more and more lively, and the moshpit at the front of the crowd was going increasingly mad. After a crazy mosh for Fallowfield Hillbilly, I was wondering how much more mental things could go for Acrylic and What Took You So Long. The answer was "quite a bit more", with several people managing to join the band on stage during the set closer. What Took You So Long also featured the now customary (and brilliant) section of James's Tomorrow, as seen here. As expected from such a new and exciting band, there was no encore, so they left a venue full of people wanting more.

Another amazing set to add to a rapidly growing list of great shows by The Courteeners - they can't stay too much of a secret for long, surely? The comparisons with the Arctic Monkeys also keep on coming. The Courteeners won't be that big, because they don't have enough great songs - the Arctics had 2 dozen classics at this point in their career, and The Courteeners can't match that. But it is a good comparison, at least to give the uninitiated an idea of how exciting the Arctic Monkeys were at their early live shows. Well worth getting into, but it is probably going a bit far to say that The Courteeners are truly the new Arctic Monkeys.

Setlist: Aftershow / Kimberley / No You Didn't, No You Don't / Please Don't / If It Wasn't For Me / Bide Your Time / Cavorting / Not Nineteen Forever / Fallowfield Hillbilly / Acrylic / What Took You So Long.