But recent events meant my 8 year-old son Emerson and I travelled to Manchester in good spirits. City had just seen their unbeaten league record brought to an end at Chelsea, while we were on a eight match unbeaten run that had seen us close in on the top four. In fact victory here would put us just six points behind City with more than half the season still to play.
Despite the cold weather, and road works on every stretch of the M62, we arrived in Manchester 90 minutes before kick off. The first problem was finding somewhere to park. We had been warned about residence only parking on match days, but we found a little estate about two miles from the ground that seemed safe. There were no signs up and there were no yellow lines on the road.
We decided it would be okay and walked across the road to a little shop to ask directions to the ground. On the way we passed a secure car park where men in yellow jackets were charging £5 for the privilege of parking on a piece of land they did not even own. As a guy came out of the car park I asked him if it was safe to park on the estate opposite. He said he was not sure and asked if my car was worth a fiver.
''It's safe in here, and you get away quickly at the end,'' he said, pointing to the secure car park.
After a little discussion, Emerson and I decided it would be better if we moved the car, so I paid the fiver, a small price to pay for piece of mind.
The next problem was making it to the ground without slipping over on the icy paths. An old fella in front of us went down and took two or three others with him, but Emerson did not seem to mind and spent the 10 minute walk pretending to be an ice-skater.
As we approached the stadium we passed a guy selling City scarves and badges.
''How much are your Champions League scarves?'' I asked.
I don't think he saw the funny side...
Etihad Stadium
We walked across the sky blue bridge (Joe Mercer Way) and were greeted by the teams being announced on the big screens outside the Sky Blue Cafe. I was surprised to see Samir Nasri named in the starting XI for City, but Emerson was excited.
''I will be able to boo him now,'' he said.
On entering the ground we had to show our tickets not once but twice, and were then thoroughly searched. I even had to take off my woolly hat.
''You won't find anything in there,'' I said as the security fella looked at my bald, and now freezing cold, head.
Once inside the atmosphere was building up nicely. Emerson always likes to play a score prediction game and he was feeling confident.
''2-1 to us,'' he said.
I had to admit I was not that sure so I went for a safer 1-1.
Our seats were in the upper tier and the view was superb. The teams came out to a rendition of Blue Moon and, after the pleasantries were out the way, it was on with the action.
View from our seats.
We spent the first ten minutes either booing Nasri or singing 'Thursday nights, Channel 5' to the City fans on our right, but City started well and could have been two up before we had really got going. Aguero fired over from 8 yards, before Szczesny made great saves to deny Balotelli and the 'S**t Carlos Tevez!'.
But slowly we began to settle. Gervinho tested Hart in the City goal and, from the resulting corner, Ramsey brought another fine save from England's number one.
By now I had got bored of booing every touch from Nasri, although Emerson hadn't. Rather thoughtfully our former player had decided to wear bright yellow and orange boots to make him stand out, which made it easier for Emerson to spot him. It was only a little later that he realised several other City players had the same boots on...
Half time was goalless but we were reasonably satisfied. We had played well and I was sure that once Robin and Theo got going in the second half we would win. However, I was a little annoyed by some of the mindless abuse being aimed at Walcott but our so-called fans. During the first half it seemed everything was his fault.
''Move your ass Walcott,'' was the general theme, and Emerson, in particular, was very upset.
''Why are they picking on Theo?'' he asked. ''He is one of our best players.''
Now he may only be eight, but Emerson knows his stuff.
''He always sets up Robin for the goals, so we need him.''
I asked one of the idiots abusing him what he thought he was doing, and his reply was pretty much as I expected.
''He is f**king useless.''
Really??
In fairness he had not had the best first half but, as Emerson rightly pointed out, he had not received the ball so it was hard for him to impress.
As the teams came out for the second half Kolo Toure, who was playing well at the back for City, came over to the travelling Arsenal fans to applaud us, and he got a great reception back. You see Mr. Nasri, if you respect our club we will respect you.
The second half got off to the worst possible start when City scored within eight minutes. Djourou, who is someone that is nowhere near good enough, limped off with an injury meaning young Miguel was brought on at left back, with Koscienly moving to the right and Thomas Vermaelen the centre. The re-shuffle at the back seemed to cause the problems as Balotelli cut in from the left before firing in a shot that Szczesny could only push away. Aguero should have scored but the ball fell to Silva who couldn't miss from two yards.
Whenever Arsenal go behind, Emerson always grabs my hand. I'm not sure if he wants reassurance or if he is giving some to me, but this time it didn't last long as he caught sight of the City fans doing the 'Poznan' to our right. It was a great sight and was almost worth them scoring to witness it. Almost. But Emerson loved it.
Emerson enjoying himself in the ground.
''When we score, can we do that?'' he asked.
He almost did not have to wait long to find out. Theo was only denied by Hart (that would have shut the doubters up) before Robin chipped the ball home only for the linesman's flag to cut short our celebrations.
The City fans started up their own 'Poznan' again to mock our aborted celebrations, which I am sure I would have found funny had the decision not been so tight. In fact TV replays on MOTD 2 that night suggested he was level and we had in fact been robbed. Oh well...
The game really opened up after that and there could have been more goals at either end. We were fortunate not to concede again when Aguero fired just wide, while Zabaleta hit the post after Koscienly, who had been magnificent until then, gave the ball away.
We should have had a penalty when Richards clearly handled a cross from Koscielny right in front of the useless, fat referee Phil Dowd (he has never liked us) before Walcott was taken off. It was no real surprise as he had not really got into the match, but it was Arshavin who replaced him and suddenly we really had someone on the pitch who was not worthy of the shirt. I'm not really sure what has gone wrong with the little Russian, but he a shadow of the player we bought nearly three years ago and he clearly does not want to play for us anymore. He gave the ball away with his first two touches and then shot tamely into the side netting from a good position soon after. I turned to the guy who had earlier been abusing Walcott.
''Theo is a million times the player he (Arshavin) is.''
But I don't think he agreed.
''They are both f**king useless,'' was his well thought out response.
With time running out we really went for it as Chamakh replaced Mertesaker, but it was Vermaelen who came closest to rescuing us the point we deserved. Hart did well to tip over his stinging drive four minutes from time, before he then curled a great effort just wide in injury time. Yes, we need a new striker in January but in the mean time we could do worse than playing TV5 up there. Well at least we could if had any other fit defenders...
Amazingly the PA announced the man of the match was Nasri, no doubt just to rub our noses in it as he had been almost as anonymous as Walcott. The two best players on the pitch had been the goalkeepers, and the fact that Hart had been the busier of the two suggested we had been unlucky to lose.
Emerson certainly thought so as he spent the entire walk back to the car saying how well he thought we had played. He could not understand the abuse Theo had been given, but he said it was okay as he was still his second favourite player (after Robin of course).
We decided to go to McDonalds to let the traffic die down, and while we were in the queue a few young lads in City shirts came in and were talking about being top of the league. Emerson turned to them, slowly unzipped his coat and proudly showed them his Arsenal shirt. The boy is a legend.
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