Arsenal 4 - 2 Leicester…

Fresh from the gaygooners AGM yesterday afternoon and after a lovely pre-match meet-up we headed to the Emirates stadium to watch Arsenal take on Leicester City. 

Less of a kick-about, it was a bit of a nail-biter in the end. 

Arsenal had dominated in the first half and were 2-0 up at the break with goals from Martinelli and Trossard. Then the Foxes fought back to make it 2-2, both from Justin, by the 90 mins. 

Seven minutes of extra time beckoned. Yikes! 

A dominant attacking reply from Arsenal lead to frantic scenes on the pitch and even more so in the stands. All that hard work paid off though; an own goal by Ndidi and a funny deflection by Havertz allowed the Gunners to grab all three points.  

Onwards and up with my friends.

@Arsenal

@gaygooners

#ARSLEI

#COYG

Mr Compromise…

They call me Mr Compromise. 

Not my choice of name, but I can live it. Let's move on.

Arsenal 5 - 1 Bolton…

After a lovely pre-match meet-up with the gaygooners we all watched Arsenal thrash League One Bolton at the Emirates last night to reach the Carabao Cup fourth round. 

Teenager Ethan Nwaneri scored his first Arsenal goals as we cruised to an easy victory. The 17-year-old, making his first senior start for the club, slotted into an empty net from Raheem Sterling's cross, before taking advantage of some sloppy Bolton play to pick up the ball from Declan Rice and roll under visiting goalkeeper Luke Southwood. 

Aaron Collins had pulled one back for Bolton in the 53rd minute after a good counter-attack. It was ultimately a consolation for them, but one that denied teenage Arsenal goalkeeper Jack Porter a clean sheet on his record-setting senior debut. 

At 16 years and 72 days old, he became the youngest player to start a first-team game for the Gunners. Porter is the club's fourth choice, but got the call after number one stopper David Raya was ruled out with a thigh injury, summer signing Neto was cup-tied, having already featured in the competition for parent club Bournemouth, and Tommy Setford was also out injured. 

The five Arsenal goals came from Rice (16'), Nwaneri (37', 49'), Sterling (64'), & Havertz (77').

Next stop Preston (in this competition anyway).

Onwards and up with my friends. 

@Arsenal
@gaygooners
#ARSBOL
#COYG

Myrtle…

Lovely lunch with this old duck. Myrtle makes me laugh. 😂

Do I Know You?…

Stranger in front of us in queue for toilets at interval at Barbican Hall turns round to us,

Stranger ”Do I know you?”

Me: “I don’t know.”

Stranger “I don't know where I know you from?”

I look back blankly.

Awkward silence.

Stuart, “The Arsenal, maybe?”

Stranger, “That’s it! You’re on the screen before every game. The gay video at the stadium”

Stuart purses his lips

Me, “Ah. OK. That might be it. Not anymore though. There’s a new one up now”

Stranger holding my gaze a little too long for comfort “Ah. Ok. Nice.”

He smiles again. 

Stuart rolls his eyes.

Stuart "Come on, second half's about to start"

Elkie Brooks @ Cadogan Hall...

Last Saturday night Darren, Shane, Stuart and I went to see the legendary singer-songwriter Elkie Brooks on her Long Farewell Tour at Cadogan Hall in London's glitzy Sloane Square.

 

It was a wonderful opportunity to see such a truly remarkable artiste. Brooks is known as the British Queen Of Blues for good reason. She is a significant figure in the music industry. And blimey she has a pair of lungs on her. She belts them out. And she is very funny too. A Northern lass.  A sort of more talented Jane McDonald. 😅

 

Brooks was performing songs from her six-decade long career and featured most of her timeless hits and some new covers to boot.

 

It was an emotional night all told. During the song 'Don't Cry Out Loud' I defied the lyics... and cried, out loud.

 

Marvellous.

 

Set List:-

He Could Have Been An Army

Gasoline Alley (Rod Stewart cover)

Do Right Woman, Do Right Man (Aretha Franklin cover)

Warm and Tender Love (Joe Haywood cover)

Fool (If You Think It's Over) (Chris Rea cover)

The Sunshine After the Rain (Ellie Greenwich cover)

Don't Cry Out Loud (The Moments cover)

Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan cover)

I Put a Spell on You (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins cover)

Nights in White Satin (The Moody Blues cover)

Lilac Wine (James H. Shelton cover)

Red House (The Jimi Hendrix Experience cover)

Pearl's a Singer (Dino and Sembello cover)

I'm Tore Down (Freddie King cover)

You Got Me Where You Want Me (Etta James cover)

 

Encore:

Long John Blues (Dinah Washington cover)

Purple Rain (Prince cover)

We've Got Tonight (Bob Seger cover)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Man City 2 - 2 Arsenal…

Arsenal stood tall and left a mark at the Etihad Stadium last night.

There was controversy, animosity, and menace.  Basically a fantastic game of football. 

Trossard being sent off for a stupidly soft second yellow, Arsenal holding on to a lead for what seemed like hours, and a City leveller in the dying seconds of extra time. It had it all. 

Haaland opened the scoring for City after 9 minutes. Arsenal’s two came from Calafiori on 22 minutes and Gabriel 46 mins. Stones painful equaliser came in the 98th minute. 

It was maybe not the victory that Arsenal so desperately wanted or deserved but given the circumstances, it was a triumph of mentality.

Onwards and upwards, my friends. 

@Arsenal

#COYG

#MNCARS

@gaygooners 

Atalanta 0 - 0 Arsenal…

The result was probably fair in the end. Atalanta are current Europa League winners. 

But it was David Raya’s unbelievable double save from a penalty that stood out in this, our Champions League opener. 

Our good-looking Spaniard dived down low to his right to save Mateo Retegui's spot-kick and amazingly somehow managed to got across his goal to grab the striker's follow-up header off the line. 

That was probably the only real moment of drama and quality in an otherwise fairly forgettable match in Bergamo.

Nice to be able to have a drink or two in the stands. And no stupid netting to obscure our view of the pitch. 

Sunday it’s City away. 

Onwards and upwards, my friends. 

@Arsenal

@Regenersaurus

#COYG

#ATAARS

#awaydays

Two Gentlemen in Verona…

A lovely day in Verona sightseeing with Graham

#awaydays

@Arsenal