Off to the Emirates

Tuesday night was my first visit to the Emirates Stadium, home of my beloved Arsenal. The game was the European Champions League tie against Hamburg.

The stadium is most impressive although the big "telly" in the corner could do with being bigger (my eyesight ain't what it was) - so fans can read the team lists and watch the replays properly.

The game got off to a poor start when Rafael van der Vaart's spectacular shot gave Hamburg a shock early lead. For the first half an hour Arsenal didn't seem to get going and Thierry Henry was all but invisible.

I had visions of my first visit to Highbury being repeated. It was 1973 and we were at home to Ipswich Town. 1-0 down to a team in blue shirts. Would history repeat itself? Thankfully, the answer was no as Robin van Persie levelled the score before Eboue and Baptista the Beast put the game beyond Hamburg's reach.

The Emirates is a great stadium although the golden badge and legend Arsenal around the ground looks a bit naff. Perhaps it looks better in daylight.

But the result was all that mattered and together with 59,961 other people I went home happy (well, perhaps not all of them were happy).

Now, all we need to do is not lose to Porto and knockout stages here we come...