MANCHESTER CITY vs. Swansea (ETIHAD STADIUM)

Match: MANCHESTER CITY 2 - 1 Swansea

League: Premier League

Stadium: Etihad Stadium

Date: February 5th, 2017 - Kick Off: 1:30 PM

Preview

With City dropping out of the top 3, this became a must-win game for them for having an outside chance of staying in the title race. With Pep being under pressure after getting hammered by Everton 4-0 and the 2-2 draw against Spurs, this game was much needed in terms of bringing some consistency back to a squad who should be challenging for the title. And with Liverpool and Arsenal both losing games this weekend, it was the perfect opportunity for them to put some pressure on their rivals. It was a whole different story for Swansea on the other hand as they were still in the relegation battle. After an impressive and unpredictable win against Liverpool away and Southampton at home, we were hoping they were going to put up a fight at the Etihad to ensure they stay a Premier League Club.

Of course, without a doubt, City went in favourites and as usual, the Swans the massive underdogs but with football being unpredictable, especially in the Premier League, anything was possible.

Tickets

Price: 35 Pounds

There were four of us (all cousins) - we paid roughly 35 GBP per ticket and bought them from City's website in November 2016 as we finalized the fine details of our trip. Although we booked early, the price was quite decent (even though it was against Swansea) and it was fairly easy to purchase a ticket comparative to other 'bigger' clubs. We were seated in section 308, row X - in the nosebleeds.

Link: https://tickets.mancity.com/events.aspx

Here is the view below:

Travel to Stadium

Method: Car

We drove from Birmingham to Manchester. Kick-off was at 1:30 PM so we left the Midlands around 9:00 AM. We got there around 11:30 AM and were lucky enough to have a stop over at Old Trafford and also the local cricket stadium. Despite its reputation, the drive on the M6 was fairly smooth but if you are renting a car, be sure to get in some practise before you get on the highway to being on the left side of the road! The city also got much more busy as we approached the city centre.

We were able to find parking on one of the side streets of the stadium so if you are trying to look for parking that way - its not very definite. From there, it was only a short 5-7 minute walk over to Gate G.

Stadium

We got there with 20 mins to kick-off, so there wasn't much time to look around the club shop, but some of us bought replica scarves off one of the street vendors outside the stadium. There was no such commotion or singing from the fans during the walk in, which I found quite surprising as thats the reputation you have of the English Premier League.

In terms of the actual stadium itself, it was very different from what you'd find back at home in terms of the shape of the building itself. The roof itself looks like a roller coaster itself and after reading up about it, it looks like once the Arab money came in, you can definitely see they reaped the rewards of this. The pitch itself was immaculate as you'd expect and security the usual for other stadiums in England as this was not a rivals match.

Generally - top stadium.

Atmosphere

Now being an Arsenal fan, I thought the Emirates can be somewhat quite at times, but this was on a whole different level of quietness. I was actually quite shocked. As expected, I did see a lot of sky blue colours on the way in. Little boys with their dads walking in. And you could still feel the match day excitement in the air despite the low noise levels. But dare I say it, but it goes back to the old chant 'Is this a Library!' popped up in my mind.

I did however notice a small section of City "ultras" right away with their flags and singing right behind the one of the goals. They were noticeably loud and lead most of the chants in the stadium. In the 35th minute, all the fans got up and applauded for some reason. I'm not sure if it was to honour a legend or for a particular cause, but we joined in as well. Their new signing Jesus scored the equalizer and the injury-time winner so there was a lot of appreciation for him. Aguero came off the bench and he caught a fantastic ovation. I was actually looking forward to watching him play and, as expected, he was involved in good link up play with Silva, De Bruyne and co. right away.

Manchester City's second goal - Jesus

The Swansea fans could be heard loud and clear once they equalized. The CIty fans' frustration was also quite obvious. They actually made a lot more noise after Swansea levelled. There was the odd "for fuck's sake" was being thrown around, but they did get the winner in the end and it was a deserved result for the in my opinion.

Injury Time (Overall Review)

All in all, the stadium is quite modern-looking. Some fans in our row were quite friendly and we ended up engaging in some small talk. In the 20th minute, I remember asking one of them who was playing at RB for City - Fernando or Zabaleta? The guy next to me said "Delph", but turns out it was Fernandinho the whole time. I wondered if they were new City fans or just didn't know their own team well enough - it gave me a bit of a chuckle with the whole idea of plastic City fans. I have to admit, the lack of knowledge and visible passion was obvious in the noise levels of the stadium. I think it'll improve over time because they have an insane midfield with a top manager (who I'd love at Arsenal!). There was one point where I saw De Bruyne, Silva, Sane, Jesus and Sterling toying with Swansea's defence and was really impressed with their link up play. I said to myself "Wow, how are City not in the title race this year?". And then I saw Aguero come off the bench and it just showed you how "luxurious~ their squad really is. With Pep in charge, I know they'll be back in the trophy-winning mix very soon. Great experience at a top stadium overall! If you have to watch a "big team" without having to worry about getting a hold of tickets or paying out of your ass, a Manchester City game would be the ideal game to go to. They do have a 5-star squad so you'll get to see a boat load of talent on the pitch.

TTS (The Traveling Supporter) Rating: 7/10