Fan fiction only adds to weirdness of another Arsenal win

Dave Tickner
Arsenal fans return to Emirates Stadium

There was a moment in the first half at the Emirates when the return of fans really hit home. It wasn’t when Alexandre Lacazette fizzed home a curving, dipping 30-yard shot to open the scoring, nor either of Arsenal’s other two first-half goals in a facile Europa League win against Rapid Vienna.

No. It was when a rare Rapid counter-attack collapsed in on itself as two Vienna marauders contrived to sort of tackle each other and give possession away. The reaction was instant: 2000 Arsenal fans laughing and jeering as one. There it was. That’s what we’ve missed. That’s what’s made all lockdown football feel slightly weird. That’s what couldn’t be synthesised. It wasn’t the celebrating, it was the piss-taking.

Those returning Arsenal fans were always going to be the talking point here, especially once an already low-key Europa League group game – the Gunners are safely through and have now rubber-stamped top spot – was settled as a contest with three first-half goals.

And overall it was… well, it was still a bit weird, wasn’t it? Better, but still weird. In some ways, the sight of 2000 fans spread across the vast expanse of the Emirates made the return of proper crowds seem an even more distant prospect than empty grounds did. Can’t quite explain that one, but the diffused smattering of supporters in attendance seemed even more incongruous than none. They also looked somehow like an advent calendar in a mad way. But an advent calendar on seats.

It’s also clear we’re going to have to get used, over the days and weeks ahead, to anything and everything being attributed to the return of fans. But only positive things. Lacazette thrikering one in from 30 yards? The fans did it. Was the way Arsenal were able to frequently and straightforwardly pick a way through the defence due to their own good football or even more prosaically the vast talent gap between the two sides? No. It was the fans.

Interestingly, a sloppy start to the second half from the Gunners, in which the Austrians briefly threatened some sort of West Ham-style comeback and deservedly pulled a goal back, was precisely the sort of lack of concentration and focus that has frequently been attributed to the absence of fans. Yet their return was not considered a factor tonight. Weird.

It undeniably did feel different with fans back. Better. Definitely a bit better. But still not right, and it’s an observation that’s going to be overplayed to the point we’re all sick to death of it by the time Arsenal next take the field in front of a similar crowd – in terms of size and sparseness if not allegiance – on Sunday afternoon across north London. Indeed, if the presence of a couple of thousand fans inside the ground makes even a fraction of the difference it was being credited with tonight, then the resulting disparity between Tier 2 and Tier 3 clubs means the Premier League will simply have to be abandoned on grounds of sporting fairness.

Mischief aside, there is a more serious debate about whether fans should really yet be back at all with the country still firmly in the grip of Covid but with the relief of a vaccine rollout possibly just around the corner.

But looking at it purely from the sporting perspective, you noticed a change. The 2000 did make their presence felt. They certainly made themselves heard (feel free to insert your own jokes about usual Emirates volume levels here). Nobody was leaving the ground early. There was no traffic to beat, just as there was little on-field opposition for Arsenal to beat.

They scored four goals, which will please Mikel Arteta given their goalscoring travails in the Premier League. They also missed a host of chances to score more and weren’t particularly clinical, which won’t.

Fans or no fans, this was nothing new. Arsenal have now scored 16 goals in their five Europa League games, winning the lot with plenty to spare; it hasn’t yet translated to Premier League form.

It would be wildly premature to view this game as a sign that things are definitively looking up for Arsenal. Much like having those 2000 fans back, Arsenal’s four goals are pretty inconclusive on their own but it was still nice to see them, and they’re definitely better than nothing.

Dave Tickner