Arsenal vs Fulham - Emirates Stadium, London - Saturday 28th February 2009

In a season that can only be described as a frustrating, depressing affair for Arsenal fans, this game was probably the low point of it all. After three successive 0-0 draws in the League, and an absolute paucity of goals generally, the Roma win gave everybody a lift, which most hoped would be carried over into our League form. Not to be. It wasn't just yet another 0-0 draw that was so annoying for many, it was the manner of the draw, the opponents, and what happened in the game.

Fulham showed up at Emirates with an awful away record. But, to their immense credit, they were willing to play football, to pass the ball around, and to go forward in search of scoring opportunities. Usually, Arsenal sides eat teams like this for breakfast - it plays right into our hands. But, this looked to be an Arsenal side that was shorn of any creativity whatsoever. Often, the excuse for frustrating home games is that the opposition were negative, they put 10 men behind the ball, and were only interested in not conceding. This cannot be said about Fulham, who were creative and positive from the word go. That fact just made Arsenal's performance seem like they had run out of excuses as well as ideas. Which, when you charge the prices Arsenal do, is always going to cause unhappiness.

Arseblog has a post which is considerably more emotive and fact laden than I am capable of (especially a few days later, now that I have calmed down a bit!), but a performance like this was really not good enough. I don't boo at Arsenal games - I don't think it does the team any good - but it was hard to be too critical of those that chose to boo at the end. The most upsetting part of it all was the total and utter disappearance of our midfield for the last 15 minutes. They looked knackered, and allowed Fulham to (literally) control the game for the last period. Embarrassing, and completely a reflection of how poorly Arsenal played.

All of this would and could have been a mortal blow to our Champions League qualifying hopes. By beating Stoke at home, Aston Villa could have gone 8 points clear of Arsenal, with (you suspect) not enough games to make up the gap. But, from leading 2-0, Villa contrived to draw their game the next day, then to lose to Manchester City whilst we beat West Brom. So, the gap could have been 8 points, in fact a few days later it was 3. A reminder of how quickly football can change, and lets hope that isn't the last dramatic swing back in Arsenal's favour. With plenty of players to come back soon, fingers crossed that things get better!

The Enemy - Tunbridge Wells Forum, Tunbridge Wells - Friday 27th February 2009

This was the gig that never happened - for a very stupid reason on the face of it - but in reality it was only ever due to happen in the first place because this band care more about their fans than almost any other.

It all started when The Enemy - the band that are supporting Oasis this summer, and who (along with fellow support band Kasabian) probably embody the descendent of the Oasis musical family tree better than anybody - decided that they would play a series of 5 gigs in small towns. Presumably some kind of canvassing happened before they decided on the towns, but Tunbridge Wells was the "representative" from the South East of England.

Not only that, but the Forum in Tunbridge Wells was the chosen venue - admittedly, there aren't an abundance of choices, but there we go. The Forum is a fine choice, a venue that has been around for over 15 years - putting on lots of mediocre touring bands, the odd band (like Oasis, Coldplay, and most recently The Kooks and The View) who did OK; and simultaneously giving lots of local kids a venue to watch bands in, and lots of local kids who picked up a musical instrument a place to play. So, a great thing that a band like The Enemy were coming to a place like The Forum.

The venue was announced at 9am on the day of the gig, and the first 50 people to email a specific address got a pair of tickets. All exciting stuff, and as well as me getting lucky, half a dozen friends also did - so we were set for a good crowd at the gig. The rest of the day was spent getting excited about it, and (for me) getting the train down from London to Tunbridge Wells after work. It was during that journey that I got a bad phone call - the gig was cancelled because Tom had hurt his hand riding a bike. Most annoying, and you suspect that their Wembley Stadium Oasis support slots will not have the same misfortune! Still, it was a free gig, so whilst disappointing, it wasn't the end of the world.

As 10 or so of us were in the pub getting over our disappointment, somebody was on the phone, waving frantically at the rest of us. He had Tom from The Enemy on the phone, calling personally to apologise for cancelling the gig, and saying to go along anyway to have a drink with the band. Incredible - and over the next 20 minutes, the rest of us all got calls from members of the band. Mostly from Tom, although mine was from Liam, which was slightly disappointing, especially when all of your mates are getting calls from the main man! So, they cancelled the gig, but then called everybody to say sorry. This being a 50 person task made it all the easier, plus the fact that they had everybody's mobile numbers - but still something I don't think you'd get Pete Doherty doing when he cancels a gig.

So, we all went to the venue and got a beer. One of The Enemy's mates was DJ-ing on stage, and it was a bit weird inside - a full crowd there, looking towards the stage, in the full knowledge that no band was going to be playing. Then, at about 9:30, the band showed up. Tom took to the stage, apologised again for cancelling, and said that there was a drink for everybody at the bar. Again, something that not many bands would think to do for their fans - so full marks to The Enemy. The band stayed around for a good hour afterwards, talking to everybody, signing autographs, posing for photos, and making vague promises to try to reschedule (we shall see!). All in all, they really made the effort to try to make up for cancelling the show, and those that waited in the venue I suspect now have a lot more respect for The Enemy. Well done to them for "keeping it real". If they can reschedule the gig as well, that would be the icing on the cake.

Arsenal vs AS Roma - Emirates Stadium, London - Tuesday 24th February 2009

After a few months of depressing League form, it was great to have Champions League football back - possibly for the last time for a while, if the League form doesn't improve. That said, I suspect the Champions League may be our best chance of a trophy this season, as the playing style suits us much better than the "English" style. Our biggest danger is probably when we meet another English team to knock us out! I am one of those Arsenal fans who loves the big European nights at home (as opposed to the crap European nights) more than anything else - and on an unseasonably warm evening, the atmosphere was much better than usual inside the stadium.

Roma had had a season of two halves so far, really struggling in Serie A for the first few months, but then coming good in the last 10 games or so. Meanwhile, they had been doing well in the Champions League, getting a win and a draw against Chelsea in their group. Given how good they can be, I was surprised by how poor they were in this game. They had their moments - a couple of chances in the first half, some fleeting moments in the last 20 minutes or so, and a very tense last 5 minutes plus injury time. But for the rest of the game, Arsenal pretty much dominated. A surprisingly poor showing from the visitors.

However, that probably shouldn't take anything away from one of the best Arsenal performances in a while. The team was set up to attack, with Van Persie up front on his own, Nasri in central attacking midfield, and Bendtner and Eboue given licence to roam on the left and right. Roma just didn't seem able to cope with the four of them, and for large periods of the game, Arsenal were first to most of the loose balls - with sharp passing, good possession, and a number of great chances created. For the first 15 to 20 minutes of the second half especially, Arsenal seemed to be mounting wave after wave of attack.

The goal came not long before half time, Van Persie being fouled in the box, and getting up to despatch the penalty pretty emphatically, despite some Roma gamesmanship to try to put him off. The other good chances in the game came all over the place, but Bendtner and Eboue both missed very good chances indeed. Bendtner missed 2 within a couple of minutes - the easier of which he didn't even manage to hit the target; and Eboue later took an age to finally shoot, before missing when he should have done better - even accounting for the fact that he is a defender.

Overall, though, there were plenty of positives from the game. Nasri was absolutely outstanding throughout, and this was a really big game for him. Scoring 2 against Manchester United earlier in the season, and now this - he looks like a player who can really do it when it matters. Toure and Gallas are starting to look like proper defenders again, to the extent that you almost fancy us to keep the clean sheet we need in Rome in a fortnight. Both the BBC and the Guardian reports talk about how we could have scored more - that is true, but the clean sheet this evening is the thing that could well be more important. We go to Rome in decent shape, I think. It could have been better, but it could also have been a lot worse.

Glasvegas, Friendly Fires, White Lies, Florence & The Machine - Brixton Academy, London - Saturday 21st February 2009

This show was the finale to the now traditional NME tour, which takes some of the best new bands out around the country. At least, the best new bands in NME's opinion, that they are actually able to book. This often provides the chance to see absolute gems of bands like Arctic Monkeys, Maximo Park, and The Cribs - but also gives the dubious pleasure of The Horrors, Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong, and other bands that may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but rapidly start to not look so clever. However, the line up this year looked like the best for a few years, at least at the time the shows happened.

First band of the evening were Florence & The Machine, a six piece who were fronted by a tall ginger woman. She ran on stage wearing an incredibly short skirt, revealing that about 2/3 of her height was made up of legs. She was fresh from winning the Critics Choice award at the BRITs the previous week, and has appeared in virtually every list of the acts that will do well in 2009. So, expectations were high.

Florence & The Machine's set was possibly the one I enjoyed most in the evening, partly because my expectations were comfortably exceeded. Her voice was nothing short of incredible, and it is this that really is the standout thing about the band. The songs were decent enough, but Florence is the kind of singer who can make a song that is merely "good", sound "great". She also seemed to have a good rock and roll spirit, dancing crazily around the stage, throwing flowers into the audience, and generally seeming to enjoy herself. The band finished on a fantastic cover of You've Got The Love, a song that you need an amazing voice to do justice to - and they blew the roof off the venue. A really enjoyable set, far too short when it finished after half an hour.

Next up were White Lies, who I'd seen a few months ago and really liked. Since then, they had scored a number one album, and started to sell out headline gigs in decent sized venues. Their set was therefore totally expected in its excellence - their sound was again massive, and they really play with a confidence that they expect to be playing big venues very soon. The comparisons with The Killers, Joy Division and Interpol are all obvious - perhaps the quality of their songs is the only thing I'm still not sure about. There was a great moment in their set when Florence (minus the Machine) ran on stage to duet on a chorus, then dived into the crowd when she was done. Despite the fact that the 2 singers were in a completely different key, it was a good cameo. So, a great set again from White Lies, they are a sure bet to be back at Brixton as headliners later in the year.

The final support band were Friendly Fires, who are not really my cup of tea. I'd seen them at the Camden Crawl a couple of years ago, and whilst they make a nice noise, I wasn't totally enthused. I'm not generally much of an "indie rave" fan at the moment in any case, which means I'm always going to be unlikely to like them. What was hard to understand at this gig was why they were on the bill (other than it being a collection of decent new bands) - because the contrast between them and White Lies or Glasvegas was huge. Still, a testament to the eclectic nature of the NME Tour I guess. Their set was decent enough, but just not my cup of tea really - although I suspect at a festival, they would be much more enjoyable.

So, finally, Glasvegas. Their live shows and their fantastic debut album had ensured that they were rightly headlining this tour, but the event seemed to be a bit of a disappointment for me. The "wall of noise" wasn't there (and generally the bands seemed to be a bit quiet tonight). That took a lot of intensity away from the set, and meant that, whereas previously the guitars could have almost literally blown you away, they were now just one part of the songs. Also, there were a lot of non-believers around me, by that I mean people who didn't really seem to "get" why Glasvegas are so hyped.

Having said all that, of course it was an enjoyable set, kicking off with Geraldine, starting to wind down with Go Square Go, and finishing up with Daddy's Gone - fantastic songs all of them. But, I just felt that something had been lost in the band's transition to the bigger venues they undoubtedly deserve to be playing - some volume, some intensity, and a bit of the excitement of knowing that everybody in the audience was converted to the excellence of Glasvegas. Good gig, but I hope that some of these things return before I see them next.

Arsenal vs Sunderland - Emirates Stadium, London - Saturday 21st February 2009

So, after the triumphant, free scoring game against Cardiff, where Eduardo returned, and the goals started flowing, everything was fixed in the world of Arsenal, right? Wrong. 5 days later, Eduardo was ruled out through a niggly hamstring injury, and the frustration returned. Andrey Arshavin made his debut on a beautiful sunny day that reminded you about the existence of spring and summer. He had a very bright first half hour, testing the keeper with a couple of decent shots, and sitting up a couple of good crosses.

But, after half an hour or so, Arshavin's lack of match fitness started to show, and he became less and less involved in the game. The excitement that Arsenal fans had been enjoying until then started to fade, and frustration took over instead. People soon started to realise that Sunderland had come to defend and secure a 0-0 draw, and that their goalkeeper and defence were more than competent enough to manage it against our midfield and attack.

As the second half started and dragged on, Arsenal played more and more in the Sunderland half of the pitch. They tried to get through the defence, but couldn't manage it. Vela and Bendtner both missed half decent chances, but really, it was the midfield that failed the team on this occasion. Every time Alex Song or Denilson got the ball, they succeeded mostly in slowing down the pace of our moves, which meant that getting past the defenders was going to be ever more difficult. Sadly, it is the only way that some of our less talented midfielders seem to know how to play.

On another day, this could have been a 2-0 win to Arsenal, but on this day, it was yet another 0-0 draw. Arsene Wenger can talk all he wants about it being good to remain unbeaten, and good to keep another clean sheet; but the more relevant statistic is that we are 6 points off a Champions League spot, with only 36 points left to play for (and for the others to drop). The manager had better dust off his European atlas, because we are going to visit some new cities next season - that's if Everton don't catch us. Arsenal fans never need an excuse to support a team playing Spurs, but next week's Carling Cup Final could secure another UEFA Cup spot for 6th place in the League - if Manchester United win. It is very sad that this is even something on the radar of an Arsenal fan, but this is our new reality.

Arsenal vs Cardiff City - Emirates Stadium, London - Monday 16th February 2009

After what seemed like ages since the last Arsenal home game, this was the first of several in quick succession. The initial attempt to replay against Cardiff was snowed off a fortnight previously, so were in the strange position that all of the fifth round ties had been played (at least the first attempts at them), before we had even got through the fourth round. This also meant that Arsenal were in the quarter final draw, with a very winnable set of home games to see us to the semi finals.

On the way up to the stadium, I walked past the Lord Nelson, which was full of hundreds of Cardiff fans, all boxed in by police. Holloway Road resembled a war zone, with broken windows in the pub, and bits of smashed furniture in the road. Some will tell you that Cardiff fans unfairly have a bad reputation - but I've never seen any other away fans do that (well, Ok, apart from Spurs).

The game itself was a million times better than the first game, although that wasn't saying much! This time, Cardiff's confidence seemed to have gone - they were nowhere near as bright as they were in their home game, and much less able to make life difficult for Arsenal. Much of this may have been because the Arsenal team were on a high, thanks to Eduardo's return to the first team. He was greeted with rapturous applause, well deserved, and combining with creative players like Nasri and Vela, his reappearance really managed to get the Arsenal fans excited again that they could be creative and play good football. With Fabregas and Walcott to come back too, and Arshavin yet to make his debut, there was a real sense that the worst of our season - with its lack of penetration and no quality players - could just about be behind us.

The game itself was the best Arsenal have played for a while - the team seemed to gel a lot better, and defence, midfield and attack all seemed to know what they were doing. With 2 goals on his return, this really was the Eduardo show. His first came after he had played a big part in the buildup, working with Vela, then getting his head onto a cross to score. Bendtner added a second with a header shortly after, before Eduardo won and converted a penalty just after half time. When he was replaced by Robin Van Persie after an hour, the whole ground was on their feet to applaud him. Thank God he's back.

Van Persie put the icing on the cake with a fourth goal right at the end, and although Cardiff had a couple of decent chances themselves, 4-0 wasn't terribly unfair. On another day, it would have been a frustrating 1-0 win for Arsenal, but things seemed to go right today. The Cardiff keeper was probably man of the match, which says a lot about how the game went. This was a big boost for Arsenal fans, with the return of Eduardo seeming to bring the return of decent play and goals with him too. For that amongst many reasons, welcome back Eddie, we have missed you!

The Cribs - Heaven, London - Tuesday 10th February 2009

The Cribs have just finished writing a new album, with new member Johnny Marr this time, so this was one of a handful of dates designed to road test their new material. Now that the Astoria has been closed down (if not yet knocked down), shows like this are having to find themselves new venues. A few seem to be landing at Heaven, a gay club under the arches of Charing Cross station. It isn't the best venue for a gig, as the arches mean that the venue itself is a bit of a maze, and only a bit of it is the actual gig "floor". But, being in a railway arch did help this to be one of the loudest gigs I've been to for quite a while.

Whilst waiting for the band to come on stage, there was an extraordinarily long bar queue to navigate. Like Koko (which I have moaned about before), Heaven charge £3.60 for a can of beer, whereupon the bar staff throw it into a plastic pint glass as quickly as possible, then pour the inevitable froth down the sink. They seem to be quite surprised when you complain about this! I really wish venues would stop ripping their customers off so blatantly - it is a shame, because it kind of impairs your enjoyment of going to see the band, through no fault of theirs.

Anyway, that was only a minor downer on a couple of hours of extreme fun. The Cribs played a fairly long and absolutely electric set, with Johnny Marr on stage with them throughout. The sound was clear, good, and VERY loud, and about half a dozen new songs were sprinkled in amongst a "greatest hits" set. The highlights came thick and fast throughout the set, and the band seemed to be really on form, with everything falling into place for a great show. This show was one of those that really mark The Cribs out as one of the best live bands in the world. There were digs at other bands (notably The View tonight), great songs, and an awesome amount of energy in their performance.

It seemed like I was not the only one who didn't really like the staff at Heaven - Ryan Jarman wasn't a fan of the security guards either. When they hauled a stage invader away, he demanded that they bring him back, and let him stay on stage. The NME Review talks about this at great length, as well as listing what the band played. So, the fan spent the rest of the gig on stage. During the "encore", an incredible version of The Wrong Way To Be, a second fan also managed to win his battle with security, and ended up wearing the bass guitar around his neck. Then, Ryan Jarman dived into the crowd, and the music stopped, leaving a scene of chaos in the venue. The very definition of "rock and roll" - a fantastic gig all round.

Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal - White Hart Lane, London - Sunday 8th February 2009

Spurs away - always a pleasurable trip, and all the more so this season given the fact that Spurs are in a relegation battle. Arsenal have had their own struggles too, which meant that the level of piss taking was a bit more subdued than normal - but the 3,000 Gooners still arrived at White Hart Lane knowing that they would not want to swap places with Spurs fans for a second. Maybe Spurs' troubles this season have really started to worry their fans, as the noise from the home sections was distinctly less evident than normal.

Irritatingly, I missed the first 20 minutes of the game, thanks to being caught in a police escort from Finsbury Park to the stadium. I left the pub 5 minutes too late, by which time it was surrounded by police, and the ensuing escort seemed to take forever. Far from being an escort of dangerous hooligans, there were plenty of normal people there - plus lots of muppets thinking they were "pwopa nawty" boys, taking pictures and filming everything on their phones. We were marched into the Tube, chucked onto an empty train (which had been terminated especially), then wrapped up and marched up Tottenham High Road - which was completely empty because the game had started. When we did finally get to the ground, the cordon of stewards making people go in single file to the turnstiles was unnecessary and not at all appreciated.

What I had missed in the first 20 minutes was Arsenal's best period of the game, and about half of the Emmanuel Eboue show. He had the ball in the net, a goal which was harshly disallowed because the referee gave the softest foul ever. He had made a couple of other decent runs, looking like our brightest player - and also stupidly talked himself into a booking for dissent. When I got to my seat, people around me were saying "Eboue is going to get sent off here", and it took about another 10 minutes for that to happen. A ridiculously stupid flick on Luca Modric (like Beckham's in the 1998 World Cup), which the referee saw, and had no real choice but to punish. Wenger does like to defend his players, but notably failed to defend Eboue on this occasion. You have to wonder what it would take for him to be kicked out of the club once and for all - he is a stupid cheat, and I don't know an Arsenal fan that isn't ashamed of him. Wenger talks about intelligence being a key quality for his players - it is very obvious that Eboue has none.

Other than the Eboue idiocy, the first half saw a decent chance that Adebayor just failed to get on the end of, and the blow of him being stretchered off with a hamstring pull. He has been in dog awful form recently, but with our lack of bite in attack right now, we really can't afford to lose him. On his way off, the stretcher went around the "long way", right past the Paxton end, so that the sporting and gracious Spurs fans could abuse him as he was lying in pain on a stretcher. Showing their true class.

Having 10 men for most of the game obviously stretched Arsenal - although 0-0 at half time was a goal better off (albeit a man worse off) than we usually are at half time at the Lane. We had what looked like a pretty determined reaction in the second half, which in hindsight was a great display with 10 men. Song had a really decent game, and the best Arsenal chance of the match, missing from 6 yards midway through the second half. We were bit timid going forward (despite keeping 2 up front), but that was understandable given the disadvantage in personnel. We could probably have done with a sub later on, as we seemed to "drop a little bit physically" (as Mr Wenger might say) towards the end. But, the main subs available were creative, attacking players (including Eduardo, at long last), and keeping it tight was really the aim of the game here.

Just as the game was about to end, it sprang into life, the last 5 minutes or so becoming really end to end. There were injury time sniffs at goal for both teams, Modric (who had a good game generally, despite looking like an 8 year old girl) had the best chance, but Almunia saved the day.

This game kept our unbeaten League run against Spurs going - we have not lost a League match since November 1999, so depending on how next season's fixtures work out, we are pushing 10 years since we last lost to them. Today was Spurs' first clean sheet in all competitions against Arsenal since November 1998, so maybe they are making a little progress. That said, in League terms, a point didn't really do either team any favours. Arsenal fell further behind the Top 4 (and are closer to being caught by Everton), and Spurs failed to get clear of the Bottom 3. Arsenal now have a significant gap to close if they want to finish 4th - the next 13 League games will be very, very important now.