Visiting the champions is a different away day. The Emirates has always been a comfortable, well-run ground; this season it is also the home of the Premier League title for the first time in 22 years, and the atmosphere in north London has changed accordingly. This guide covers the trip: how to get there, where the away end is, what the 2026/27 Arsenal jersey looks like up close, and how to spend the hours either side of kick-off in one of the better matchday neighbourhoods in the capital.
The ground and the ground before it
Arsenal moved from Highbury to the Emirates in 2006, a few hundred yards south, and the old stadium’s Art Deco East Stand still stands, converted into flats, on Avenell Road. A walk past it is worth ten minutes of any away day. The Emirates holds just over 60,000, the bowl is shallow and the concourses are wide, and it was designed to be easy rather than intimidating, which for a visiting supporter is a good thing. Since the title the noise has improved considerably.
Where away fans sit
The away section is in the south-east corner of the ground, in the Clock End, usually split between the lower and upper tiers with an allocation of around 3,000 for league fixtures. The upper tier gives a better view of the whole pitch; the lower tier puts you closer to the goal at that end and to the Arsenal supporters either side, which is either a feature or a problem depending on your temperament. The £30 away-ticket cap applies.
Getting there
Four Tube stations serve the ground. Arsenal, on the Piccadilly line, is the closest but is exit-only after the match and gets very crowded; Holloway Road, also Piccadilly, is a five-minute walk; Finsbury Park, on the Victoria and Piccadilly lines and the Great Northern railway, is ten minutes and the best option for supporters arriving from King’s Cross; Highbury & Islington, on the Victoria line and the Overground, is fifteen minutes and the best for the pubs. Drayton Park station, on the rail line from Moorgate, is closed on match days.
Before and after
The pubs on Holloway Road and Blackstock Road are largely home-only, but Upper Street in Islington, a fifteen-minute walk or one stop from Highbury & Islington, has dozens of bars that welcome away supporters in colours. Finsbury Park has cheaper options and is the traditional pre-match stop for visiting fans arriving by rail. After the game, walk to Highbury & Islington rather than queuing at Arsenal station, and if you are catching a train from King’s Cross or St Pancras, allow an hour from the final whistle.
The jersey you will be looking at
Arsenal’s 2026/27 home shirt is adidas’s eighth season with the club and, by most reviewers’ reckoning, the best of the three kits released this summer. It is the classic template, red body, white sleeves, with the Emirates logo, three stripes and a neat collar detail, and for the first time since 2004 it carries the gold Premier League champions’ patch on the sleeve. The adult replica costs £85. From the away end the white sleeves do exactly what Herbert Chapman intended in 1933: they make the players easy to pick out, which is less of a comfort when they are in your penalty area.
The team you will be watching
Mikel Arteta’s side won the 2025/26 title with a game to spare after three consecutive second-place finishes, and came within a penalty shoot-out of a first Champions League. They led Paris Saint-Germain through Kai Havertz’s early goal in the final in Budapest, drew 1-1 after extra time, and lost 4-3 on penalties when Gabriel fired the last kick over the bar. The squad that returns for the title defence is largely the same, with Bukayo Saka fresh from a World Cup hat-trick against France, and the Emirates in 2026/27 is one of the harder places in the country to take a point.
Practical notes
The stadium is cashless and bag searches are thorough. Arrive early: the Clock End turnstiles queue badly in the last twenty minutes before kick-off. The ground is in a residential area and the streets around it are not the place to drink, so do that before you arrive. For evening kick-offs, the last trains north from King’s Cross leave earlier than you think, and the walk from the ground to the station is forty minutes if the Tube is overloaded.
The Highbury walk
Allow half an hour before the match for Highbury. The old East Stand on Avenell Road, with its Art Deco facade and the club crest above the door, is now the entrance to a block of flats called Highbury Square, and the pitch is a communal garden between the surviving stands. The Arsenal tube station, renamed from Gillespie Road in 1932 at Herbert Chapman’s insistence, is two minutes away. It is one of the few places in English football where the ground a club left is still worth visiting, and the walk from there to the Emirates passes the Armoury, the club’s shop, and the statues of Henry, Adams, Chapman and Bergkamp.
The Arsenal shop and the tour
The Armoury, at the stadium’s south end, is where the champions’ shirt is bought by most supporters, and on match days it is a crush; the club’s online store is easier. Stadium tours run on non-match days and include the home dressing room and the tunnel, and for visiting supporters staying over they are a reasonable way to spend a Sunday morning.
Getting home
If you are travelling north from King’s Cross or St Pancras, the walk from the Emirates via Highbury & Islington and the Victoria line takes about forty minutes door to door when the Tube is running normally, and an hour when it is not. For the south and west, Finsbury Park to Victoria is direct. For an evening kick-off, check the last train before the match, not after it; the Emirates on a Wednesday night has caught out more than one away supporter.
Is it a good away day?
Yes, and better than its reputation. The Emirates was once dismissed as a library; the champions’ season has changed that, and the ground is in one of the most walkable, best-served parts of London for a visiting supporter. The result is another matter. Go for Upper Street, the East Stand at Highbury and the chance to see the champions’ shirt with the gold patch, and treat anything on the pitch as a bonus. For more ground guides, travel and the kits along the way, explore Away Day Planner.