The Emirates Stadium, Arsenal FC

A plastic stadium, but an impressive one at that. Opened in 2006 to replace Arsenal FC's Highbury Stadium (aka The Highbury Library), this is the second largest club stadium in England behind Old Trafford of Manchester United. The Stadium itself is striking, with the noen lighted exterior and large facade, and the inside has the feel of a real international venue. What they didn't seem to take into account is the public transport links, as it is a real pain to get away from after the game due to its proximity to the main A1 road out of London..

I had managed to secure a ticket (at some cost, up in the heavens and in amongst the Gooners) for another Liverpool game in London, so was clearly looking forward to it, if a little apprehensive about the Red Men's chance of taking anything from the game.  Getting to the Stadium was easy, as I completely misjudged the time and got there at 1800, so had to pass an hour having a couple of pints of overpriced Amstel in a local pub. From the outside an impressive stadium, and a very sumple entry system which is good to see, although there appeared to be lots of people inside unsure of where to sit, which was a bit odd.

No stadium is complete without its overzealous stewards, and The Emirates is no excepetion, as a man and his daughter were made to sit down despite being on the back row with nothing but a wall behind them. Noone seemed to mind our open Liverpool supporting, although I thought the scouse accent a couple of seats down was going to start causing trouble when Babel hit the bar.

I didn't sample the food, although almost inadvertantly ended up having to after the bar/food stall and toilets queues merged. How the stadium designers thought it was a good idea to put the entrance to the toilet next to a busy outlet I'll never understand. Having negotiated this particular confusion, it was back to the comfortable and spacious seats for the second half.

The club section (or whatever they call it here) have clearly been taking lessons from the Wembley clientele, as the entire middle ring of seats started dribbling back in about five minutes into the second half. Another pretty dull half of football followed, with Arsenal's goal coming as a result of some shocking defending from Liverpool. Gerrard's free kick that struck Fabregas' hand caused us all to jump out of our seats, but by the 95th minute I had given up caring if I got ejected.

Getting back to the tube/train station is a nightmare, as the police stop and start the flow of fans to allow traffic to continue on the main road. The station is also tightly controlled, and if aiming for the Overground trains be prepare to stand in a long queue for the Victoria Line! Again, it would surely have been prudent to improve transport facilities when building a new ground, or maybe this was all supposed to be part of the Arsenal experience...