That London derby is on Feb 4 with a 12.30 kick-off.
I love the big games, always have.
Although Man United-Liverpool was a crap match last week.
The routine games can be fun too, of course.
Burnley are a compact side and they’ll give Arsenal a game tomorrow.
Oddly enough, the first football league game I ever saw was Arsenal v Burnley.
Dad drove us from Stevenage to Cockfosters and we got a tube down to Highbury on 19th August,1961. I was 17 and this was a birthday treat.
A lot of boys at Alleynes Grammar School supported Spurs but I loved Burnley, especially Jimmy McIlroy and Ray Pointer.
Dad, having seen the legendary Dixie Dean play for Everton, didn’t rate the energetic Pointer. The England manager was Walter Winterbottom and Dad said, “If Winterbottom wants a runner, he should pick Derek Ibbotson.
Ibbotson, an athlete, was Britain’s top miler.
I was very disappointed by the 2-2 draw.
Laurie Brown, a centre half signed from Northampton, didn’t give Pointer a kick.
Mel Charles scored both goals for Arsenal.
The last week has been a blur but I do recall last Saturday, when I had a day off from football.
We got the 9.17 train from Victoria and went to see our bubbly daughter. It’s always a shock to see armed police at a train station and I doubt if I’ll ever get used to that. But I’m glad they’re there.
About 2.15 were in the flat and having a lovely time and I said, “I’m wondering how Spurs are doing. Can you get Sky Sports on your laptop?”
Within seconds she placed the laptop on the coffee table just in front of me and I saw the final moments of Spurs v West Brom : a replay of an 89th minute goal made by Dele Alli and scored by Harry Kane , where Deli just lifted the ball forward into the run of his mate, who smashed it in for 4-0.
It was a wet day but Caroline took me on a tour of four charity bookshops and I was very restrained, buying just one hardback, a memoir by model-actress Anjelica Houston, which I started to read on the train back to London.
On page 7 she is invited a party at Jack Nicholson’s house.