I was feeling a little depressed at the start of the weekend: no available ticket for Mamma Mia save for one Premier seat on any night – according to the guy behind the counter at Tower Records Lot 10 (while I may be prepared to pay for it, it’d mean I’d have to go alone). So unless I can accumulate a total of RM3,000 on charges to my credit card this month, which is the main credit card sponsor for the show, it looks like there is no way that I’d get to watch it here. Boohoo.
I was also rightly worried about Arsenal’s performance of late and we hosted ManUre on Saturday too. What with the injury list (including Adebayor) and the suspension of van Persie, the draws and the defeat in between... it was daunting indeed.
Despite my apprehension and misgiving, I watched the game anyway, with the volume muted, as with the previous Arsenal matches. The red poppies were proudly displayed on the Gunners’ jerseys close to their hearts but were noticeably absent from the Red Devils’ jerseys. The injured Gunners were declared fit and started the game – Almunia (ill); Sagna (ankle); Walcott (shoulder); Silvestre (broken nose); and Gallas (hamstring). Anyway, back to the match: as I flicked on the channel some ten minutes after the match had started, I missed the early ManUre attempts. A couple of misses by Bendtner followed before Nasri coolly slotted in from a Fàbregas free-kick. Cesc also made an attempt and would have added on to Arsenal’s tally had the ball travelled just a few inches more to the right.
The autumn afternoon November Rain tapered off and the autumn sunshine finally struggled through in the second half. Arsenal started the second half with a series of corners and numerous passes before Fàbregas found a space to feed Nasri who kept his cool to slot in his second goal. Arsenal held on until the last few minutes of the match, including a change in our goalie. Then Rafael scored for the visitors to give them some hope.
Six additional minutes were added on (I’ve never heard of such long additional time before). And those six were among the longest six minutes of my life. As Hamilton put it when he was lapping the Brazilian Grand Prix, my heart was in my mouth. I couldn’t sit still. I stood up, and paced around. Could the Gunners hold on this time to their lead or will it be another Spuds nightmare all over again?
And finally the whistle was blown. And we had beaten the defending champions also the European champions and hopefully put the last ten difficult days behind us.
Oh, and one more thing: the gelled hair-look is definitely back again, thankfully.
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