As you can see from the above map, the Giant
Killing Adventure is travelling 210 miles back down south from Goodison Park in
Liverpool to the Emirates Stadium in London.
It is the weekend of the 6th Round Proper of the FA Cup 2013/14. Only 3 rounds to go and 8 teams
left. The Giant Killing Adventure has picked up its second all Premiership tie
as Everton travel to London to take on Arsenal.
These are two big
teams with a lot of success and history between them. Arsenal are based in Holloway, North London.
Originally formed in 1886 in Woolwich they were the first Southern team to join
the football league in 1893. They re-located to the North of London in 1913 and
stayed at Highbury for many success filled years. They have won 13 top flight
titles and the FA Cup 10 times. They are the only team to go unbeaten across a
38 match season - earning them the nickname the invincibles.
They have been one of the most successful
teams in the modern era which began in 1986 with the appointment of George
Graham as manager. His team managed to break the domination of the Liverpool
based teams as he picked up the league cup in his first season and his first title in
1989 as they won the league with a last minute goal, in the final match of the
season by beating Liverpool. After Graham’s dismissal in 1995 the club gained
in momentum with the appointment of current manager Arsene Wenger. He brought with him a new era of
foreign players, training regimes and diet control that has helped transform
the Premiership. In July 2006 they finally left the tiny stadium of Highbury to
the purpose built arena of the Emirates.
However,
the success hasn’t followed as the club hasn’t won a major trophy since beating
Manchester United on penalties in the 2005 FA Cup final.
Currently
Arsenal lie 3rd in the Premiership with 59 points from 28
games. They are still well in the mix as
they are level on points with 2nd place Liverpool and only 4 points
behind 1st placed Chelsea. In
the FA Cup this season they have beaten local rivals Tottenham 2-0 in the 3rd
Round Proper; had a convincing home victory over Coventry City 4-0 in the 4th
Round Proper; and then got revenge over Liverpool after a substantial league
defeat by beating them at home 2-1 in the last round.
This is Everton’s third match in the Giant Killing
Adventure – previously in the FA Cup they beat QPR at home 4-0 in the 3rd
Round Proper and then we witnessed a domineering performance as they knocked
out previous blog favourites Stevenage 0-4. In the last round they knocked out
Swansea City 3-1 but the performance wasn’t great. They will have to improve on that in order to
beat Arsenal away from home. Martinez
is the current manager to ‘hold’ the FA Cup so perhaps his recent experience in
the competition can lead them to victory.
It wasn’t easy to get a ticket for this game. I
tried Everton first as I had bought my tickets for Goodison off them with ease –
however, unless the correct pre-requisite tickets had been purchased they were
not available. I emailed Arsenal to let
them know about our blog and was told that tickets would only go on general sale
after they had been offered to Arsenal’s silver members first; then red
members. I was told that some red memberships were available for £36 but it
would not guarantee a ticket as they could be sold out if silver members decide
to buy them all. I have come through the
previous 12 rounds and I am determined to go as far as possible, so I had to
pay the £36 membership and luckily they had a few tickets left. I spent a
further £38 on a ticket.
However, this has not yet arrived through the post
(I purchased it on the 28th February). I’ve got one day left for it
to arrive.
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Adventure Facebook page. The page will
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by ‘Liking’ the page. Click on link below:
https://www.facebook.com/thegiantkillingadventure
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No blog guest as only single ticket purchases were available. 2 day’s sleep and 1 day’s post to go...
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