So as you all know, Arsenal recently drew Everton at home 1-1 last Sunday. This was perhaps one of the most hard fought games by the squad, and perhaps the most interesting of the season to date! I'm really starting to like this type of play by Arsenal; play hard and with heart, as well as these new kind of "chemistry trick-shots/passes" that I keep seeing every single match. It's saddening that the Gunners were not able to hold off the pressing Everton side to earn the 3 points, however that being said, drawing against a club that has only lost one match this whole season is something to be appreciated. That being said, being able to watch the game for myself was no easy challenge...
Knowing the match was at 11:00 am EST (4:00 pm UK Time), I knew this was going to be a pretty easy match to follow...was I ever wrong. Earlier that morning I had an exam scheduled for 9:30 am. I was thinking to myself: I can finish it within two hours and be able to go home to watch Arsenal on TV. The only problems with this were that I live more than 30 minutes away from the university I attend, and the match wasn't being played on TV. To solve the problem, I brought a laptop with me to be able to stream the match at school. If only it were that easy...
I ended up finishing my exam by 11:30 and raced out to be able to find a spot to watch the match. The university only has Wi-Fi inside of buildings, and every place I went to where the environment was normally vibrant and loud was packed with groups of people studying for their exams. I was forced to go to an area where minimal talking was allowed and set up shop there. I think this is perhaps the first time in my life where I received the most looks of confusion at once. I set up my computer and took off my jacket to reveal my favourite Arsenal track jacket and began watching the British Ads that always give me a good laugh.
As with the majority of Arsenal fans, I am very passionate when I watch my club play football, and it excites me when the club is dominating possession and has many attempts on goal. I restrained myself from screaming out when Cazorla had a diving header attempt on goal, or every time Everton managed a counter attack. One thing that couldn't stop me from getting angry was the constant shut down of streams. The thing that made it worse was every time Arsenal were close to the goal or a crucial moment in the match was about to occur, my stream would cut out, causing an insane amount of frustration within me. This is when the looks starting coming my way, and people began to question what I was doing so passionately. Fortunately, no one said anything and let me be in peace. In the moment, I wouldn't have cared if anyone said anything anyways, because I was supporting my club.
During the last 10 minutes of the game, I felt as if my heart would jump out of my chest at any moment. Of course when Özil scored the only Arsenal goal, my stream cut out, but luckily I was able to watch the replay and see that it was one of the better goals Arsenal have scored all season. I truly though the Gunners were out in the clear, until Everton scored and just killed my mood for the rest of the day. I truly believed Arsenal were going to be triumphant this match, and we came so close it was just depressing. Giroud almost saved me from this feeling with his last minute volley towards the goal, sadly it hit the cross bar and went aside. Should he have scored that goal, I would have considered it one of the best goals this season, due to both its' importance and skill required.
In the end, I was able to follow the match after a few difficulties and although the Gunners dropped two points, I am still proud of the club's accomplishment. Beating a team like Everton who can counter attack efficiently and have a solid defensive core is no easy challenge. The bright side of this is that we are still on top of the league by 5 vital points, and can help fuel this title challenge by getting 3 points against all opponents this month. In doing so, the club will have a very bright January, but as with everything in Football, we will have to wait and see.
@ZachAFC
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