A chaotic journey, a missed first half, and a reunion years in the making, Sylvain’s trip trip to the Emirates for Arsenal v Crystal Palace captured both the frustrations and joys of matchday life.
I went to the Arsenal match against Crystal Palace and was reminded just how different the atmosphere is between the men’s and women’s games at the Emirates Stadium. The contrast is striking. There are far more families and women in attendance at Arsenal Women fixtures, and the most noticeable difference is that there are never long queues for the men’s toilets.
The vibe is entirely different, though one thing is constant: the fans’ sense of connection with the players. At both matches, supporters feel a deep personal attachment to those on the pitch, though it manifests in very different ways.
It was also a special occasion for the Daily Cannon team, with Lee travelling from Northern Ireland and Anita arriving from Croatia with her family. I had just returned from France after a trip to Germany for the Women’s Nations League semi-final and a short visit to my parents in Paris. There was a pre-match meet-up with Charley, which I missed, and a post-match one with Paul and Lucy Gooner. It’s rare that we can all meet in person, so it was wonderful to see everyone together, with only Dan from the team missing due to family commitments.
Getting back to England for the game, however, was a nightmare. All flights to London were full, so I had to fly to Birmingham instead. From there, engineering works meant no direct train to London, so I took a coach from Birmingham International to Heathrow. The driver was then forced to stop for a 15-minute break at Beaconsfield because his tachograph required it at 12pm. Legally, he could have driven until 1pm, but the clock change had confused the system.
I finally reached Heathrow at 12.45pm, dashed home to drop my luggage, as you can’t bring bags that large into the Emirates, and raced across London on the Piccadilly line. I arrived 35 minutes into the game, just in time to see Eberechi Eze’s goal on the screen.
I caught the second half from my seat in Area 15, Row 3, with an excellent view of Arsenal’s attacks. It was far closer to the pitch than my usual press box position for the women’s games. From that vantage point, it was clear that Palace alternated between a low block and a medium block, forcing Arsenal to build from deep.
As Arsenal.com’s post-match analysis noted, Palace were exceptionally well-drilled defensively and made it difficult to create clear chances. Against a low block, space is scarce and attacking becomes an exercise in patience, but against a medium block, Arsenal could have been more incisive. Switching the ball from one flank to the other or exploiting gaps in transition simply didn’t happen quickly enough.
Slow build-up play from the back can be effective, but at some point there needs to be a shift in tempo, with the ball moved sharply to disrupt defensive structure and create overloads through midfield or defence. That acceleration in play rarely came.
I also noticed Eze drifting intelligently between Palace’s lines, but he wasn’t found often enough, while Viktor Gyökeres made countless selfless runs to open space for team-mates. Both were starved of service for long spells due to Palace’s discipline.
In the end, it was an important win that kept Arsenal top of the table and capitalised on their rivals’ slip-ups.
The day was made even better by the Daily Cannon reunion, and now attention turns to the next big occasion: Arsenal Women against Chelsea at the Emirates, where more than 50,000 tickets have already been sold.