At the time we flew to London, both my husband and I had tickets for the Nottingham Forest game but only I had tickets for the Man City game. That remained true across thousands of clicks on the Arsenal web site. Each time I logged in to try to get a ticket, I had to affirm that I was not a robot. Sometimes I had to prove it by reviewing photos and click on all the ones, for example, that contain street lights. And sometimes even though I seemingly passed all the anti-robot tests put in front of me, I could still take repetitive action on the ticket exchange that made the exchange believe I might have fibbed about being a robot. Then you get the white screen of death and have to start over. Fortunately, I finally found my husband a ticket the very day before the match.

That was the day we travelled back to London from Norwich also. Tracks from Ipswich to Colchester were under maintenance so we had to take a bus for that leg of the trip. It was well organized by the train service and it occurred with very little drama. As we walked from Liverpool Street Station to check into our hotel, The Clayton Hotel London Wall, we crossed through the very pretty Finsbury Circus Gardens. Upon reaching the hotel, my husband was ready to relax. I was feeling inspired by the garden so I set out to find the St. Dunstan in the East Garden. This is a garden associated with a church. It looked lovely and peaceful, except on the day I visited there was a large contingent of goth-dressed women and photographers doing a photo shoot. I took advantage of the poses for my own photos.

Sometimes I recognize what a shame it’s been that we’ve visited so many hotels in London but not really used the opportunity to rank hotels. It happens that we had previously visited the Clayton Hotel London Wall in the past, but I had forgotten what a good option this is. The rooms are spacious, there is tons of storage, and the bathroom is nice. The mattress was like a concrete slab. I happen to be a fan of the concrete slab mattress. This may seem like a weird thing, but the bathroom has an enclosed shower with a ledge that prevents water from entering the rest of the bathroom. You’d be surprised how many do not. The only downside of this hotel is that it’s located in the business district so a lot of restaurants and pubs nearby are closed on the weekend.

We booked a play to attend that night, The Full English at Baron’s Court Theatre. This was a one-woman show by a linguist, poet, and actor Melanie Blanton, literally about the English language and how it developed across time as England both was impacted by migrating, and sometimes invading, forces as well as England’s own experience colonizing other countries. The Baron’s Court Theatre is a tiny space in the basement of a pub called Curtains Up. Before the play people gathered in the pub and then brought their drinks into the space and during intermission, they repeated. The theatre was so tiny that it was in my mind that it would be really bad to sleep in this play because the actor would for sure be able to see that. I was at my alert best. Perhaps because I’d for once had time to acclimate to the time change having been in England for a week. Two older ladies in the first row did not get the same memo. They both slept through a lot of the play. Then again, they availed themselves of several pints. In a warm, dark space we all know what that can lead to for us aged folk.

What I just said might sound like not a ringing endorsement of the play, but I actually loved it. It was entertaining and I learned a lot. I feel like this whole trip reinforced for me how England developed. We’ve spent time in London in the past looking into the Roman invasion, but this trip (including this play) gave insight into the migration of Anglo-Saxons as well as invasions by Vikings and Normans.

The match was the next day, Sunday. Unfortunately, that morning my husband tweaked his back and really could not walk or sit without a lot of pain. He’s had this problem before so he always travels with muscle relaxants which helps get through the night or a long flight in Basic Economy. However, those aren’t good for getting through a day or a soccer match so we invested a bit of time trying to find an electric heating pad or something to help loosen things up. We were successful in locating a disposable heating belt that you can affix under your clothing and that heats for 12 hours. A great solution for our day and for the plane trip back on Monday and it seemed to help quite a bit.

We didn’t want to overdo it so we decided to keep it simple that morning by only visiting one exhibit at the British Museum, the one displaying the treasures found at Sutton Hoo. As you may recall, once it was established that Edith Pretty had full rights to the artifacts found on her property, she donated all of them to the British Museum. One of the most interesting objects was the helmet found–crushed, where the burial compartment of the Anglo-Saxon ship in one of the mounds had collapsed. The British museum made two efforts to put the pieces together, one that they felt good about. The actual reconstructed helmet is displayed, as is a replica of what it may have looked like originally. The display also includes coins, dishes, and other objects of Anglo-Saxon life. Fascinating exhibit and a perfect follow-up to our visit at Sutton Hoo. The British Museum, like many other attractions in London, is free to visit but so expansive it’s really nice to be able to feel like you can just see what you want to see on the day without feeling guilty about wasting admission.

After lunch we travelled over to the Emirates for the match. It took more time than usual to get into the stadium, at least where I was seated in the North Bank. I was lucky to be in my seat as the teams were coming out on the field. You’ve heard me speaking about how much I love singing and being in the stadium as “North London Forever” is being played, but there is a song played at every Arsenal match that I despise. It’s called Good old Arsenal. It’s played both before the first half and the second half. It sounds like it was invented in the 1940s, but my quick google just now tells me it first made its appearance at the stadium in 1971.

They usually get through it 2 times before the rest of the pomp happens. I was in my seat for it and it annoyed me, like always. I do sing it because while we sing this song we win the game. How can I decline? I’m a model fan. Note: it does not always produce the results it claims.

With Martin Odegaard still injured, Mikel Arteta started exactly the same midfield he had selected for the mid-week Champions League match. He made one change in the forward line, replacing Eze with Leandro Trossard. This was maybe a bit surprising considering the opposition. Kind of a very secure but not very adventuresome lineup. William Saliba was restored to his normal center half position after an ankle injury having not played much since then. He seemed a bit rusty.

If you consider the totality of the match, we were mostly successful at being secure. But there was this one insecure moment pretty early in the first half where there was a turnover on a mistake and Man City’s excellent striker, Erling Haaland, got forward on a breakaway where Man City had three players on two Arsenal players. Haaland didn’t have the ball early in the breakaway but he was clearly the one you didn’t want to see the ball come to. We didn’t have him covered well and he did get the ball. He had no problem placing it in the Arsenal goal beyond David Raya.

All through the match Man City was pretty much bunkered in and we were unable to find a way through. Although I understood after the match everyone watching seemed to find it boring, I thought it was a fascinating match. Kind of like watching chess. I know not everyone likes watching chess when they came to watch football. But obviously frustrating, going at them again and again and never finding a way through.

After halftime, the Arsenal team came out to the the sound of “Good Old Arsenal,” like always. But this time, Man City didn’t come out for ages. It played 6 or 7 times. I enjoyed it less than usual which, as I mentioned, is not at all.

Mikel Arteta made increasingly creative substitutions across the second half and we did start to make headway in penetrating the Man City defense, which by now was just a big, old bus parked in front of the goal. He even removed a defender to put on an attacker, Gabriel Martinelli.

Everyone refers to the players who start the match as “starters.” Lately, Arteta has notably been referring to players who are substituted on as “finishers.” I don’t know where this started but I do know this is terminology that Sarina Wiegman, the winning manager for women’s Euros, used to describe her very accomplished substitutes. One of whom was Chloe Kelly, the Arsenal player who visibly improved the England team in many matches and scored the deciding penalty kick in the final. In my opinion, language matters and I think this is a good development for Arteta’s players. All of the players are good enough to start, but not all of them can be selected. Instead, Arteta needs to be able to use them to change the course of the match. And they are just as important to the match in their different role.

While Arteta was replacing defenders with attackers, Man City’s manager was replacing attackers with defenders. Even Erland Haaland was removed. (The manager said afterward he did this because Haaland said he was tired.) Both managers wanted points from this match but Man City’s manager was definitely working from the preferred position.

It seemed like the match was going to end a Man City win as we entered injury time. But never say never. Eberechi Eze, who ultimately found himself playing, managed to slip a ball over the Man City defenders to a breaking Martinelli, who managed to evade them as the goalkeeper rushed out toward him. The lightest loft of the ball with the edge of his foot and the ball was floating into the air over the keeper and against the far netting. Then a roll into the back of the net to the excitement of an entire stadium. A finisher’s finish. Until it hit the back of the net from my seat–closer to where the ball was lofted and farther from where it nestled into the netting–I was not sure it was in.

With the few minutes remaining, we continued to try to score and Man City made more offensive progress than it had tried in a while. In the end, a 1-1 tie was all we could get done.

Sometimes a late tie like that feels like a win but in this case, well, even though I was really happy the goal happened, it mostly felt like a tie. And you know the stadium DJ was feeling it, too because he played another song I’ve come to really hate at the Emirates, the song he usually plays for a tie (and I think maybe also for a loss): Tears for Fears’ Everybody Wants to Rule the World. Maybe I once liked it, but now I’ve been conditioned. It’s like a song you associate from your youth with the summer some boyfriend broke up with you. Bah. Dislike.

Better luck next time? We shall see.

After the match, Mikel; Arteta took a shellacking in the press conference and in commentary for the week for the starting line-up he used which, again, was the same forward and midfield line as in the Champions League win on Tuesday. “Why are you keeping the handbrake on?” I’ve already seen an “Arteta Out” message on social media. A writer on Football 365, which lately has been on a clickbait tear, likened Arteta to Donald Trump. Admittedly the writer is English so he may not have the clearest picture of Donald Trump’s traits, but I can assure anyone that whatever you might dislike in Trump and whatever you might dislike in Arteta, these are NOT the same traits.

Such is the state of his life. No matter what Arteta does, it’s used as a stick to beat him with. This is a great, young manager in his first head coaching role. He has a large, excellent, diverse team with 8 new players to incorporate, and figuring that out takes time. Which members of the team work together well under the varying conditions you can expect or that unexpectedly are in place?

A 1-1 tie against Man City nearing the end one of the most difficult early schedules in the Premier League while we’re sorting that out? Whatever Mikel does at this time, I’m with him. While Social Media and football commentators try their best to get me riled with media’s proven strategies to rile, I am capable of resisting.

Because, remember, as I have sworn so many times to the Arsenal web site, I’m not a robot.