Little cheer at soulless Emirates

The team selection against Arsenal demonstrated once and for all (had confirmation been necessary) where the priority for this season lies. Eight changes from the team that faced Barcelona had me fearing the worst but we managed to nullify the threat of Van Persie and without him on song, Arsenal have very little else to offer — the one-man team label looks more than accurate.

I was a little aggrieved we hadn’t played a slightly stronger side as I felt the Gooners were there for the taking, but our schedule being as it is I can fully understand why.

I don’t really enjoy my trips to Arsenal anymore — it’s the ground where I feel most that I am part of the corporate monster that football has become. The soulless bowl of a ground, the in-your-face marketing, the hundreds of tourists, the obviously changed demographic of the Arsenal support. You could argue that this is the same almost everywhere that you go in the Premier League and you would be partly right — Arsenal just seem to have taken it to a new level, especially compared to the character that Highbury had.