Deep Joy At The Emirates With Arsenal's Brave New World 

This year, for the first time in a long time, there is a genuine belief at The Arsenal, writes Sir Henry Norris 

North London was bathed in late summer sunshine as fans streamed through the turnstiles, app in hand for our first time at home this season. 

The level of optimism on the concourse before the game was unprecedented. No one was more optimistic than Arsenal’s catering team who thought fans would hand over £9 for a bag of popcorn. But I guess we have to pay for our exciting new players somehow. 

In the Armoury, anyone seeking to buy an Eze shirt pre match was told ‘no’. Yet, his name was everywhere. 

A tricky visit last week to Old Trafford could have dampened the mood, though three points after a tense 90 minutes made watching the game through the fingers worthwhile. Too many times we have gone up there and exchanged a few points for the moral victory. 

This year, for the first time in ages there is a belief. 

City are not only misfiring, but they are actively shooting themselves in the foot. Losing to that lot from N17 at home is embarrassing.

Yet, with a quarter of an hour before kick off, the concourse became silent as thousands of fans made their way out to their seats. 

A standing ovation to welcome home Ebereche Eze who took a roundabout way to get from Hale End to the Emirates. 

Genuine joy around the ground when he was paraded briefly onto the field. The details of the deal added to the atmosphere. Sol Campbell being unveiled was a complete shock. Emanuel Petit using a taxi paid for by Spurs to call in at Arsene Wenger’s house to do a deal was hilarious. But stringing Spurs along for two weeks on the football version of Tinder before ghosting them was genius. 

Cardiologists over on the far side of the tracks will be dealing with coronaries as puce-faced Spurs fans angrily fleck spittle around unable to enunciate real words such is their level of outrage. Wojciech Szczeny joined in on the mirth, releasing a video about it happening again to Tottenham. 

There was plenty of Spursenfreude in evidence on Saturday. To the uninitiated, it is a noun which describes the general feeling of joy taken from the misery of Tottenham fans who have watched their team fail once again. It’s from the German word Schadenfreude, to take pleasure from the misfortune of others. 

For a brief time on Saturday, football threatened to take away from the bonhomie when Pascal Struijk’s header headed towards the goal only for David Raya to keep his clean sheet going. The Spaniard seems determined to win the golden gloves this season. 

Jurian Timber’s brace certainly settled any nerves, while boy wonder Bukayo Saka’s goal was a thing of beauty. It was also a relief to see Victor Gyokeres get off the mark. 

Of course, everyone in the stadium thought the sky was going to fall in with Martin Odegaard’s right shoulder in pain followed by Saka hobbling off with a muscle injury. 

But, with 30 minutes to go, Mikel Arteta brought on Max Dowman, the precocious 15-year-old forward who should be preparing for back to school rather than making a cameo appearance at the Emirates. 

Yet, every time he got on the ball, electricity pulsed around the ground, eventually winning a penalty in the dying seconds. 

The romantics in the stadium wanted Max to line up the shot, but wiser heads prevailed and Goykeres cooly nailed our first and probably last league penalty of the season. 

Next weekend is Anfield. Another three points there and who knows where we will end up this season.