Arsenal FC : Aston Villa FC

After a long break from Corona, the time had finally come again. The travel activities were resumed and so nothing stood in the way of a ground-hopping trip. And what could be more obvious than a short trip to the ever-glorious London.

With fewer tourists travelling to the stadium and the Gunners having a mixed season so far, we saw an opportunity to finally visit the Emirates Stadium. So we bought a membership and hoped to get tickets in the open sale. After a few nerve-racking queues, a bug in the data entry and a new booking process, we finally got hold of the coveted tickets.

On the morning of the match day, we still had to complete the Day 2 Covid Test and took advantage of this to visit the nearby Kew Gardens. The opportunity to do something for the UNESCO list could not be missed. The Underground took us to Arsenal, where we arrived at the stadium after a short walk. The people were already streaming towards the entrance - a nice feeling that something like this is now possible again.

In the stadium itself, we took advantage of the 2 for 1 beer offer before we went to the seats. From there, you could see a dominant Arsenal team from the start, who hardly let the opponent cross the halfway line. After 23 minutes the deserved 1:0 was scored by Thomas Partey. Arsenal continued to press, but could not take advantage of the good chances. Shortly before half-time, there was an upset when a handball was suspected in the Aston Villa penalty area. As the whistle blew, the VAR intervened and after reviewing the scene, the referee pointed to the spot and restarted the game. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang first failed to hit Jed Steer, but was able to score the ball after the break.

After the break, Aston Villa showed more attacking spirit, but could not create any big chances. In the middle of this short period of pressure Emile Smith Rowe could even increase the score to 3:0 for Arsenal and the game was over. Aston Villa tried everything, but in the end it was not enough for more than the 3:1 by Jacob Ramsey.

In the end, a deserved victory for Arsenal, who then celebrated extensively by the crowd.