Gavin Garthwaite
What a day (and night) Saturday was!
Most of you were able to support the team in the Arsenal end at Wembley, from the Live screening at the Emirates, or from the comfort of your own living room.
However, for two fanatic Gooners (a good friend and I), we had to sit amongst the 24,000 Aston Villa supporters and try to remain calm throughout the match. There were Aston Villa flags and scarves allocated to every seat in the Villa end and although we avoided any contact with these items, we had to remain silent and try to fit in so as not to stick out like sore thumbs!
Arriving into the stadium an hour before kick off, you could sense that the Villa supporters knew their team were in for an enormous battle and that to overcome their opponents was going to be a tall order. I felt quietly confident that we would not only win, but in a stylish and convincing way.
Paul Merson’s pitchside interview before the game provided his insight on how the game could swing. He mentioned it was Arsenal’s to lose but that the longer the game remained level, Villa would grow in confidence and that he could see them snatch a goal, to maybe clinch a smash and grab win.
It seemed this would be the case, as The Gunners started brightly but chance after chance came and went and frustration was growing, That was until Walcott stepped up to the plate, just before half time. My Fellow Gunner and I managed a nudge to each other as an acknowledgement that we were on our way but going to half time at only 1-0, we knew this was a precarious scoreline and that we needed to find another gear.
And find another gear we did.
Enter Alexis Sanchez. I had a side of view of the goal. How many times has he taken the ball on the outside of the pitch, cut inside and then unleashed something special? This one was even more so. He was probably further out than he would have wanted but as soon as he hit the ball I knew it was going to trouble Shay Given in goal. Not being able to see the line of the ball made it difficult to judge if Given was going to get near it, but seeing the net ripple was a huge weight off the shoulders and euphoria hit the Arsenal end. But for the two Arsenal supports in the Villa end, all we could do was raise a smile when we really wanted to join in with the celebrations and lead the applause.
Arsenal now needed to relax, enjoy their football and add to their tally. And what style was this achieved in. The third goal duly came from a set piece, after every single corner had been poor all day. Mertesacker rose highest to nod in and at this stage the game was home and dry.
And to top the day off, it was nice to see Giroud score his goal. He would have been disappointed to have been dropped for Theo but maybe on form, it was the correct decision.
Sitting in the Villa end actually worked to my advantage, as I was able to walk around to the Villa dugout and join in the celebrations with the Arsenal fans whilst watching the trophy presentation at close quarters. The match and celebrations are something that will live with me forever. A record 12th FA Cup win was the icing on the cake and will take some beating.
To sum it up, I feel Ozil, Alexis, Santi, Aaron and Theo all showed up on the day and Villa were unable to get near us. Apart from a couple of disappointing results against Swansea and Sunderland at the end of the season, Arsenal finished the season very strongly and coupled with a third place finish, the future looks very bright.
Arsene knows what he needs to do to improve the team and if we can add that little something extra to this talented side, then a Championship challenge is very close!
