28 December 2005

Arsenal vs Portsmouth - Highbury, London - Wednesday 28th December 2005

Something of a stroll in the park - Arsenal were one up inside 10 minutes, 2 up before 20 minutes, and 4 goals up by half time. Then they switched off, saved energy for the games coming up, and played out a goalless second half. The whole experience was reminiscent of the Arsenal that existed before this season, but I think that was probably more to do with how utterly bad Portsmouth were, as well as any specific qualities on Arsenal's part.

The day was extremely cold, and the evening was even colder - not much wind, just extremely cold. Snow outside London had also meant that there were very few trains in from Kent, and none back there after 8pm. Despite that, an attendance over 38,000, so very few seemed unable to brave the weather to get to Highbury.

Its Man Utd next at Highbury, and they will make life considerably more difficult for Arsenal, such is the huge gap between their quality and that of Portsmouth. I couldn't see Pompey scoring all week, let alone all evening, so they left with what they deserved from the game - nothing.

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