Arsenal vs Celtic - Emirates Stadium, London - Wednesday 26th August 2009

This was a relatively straightforward game for Arsenal, to book an all important place in the Champions League group stages. We went into the game having won the first leg 2-0, with 2 fairly lucky goals - despite that, we had looked by far the better side, so 2-0 probably wasn't an unfair score. We won this game 3-1, with a dodgy penalty to get us on our way, and 2 very well worked second half goals to round off a pretty comprehensive victory over the 2 legs. All simple and boring enough.

But of course, what this game will now be remembered for, thanks to the media's stupidity, is the fact that our penalty for the first goal should probably not have been a penalty. Did Eduardo go to ground easily? Probably. Was it the most blatant dive ever? Not really. Is he the only player ever to have done so? No. Will the media scream as loudly the next time Rooney, Drogba, Gerrard or somebody from one of their favourite clubs does the same? Of course they wont!

In the media's eyes, Eduardo became the first player in English football to dive for a penalty, since Robert Pires did so in 2003. When Rooney did it in 2004 to end our 49 game unbeaten run, they said nothing. When Dirk Kuyt did it in the Champions League in 2008, they said nothing. When Steven Gerrard does it, they say nothing. I really don't like being paranoid, but the media's reaction (along with all the talk of UEFA investigations, retrospective bans and the like), just smacks of some kind of anti-Arsenal agenda. When other players from other teams do the same, it just never seems to get the oxygen of publicity to keep the story alive for so long.

So Eduardo will now be held up as the symbol of everything that's wrong with football (even in a week where hundreds of West Ham and Millwall fans had pitched battles outside Upton Park, like something from the 1970s); and all the fuss may even provoke a UEFA investigation and ban. No problem, as long as the same applies to all other players who are found to be doing the same. The fact that has absolutely no chance of happening is the annoying thing - some players and clubs seem to be immune from this kind of treatment in the eyes of the media. Hopefully, Arsenal can use this to their advantage - to build a mentality that everybody is against us, to use that to build a great team spirit, and do good things this season. That would annoy all of the anti-Arsenal idiots more than anything else.

Mumford And Sons, Alan Pownall - The Borderline, London - Monday 24th August 2009

After what seemed like a while waiting, the wonderful Mumford And Sons finally played a London headline gig, in the intimacy of the Borderline. I had first got into them a year ago, seen them play a short set at Pure Groove records back in December - but then fate had conspired to make me miss all of their London dates since. With their gig at The Scala next month sure to be a triumph, this was a great chance to see them somewhere smaller first - in front of what looked like an audience of family, friends, and diehards.

Support came in the shape of a short set from Alan Pownall, a long time friend of the band. I say "short", it probably lasted no longer than 20 minutes, to the extent that a trip to the bar accounted for most of it. He played quiet acoustic songs, to a mainly respectfully quiet audience. It all sounded good enough to me.

Mumford And Sons took the stage at 9:30pm sharp, to a wild reception. They kicked off with the title track from their forthcoming album, Sigh No More, immediately followed by lead single Little Lion Man - both of which got the crowd going nicely. Of course, many of their songs follow a similar format, starting quietly with vocal harmonies, then descending into a riot of loud vocals and instruments, before ending suddenly. However, this never seems to get boring in the slightest, such is the hard work that all four band members put in - switching instruments, and generally doing a number of different things on any one song.

At times, this gig reminded me of some of the early Magic Numbers gigs I went to - a very tight band, with vocal harmonies, songs that sound instantly familiar even on the first listen, and a feeling that the band is about to become pretty famous. I would certainly be surprised if Mumford And Sons aren't very well know in a year's time. Tunes like Roll Away Your Stone and Dust Bowl Dance show that as well as the folky stuff, the band can also provide the soundtrack to a party.

The best thing for me about this gig was hearing some of their songs for the first time - like Timshel, Thistle And Weeds, and encore Whispers In The Dark. The last of these was an unfinished new song, that showed what the incredible future for this band might be like. A true indie rock classic, it deserves to see them see significant success. I'm really looking forward to their Scala gig next month now, but was really pleased to see them at this gig - if there is any justice in the world, it will be one of their last in a venue this small.

England vs Australia (Day 2, 5th Test) - The Oval, London - Friday 21st August 2009

Lots of interesting side stories to set up this test nicely. Obviously it being the vital last test of the Ashes series, which England needed to win to secure the series, was interesting enough. Add in the fact that it was Flintoff's last ever test match, and may turn out to be Ricky Ponting's also, and there was a fair degree of interest in the game. On the way out of Oval station in the morning, I lost count of the number of people that thrust things into my hands - it seemed like everybody with something to advertise was there. Compared with the heights of the same game in the last Ashes series, and this game had a decent amount to live up to.

On the strength of this day's play, it most certainly did live up to the previous heights that the Ashes has provided. The initial session was standard enough, dull even - Australia removing the last 2 England batsmen for about 25 rune, with relatively little fuss - although Steve Harmison did provide some entertainment with a couple of boundaries. A brief rain shower prompted early lunch, then a 50 minute delay of the start of the afternoon session.

That afternoon session, when it did eventually get started, was possibly the most incredible couple of hours of Test cricket I think I've ever seen (certainly from inside the ground) - and will hopefully turn out to be the session where England won the match and the Ashes. Australia collapsed completely, going from 70-0, to 160 all out. Broad and Swann did all the damage from England's point of view, the Aussies were 8 down by tea, and finished off completely quite soon after. So, it was an excellent few hours in the sunshine, watching Australian wickets tumble at a very pleasing rate.

Whatever happened after that afternoon session, it was always going to be the story of the day. England lost a few wickets of their second innings, but finished the day with a lead of 230. On a wicket that seemed to be doing as much as it was, I don't hold out much hope for using my ticket for Monday - and if I were Australia, I really wouldn't be looking forward to batting last, whilst trying to save the series.