Why care about sport?

I wish I knew

Last Sunday was perhaps the happiest afternoon I have ever spent at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal’s home since 2006. (For those who missed it, Arsenal beat Manchester City, Premier League champions for the previous four seasons, 5-1, and the third and fifth goals were scored by gifted teenagers who have only recently broken into the team.) There have been other memorable occasions, of course - a victory over Barcelona, then the best team in the world, two consecutive 5-2 wins over Spurs in 2012, various thrilling games with decisive late goals.

But the game last weekend was satisfying for all sorts of reasons. There is bad blood between the teams, especially after the rambunctious 2-2 draw earlier in the season. And it was important - a win was essential if Arsenal were to keep their hopes of a championship alive - and my team was in the lead for eighty-six of the ninety minutes, so tension was reduced. Arsenal scored early, and then again within a minute of Manchester City’s equalizer. We came out of the ground excited about the rest of the season, and about the golden future. The two teenagers, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri, both North Londoners, already look like world-class players, and Arsenal’s need for a striker suddenly didn’t seem quite so desperate - the search could wait until the summer. And all this without the injured Bukayo Saka, our best player.