Best Seats at Emirates Stadium
Arsenal’s home turned 20 this year and marked the occasion by watching the club win its first league title since the Invincibles. The Emirates opened in 2006 a few hundred metres from Highbury: a 60,704-seat glass-and-steel bowl in Holloway, North London, built to give one of England’s most famous clubs the scale its old ground never could. For years critics called it a library. Now “North London Forever” rolls round the stands before kick-off and the lower Clock End stands on brand-new safe-standing rails.
The honest reality is getting in. Almost every seat goes to members or season ticket holders, and the waiting list for those runs past 100,000, so a first visit takes a plan. The good news is that there isn’t a bad seat once you’re inside. The bowl is steep, enclosed and pillar-free, so you’re really choosing between atmosphere, angle and price.
Seating Guide
The Emirates is one continuous bowl with four named stands carried over from Highbury — the North Bank behind the north goal, the Clock End behind the south goal, and the long East and West Stands down either touchline. There are four levels: the Lower Tier (blocks 1–32), the premium Club Level (blocks 41–84), the Executive Box Level above that, and the Upper Tier (blocks 91–134) up top. Blocks run continuously round the ground rather than resetting at each stand, so the West Stand picks up both ends of the sequence — lower blocks 29–32 and 1–4, upper blocks 132–134 and 91–93. The Clock End takes lower blocks 21–28; the East Stand sits between them.
Two things follow from the design. The Upper Tier has a wave to it, rising highest along the East and West Stands and dipping at the corners, where the two big screens sit. And General Admission is split — Lower Tier and Upper Tier only — with Club Level and the boxes sealed off in a band across the middle. You cannot move between them once you’re inside.
Best Seats at the Emirates for View and Atmosphere
Upper Tier, East and West Stands, lower rows. The sweet spot for most visitors. You get the elevated tactical angle, the whole shape of the game in front of you, without Club Level money and with the roof over your head. Prices climb the closer you get to the halfway line, so a block or two off-centre is where the value lives. The East Stand upper has one edge worth knowing: a clean view down over the tunnel and both benches, so you’ll spot substitutions before they happen.
North Bank, Lower Tier. The heartbeat of the ground and the closest thing here to Highbury’s old soul. On a big night you’ll stand for the full ninety, and from 2027/28 the club is fitting licensed safe-standing rails here too. The trade-off is a low, behind-the-goal angle that flattens play at the far end. You come for the noise, not the geometry.
Clock End, Lower Tier. The southern short side matches the North Bank for proximity and price, and since the start of 2026/27 it has been the Emirates’ first licensed safe-standing area, with rail seats across blocks 20–29 so you can stand legally and still sit at half-time. The Ashburton Army, the black-clad drum-and-banner group that drives much of the singing, is based in block 25. Just know that away supporters share the rails in the corner beside you.
Best Value Seats
The lower rows of the Upper Tier behind the goals — the top of the North Bank and Clock End — give you a clean, elevated view of the whole pitch for noticeably less than the touchline blocks. You give up the central angle. For a first visit on a sensible budget, it’s hard to argue with.
Cheapest Seats at Emirates Stadium
The cheapest tickets in the house are Lower Tier behind the goals for a Category C fixture — Arsenal price every match A, B or C, with C the lower-profile league games. You’re low and behind the byline, which is as far from a television view as it gets, but you’re close to the grass, among proper supporters, and paying the least Arsenal will let you pay.
Our Pick
For a first-timer who wants the best all-round day, take a lower-row seat in the Upper Tier of the East or West Stand, a block or two off the halfway line. Full sweep of the pitch, a proper read on the game, the roof doing its job, and a price that won’t make your eyes water. It’s the seat we’d hand a friend flying in for their first match without a second thought.
Where Away Fans Sit at Emirates Stadium
The away end at Emirates Stadium is the south-east corner of the Lower Tier, running roughly blocks 20–23 where the East Stand meets the Clock End, entered through turnstiles K, L and M. The standard Premier League allocation is just under 3,000, and it now sits inside the Clock End’s licensed safe-standing area, so visiting fans stand on rails rather than in front of seats. Cup ties can push the allocation past 5,000, at which point the club has sometimes added upper-tier blocks directly above rather than handing over the whole lower end.
The view is better than most away ends you’ll sit in, because the rake is steep and there’s nothing to see round. The one thing to watch is the back rows, where the overhang of the upper tier can clip the top of your sightline. Food and drink open in the away concourse when the turnstiles do, roughly two hours before kick-off.
Getting a seat here is the hard part. Away tickets are allocated by the visiting club through its own away-points or loyalty scheme, they’re non-transferable, and they are not sold to neutrals. If you’re travelling in from abroad and want to see a specific opponent’s supporters in full voice, you’re buying a home ticket and watching them from across the corner flag.
Weather & Reality Check
The Emirates is open to the sky, and while the roof covers most seats, there’s very little overhang at the front. That matters less for sun — this is London, after all — and more for wind and rain. On a blustery day, the front few rows of any stand facing into the weather can end up genuinely cold and wet, with rain blowing in under the roofline. If the forecast is grim and you’ve got a choice, sit higher up and further back, where the roof actually does its job. Pack a waterproof rather than an umbrella, which you’ll struggle to use in a packed stand anyway.
Seats To Avoid and The North Bank Lower
The very back of the Upper Tier behind the goals. Cheapest for a reason — high, distant and behind the play. Fine for soaking up a marquee occasion on a budget, underwhelming for a routine league game.
Front row, weather-exposed. A front-row seat sounds glamorous until the rain arrives sideways.
Worth it once — the North Bank Lower for a European night. Not the place for a clean tactical view, and you’ll spend most of it on your feet, but standing in the Lower North Bank for a Champions League knockout with “North London Forever” ringing round the bowl is the Emirates at its absolute best. Every visiting supporter should do it once.
Premium Seating/Clubs at Emirates
Arsenal built the Emirates with hospitality baked into its bones. The whole middle tier is Club Level (blocks 41–84), a ring of padded seats with the best central views in the ground and lounges such as the Emirates Lounge and Champions Lounge behind it, and Box Level sits above that. Hospitality is sold directly by the club with no membership required, which makes it the most reliable route in for a one-off visitor. Every package is priced fixture by fixture, so the opponent matters more than the lounge. An entry-level seat starts in the low hundreds of pounds for a lower-category game and roughly triples for the marquee fixtures.
Best value way in — The Academy: A Club Level seat in a corner or behind the goal, three complimentary drinks and the run of the tier’s food kiosks. The Academy + moves the same package to the halfway line. The Cannon Club, a similar padded-seat package with drink and food vouchers, is sold only through the club’s authorised agents.
The best dining — The Heritage: A private table in The WM, the halfway-line restaurant in the East Stand, with a signature cocktail on arrival and premium Club Level seats, sold in pairs. The cheaper steps into seated dining are Foundry Legends, a private table in the industrial-styled Foundry, and Woolwich Arsenal, a three-course lunch with champagne in The Woolwich, sold for Premier League games only.
Box Level lounges — The Avenell and Dial Square Gallery: The Avenell is the Art Deco members’ lounge in the north-east corner, sold match by match in pairs with luxe seats, a grazing menu and cocktails mixed to order. Dial Square Gallery sits behind the goal at the Clock End with inclusive drinks, and it’s the only Box Level package you can book as a single.
Closest to the players — The Touchline: Seats behind the Arsenal bench and a private view of the players arriving, and on Premier League days you walk out of the tunnel to watch the warm-up. The Hero Experience goes further, with a meeting with a current first-team player, but it’s sold to parties of four only.
Boxes and the Diamond Club: Executive Boxes N5 and N7 seat 10, 12 or 15 and are sold whole; N7+ is the 15-seat box on the halfway line. Above the Directors’ Box sits the Diamond Club, an invitation-only members’ club with a menu overseen by Raymond Blanc and no published price.
Know before you book: The dress code is smart casual, Arsenal shirts are welcome, and away colours are not permitted anywhere on Club or Box Level. Hospitality opens two and a half hours before kick-off and stays open for up to two hours after. Tickets arrive by email three to five days before the game. If the fixture moves for TV, your booking moves with it and there is no refund, so book flights with a buffer day. Buy only from the club or an agent carrying Arsenal’s official agent insignia, because the club warns that packages bought anywhere else may be refused at the door.
Emirates Stadium Seating Plan & Capacity
Emirates Stadium holds 60,704 for Arsenal matches, the capacity figure both the club and the Premier League publish. That makes it the seventh-largest football stadium in England and London’s third-largest club ground, behind Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the London Stadium. Old Trafford, the Etihad (since its North Stand expansion) and Anfield are also bigger, and with a season ticket waiting list past 100,000 the capacity question never quite goes away. The expansion tip further down covers where that stands.
Here’s the link to the seating plan.
Getting Tickets To Arsenal Matches
There is no general sale for Arsenal men’s matches. Seats go to season ticket holders and paying members, plus whatever the club sells as hospitality, and the ground sells out for almost every fixture. Here’s how it actually works.
You’ll need an Arsenal membership. Red Membership, around £38 a season, is the one most fans hold. It gets you into the Red ballot for home matches and onto the Ticket Exchange. Silver Membership isn’t openly on sale and has its own waiting list, and Gold Membership is the season ticket itself, with a waiting list past 100,000 that costs £50 to join. There’s a short delay between buying a membership and being able to enter a ballot, so don’t leave it to the week before.
The ballot is the main route in. Silver members apply roughly six to eight weeks before each home game and Red members roughly four to six weeks before. It’s a random draw. For a lower-category fixture you have a fair chance, and for the big ones you’re in a genuine lottery. Fixtures are priced by category: C, B and A, plus B+ and A+ for the biggest games from 2026/27. You can link friends and family into a network so you’re balloted together.
Check the Ticket Exchange every day. When season ticket holders can’t go, they resell at face value through the official Ticket Exchange. It opens first to members who entered that match’s ballot and missed out, and seats can appear at any time right up to matchday.
Hospitality is the no-membership shortcut. Packages are sold directly by Arsenal, need no membership at all, and are often the last tickets of any kind still available. If your trip is locked to a date, this is the dependable fallback.
Arsenal Women are the easy way into the stadium. All 13 of their Women’s Super League home games are at the Emirates in 2026/27, the tickets are far easier to get than for the men’s side, and it’s the same ground, the same anthem and the same pies.
Away tickets are essentially off-limits to neutrals. They’re allocated to loyal season ticket holders through an away-points system built up over years of attendance, so don’t plan a trip around getting into the away end.
Arsenal eTicketing: How the Digital Pass Works
Your ticket lives in your phone’s wallet. Every Arsenal ticket is an NFC digital pass, downloaded through the Ticket Hub in the official Arsenal app and stored in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. There are no PDFs and no paper tickets, and screenshots are refused at the turnstile.
Download it from the app, not a laptop. You can log in to the Ticket Hub on a desktop, but the pass itself can only be added to your wallet through the app.
One pass, one phone. Once a pass is activated on a device it can’t be moved to another, so download it to the phone you’ll actually carry. Supporters aged 14 and over need their own login; younger Junior Gunners are managed under a parent’s account.
Once it’s in your wallet, you don’t need signal. That matters in a crowd of 60,000. Arsenal’s 2023 opener against Nottingham Forest kicked off half an hour late after the new e-ticketing system failed at the turnstiles. Don’t be the one still loading a pass at the barrier.
Know where to go if it fails. Take the phone case off if the scan won’t read. If that doesn’t work, head to the Digital Ticketing Help Centre at Turnstile A or the Matchday Box Office next to the Armoury, which opens three hours before kick-off and stays open until half-time. Bring photo ID, and they can print you a ticket.
Upcoming Events At Emirates Stadium
Here is a list of upcoming matches, events and all things happening at Emirates Stadium.
Emirates Stadium Bag Policy
Keep it small or leave it behind. In General Admission, the only bags permitted are A4 size (21cm × 29.7cm) or smaller: think a small handbag or a compact pouch, roughly the size of a school notebook. Standard rucksacks, laptop bags and anything larger will be turned away at the gate, and there’s no bag storage at the stadium, so you’d be stuck.
Hospitality guests get a little more leeway on paper, as the club’s hospitality terms allow small bags and normal-sized rucksacks, but the club reserves the right to refuse any bag, so pack to A4 and you’re safe at every entrance. Every bag is searched and tagged at the turnstile, and that tag has to stay on. The club’s genuine advice, which is worth taking, is to arrive bag-free wherever possible. It’s the single biggest thing that speeds up your entry. If you’re arriving in London with luggage, leave it at your hotel or use a left-luggage service before heading north.
Key Stadium Policies
Cashless Transactions: Emirates Stadium is fully cashless. Only card and phone payments are accepted at bars, kiosks, restaurants and retail outlets inside the venue. Some programme sellers and shops outside still take cash, but once you’re through the turnstiles it’s card-only.
No Re-Entry Policy: Once you leave Emirates Stadium, you cannot re-enter. If you step outside for any reason, your ticket is done, so plan accordingly and make sure you’re inside before kick-off.
Prohibited Items: No glass, cans or alcohol, no plastic bottles over 500ml, no large umbrellas, no professional cameras or selfie sticks, no musical instruments, no baby buggies or prams, no large flags or offensive banners, and no fireworks, smoke canisters or laser pointers. A soft drink in a small plastic bottle and a few snacks are fine if they fit in your A4 bag.
Gate Times: General Admission turnstiles open two hours before kick-off, and Club Level and Box Level open two and a half hours out. Arsenal recommends arriving at least 90 minutes before kick-off, because security queues build fast for the big games.
Accessibility: The Emirates has more than 250 wheelchair spaces across the Lower Tier, Upper Tier and Club Level, nine accessible lifts, a Changing Places toilet on Club Level, a guide dog facility and a disabled supporters’ lounge that opens before every game. The sensory room, which looks onto the pitch through soundproof glass, is booked in advance for groups of up to six.
For travel, Finsbury Park is the step-free station. Highbury & Islington is step-free on the Overground only, not the Victoria line, and Arsenal and Holloway Road have no step-free access. The Danny Fiszman Bridge from Drayton Park gives step-free access to the south-east side of the ground. Disability Access members get tickets at half price plus a free ticket for a personal assistant.
To learn more about all updated policies and what to expect on matchdays, visit the official Emirates Stadium policies page here.
Emirates Stadium Top Tips
Emirates Stadium is a modern, efficient ground, so most of the matchday runs smoothly and predictably — but the difference between a good day and a great one comes down to timing, Tube strategy, the local drinking rules, and knowing where to be while everyone else is stuck in a queue. With Arsenal back as champions for the first time in 22 years and the ground selling out week after week, a bit of planning goes a long way.
Emirates Stadium History: From Highbury to 2006
The opening date was July 2006, after 93 years at Highbury. Arsenal played their last game at Highbury in May 2006 and opened the Emirates that July with Dennis Bergkamp’s testimonial. The two grounds are a few hundred metres apart — you can walk between them in under ten minutes.
It cost around £390 million, and the club paid for it in transfer windows. That made it the most expensive stadium in England at the time, and servicing the debt shaped Arsenal’s spending for the better part of a decade. Every conversation about the current squad’s ceiling traces back to that bill.
The site was an industrial estate called Ashburton Grove. That’s where the Ashburton Army supporters’ group takes its name — a nod to the ground’s unglamorous origins as a waste-transfer and council depot site.
Old Highbury is still there, and it’s worth the detour. The listed Art Deco East and West Stand façades were kept and converted into flats as Highbury Square, with the old pitch now a communal garden. Ten minutes on foot from the turnstiles for anyone who cares about where the club came from.
Why Is It Called Emirates Stadium? (And Does Arsenal Own It?)
It’s a naming-rights deal, not a tribute. Dubai-based Emirates airline bought the naming rights before the ground opened in 2006, and in August 2026 the deal was renewed to run until 2033, alongside the airline’s place on the front of Arsenal’s shirt. That shirt deal is the longest-running of its kind in the Premier League.
In Europe it becomes “Arsenal Stadium.” UEFA doesn’t allow sponsor names, so Champions League tickets and broadcasts use the club’s name instead.
Yes, Arsenal own it. The ground belongs to the club and is run through a club company, Arsenal Stadium Management Company, the name you’ll spot in the ticket terms. The club itself is owned by the Kroenke family’s KSE. Plenty of matchgoers still call the place by its old site name, Ashburton Grove.
What Makes the Emirates Special
Find both Arsenal clocks. The original Highbury clock hangs on the outside of the stadium, facing the Clock End Bridge. A modern recreation looks down on the pitch from the Clock End, the stand that took its name back when the club restored Highbury’s stand names.
Spot the “Arsenalisation” murals wrapping the exterior. They’re a deliberate effort to stitch the club’s history into a modern ground, including the Spirit of Highbury mural in the south-east corner. It’s worth a slow lap before you head in.
Admire “the Carpet.” The pitch is so immaculate that matchgoing supporters nicknamed it exactly that.
Emirates Stadium Expansion: Will Capacity Reach 70,000?
The big expansion is off. After roughly two years of internal study, with scenarios as large as around 80,000 seats, Arsenal told supporter representatives in September 2026 that capacity would stay at 60,704. The club is instead committing to what it calls the “continued evolution” of the ground. Wembley is the 90,000-seater; the Emirates has never had a plan anywhere near that number.
Why it stalled. The site is boxed in by railway lines, roads and housing on almost every side. Raising the roof would run into Islington’s height limits, and a rebuild would have meant years playing at Wembley, which the club didn’t want.
What’s changing instead. Licensed safe standing arrived in the lower Clock End for 2026/27 (around 6,850 places) and follows in the lower North Bank for 2027/28 (around 6,650), about 13,500 in all. The rest of the investment goes into new catering, hospitality, technology, the Armoury and the museum. The club hasn’t declared a permanent freeze on capacity, but nothing bigger is on the table.
Arrival, Gates and Turnstiles
Gates open two hours before kick-off, not 90 minutes. General Admission turnstiles open two hours out, and Club Level, Box Level and the Diamond Club open two and a half hours out. Arsenal separately recommends arriving at least 90 minutes before kick-off, which is where the confusion comes from. The gates are open well before that.
Check your turnstile letter and go straight to it. The letter is on your digital pass. Walking the perimeter looking for a way in on a packed matchday is a twenty-minute mistake.
Use the Clock End Bridge, not the busier North Bank Bridge. Coming in from Arsenal station, the Clock End Bridge by the big Arsenal lettering is the same distance with far less of a crush.
Get to the correct entrance first time, because you can’t move between tiers. Club Level and premium areas are sealed off from General Admission once you’re inside. If your pass won’t scan, the Matchday Box Office is next to the Armoury.
Left Luggage and Bag Storage Near Emirates Stadium
There is no bag storage at the ground, and the A4 limit is enforced. Anything bigger than a sheet of A4 gets turned away at the turnstile with nowhere to put it. That’s a genuine problem if you’ve come straight from Heathrow or Gatwick with a case.
Book a luggage-storage app instead of backtracking into central London. Services like Stasher and Bounce list shops, cafés and off-licences around Finsbury Park, Highbury and Islington that will hold a suitcase for the day for a few pounds. Book before you travel, because the closest spots fill up on matchdays.
If you’re arriving by train, King’s Cross left luggage is the fallback. It’s three stops from Arsenal on the Piccadilly line, so dropping a bag there costs you fifteen minutes rather than an hour.
The Pint Rule First-Timers Always Get Wrong
You cannot drink alcohol in view of the pitch at men’s matches. Under the Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc.) Act 1985, you can buy a beer on the concourse but you must finish it there, and stewards will stop you carrying it up to your seat. Politicians have started talking about scrapping the rule, but for now it stands.
Arsenal Women’s games are the exception. The women’s game isn’t covered by the 1985 law, and for WSL matches at the Emirates the club runs designated Alcohol Zones where you can drink at your seat. Only drinks bought inside the stadium count.
Plan your concourse timing around it. Half-time means a quick pint downstairs or a cup of tea in your seat, not a beer while you watch. Visiting fans from the US find this the single most jarring rule of the day.
Emirates Stadium Food & Drink
Expect a new menu this season. Legends Global took over the catering for 2026/27, ending Delaware North’s run of two decades, and the concourses now trade as “1886 by Arsenal,” after the year the club was founded.
Go local. Hot dogs use sausages from Islington’s Cobble Lane, the pies come from Willy’s Pies, and the chicken burger gets jerk sauce from Lesley’s, a family-run producer in Islington. The fried chicken is brined in-house for 48 hours, and the club’s own-recipe burger blends chuck, brisket and rib from British-farmed beef.
Order the chips. For the first time since the ground opened, chips are on as a side across the Lower Tier concourse.
Skip the queue for a pint. Expanded self-pour beer points are the quickest drink in the building, and two “tap-in” concessions are built for faster card purchases.
Budget for stadium prices. Pints start around £7, pies around £7 and hot dogs around £8, and every outlet is card-only.
Emirates Stadium Tour and Arsenal Museum
Book a non-matchday tour in advance — peak season sells out. The route takes in the Directors’ Box, both dressing rooms, the tunnel and pitchside, with a handset narrated by Arsenal voices including Lee Dixon and Charlie George. Allow one and a half to two hours. Adult tickets run in the mid-£30s, under-5s go free, and the Arsenal Museum is included.
See the Premier League trophy while it’s here. The title-winners’ trophy is on the tour route this season. On weekdays through the winter it’s on show until 3pm, so book a morning slot.
Yes, there are matchday tours. Guided tours run before kick-off on selected home matchdays and take in the Directors’ Box, the Diamond Club, the press conference room, pitchside and the home dugout. They’re booked directly with the club. The standard self-guided tour doesn’t run on matchdays, and concerts and other events can close the route, so check the date before you build a trip around it.
Go legendary if you’re only coming once. Legends tours are guided by former players and cost more, and a premium VIP version is hosted by Lee Dixon, Ray Parlour or David Seaman.
The museum is the better half for some visitors. It covers the club from its 1886 founding by munitions workers in Woolwich, and it’s open on matchdays even when the tours aren’t running.
Matchday Traditions & Atmosphere
Be in your seat for “North London Forever.” Louis Dunford’s anthem plays just before kick-off. The whole ground stands and sings, and it has buried the old “library” reputation for good. If you do one thing here, don’t miss this.
Find the Ashburton Army in block 25. The black-clad drum-and-banner group sits in the lower Clock End, now the ground’s first licensed safe-standing area, and much of the singing starts there.
For the biggest block of noise, aim for the North Bank Lower Tier. It holds the largest concentration of vocal support in the ground, and on European nights you’ll be standing for the full ninety whether you meant to or not.
Where to Drink Near the Emirates (Home-Only Rule)
Know that the pubs run home-only door policies on matchday. Places like the Tollington Arms are Arsenal-only, and for Category A fixtures (Spurs, Chelsea, the big European nights) some will ask to see a home match ticket before they let you in.
Away fans: drink centrally, then travel up. There’s no designated away pub any more, and the Blackstock Road strip will turn you away in colours. The common approach is to drink in central London and come up on the Tube shortly before kick-off. Closer in, the pubs around Finsbury Park station are the more mixed end of things, though door policies shift fixture by fixture on police advice.
Get there two to three hours early, and never wear away colours near Highbury. Decent pubs fill fast, and colours anywhere in the residential streets are asking for trouble.
Best Photo Spots at Emirates Stadium
Frame the Arsenal clock from the north side looking south. It’s the signature shot.
Shoot the North Bank exterior from the Ken Friar Bridge for a clean angle coming out of Arsenal station.
Walk the full statue lap. Six bronzes ring the podium, and they’re spread around the ground rather than clustered. Tony Adams stands outside the North Bank, arms spread as he was after clinching the 1998 title.
Thierry Henry kneels mid-celebration in the south-east corner by the Spirit of Highbury mural. Dennis Bergkamp is outside the Clock End above the Armoury, Herbert Chapman is near turnstiles K and L, and Ken Friar stands by the bridge that bears his name. Arsène Wenger, unveiled in 2023, lifts the Premier League trophy.
Bringing Kids to Emirates Stadium
There’s no minimum age, but every child needs a ticket. That includes babes in arms. Children aged 0–3 can’t sit in Lower Tier rows 1–20, Club Level row 1 or Upper Tier row 1.
Get the right membership. Junior Gunners membership starts at age 4 and includes ticketing rights. The tier for 0–3s doesn’t, so the youngest fans can only attend men’s games through the rare fixtures that reach a Friends and Family or general sale, or through hospitality, where every age is welcome with its own ticket.
Sit in the Family Area. It’s in blocks 28–30 of the lower tier in the south-west corner, for juniors 16 and under and their family groups. Junior tickets are heavily discounted but limited, so move quickly when ballots open.
Under-14s must be with an adult aged 18 or over. That applies at every match.
Grab a free child wristband from a steward. Write your child’s seat and a contact number inside. It’s a small thing that buys enormous peace of mind in a 60,000 crowd. Gunnersaurus works the crowd outside before kick-off for a guaranteed photo.
Leave the pushchair at the hotel. Buggies and prams aren’t allowed, and there’s nowhere to store them.
Try an Arsenal Women game first. Tickets are far easier to come by than for the men’s side, it’s the same stadium, and the new menu includes meal deals aimed at younger supporters.
The Armoury: Club Shop, Merch and the Matchday Programme
Shop early, or on a non-matchday when you don’t even need a ticket. The Armoury, the main club shop by the Clock End beneath the Bergkamp statue, and the All Arsenal store on Drayton Park both heave in the half-hour before kick-off and again at full time.
Save the shirt for after the whistle if you’re buying on matchday. With the A4 bag limit and no storage at the ground, anything you buy beforehand you’ll carry through security and keep on your lap all match.
Buy the matchday programme, the souvenir American visitors miss. Unlike US venues, English clubs still produce a proper printed programme, sold by street sellers and at kiosks outside the turnstiles. It’s the cheapest thing you’ll take home and the only one with the date on it.
Autographs & Player Access
Treat any matchday autograph as a bonus, not a plan. This isn’t an American ballpark — there’s no casual pitchside signing. Your realistic windows are the team-coach arrival a couple of hours before kick-off and the open events the club publicises through the season.
Post-Match Exit Strategy
Don’t follow the herd into Arsenal station. It bottlenecks badly and the queue is horrendous. Walk 10 to 15 minutes to Highbury & Islington or Finsbury Park instead and you’ll be on a train a good half-hour sooner.
Slip out of your seat a couple of minutes early for the cleanest getaway. Well worth it on a night match, when the crush is at its worst.
Venue Quirks Worth Knowing
Check which side you’re actually buying for. Arsenal Women play all 13 of their league home games here too, and the fixture lists sit side by side.
Don’t panic at “Arsenal Stadium” on a European ticket. It’s the same ground, renamed for UEFA competitions.
There’s no re-entry, for anyone. Step outside for any reason and your ticket is spent. Sort the pint, the toilet and the phone call before you go through.
Getting To Emirates Stadium
The Emirates sits at Emirates Stadium, London N7 7AJ, and the golden rule is simple: take public transport. The ground is hemmed into a residential pocket of Holloway with severe matchday parking controls, so the Tube, train and bus network is genuinely your best and easiest route in.
Nearest Tube Station to Emirates Stadium
Several stations ring the ground, and which you use matters. Arsenal (Piccadilly line) is the closest at a three-to-five-minute walk, but it has no step-free access and becomes a genuine crush after the final whistle. Holloway Road (Piccadilly line) is exit-only before matches, eastbound trains don’t stop there pre-match, and it closes for up to two hours afterwards, so don’t build a plan around it.
The smarter picks are Finsbury Park (Victoria and Piccadilly lines plus National Rail) and Highbury & Islington (Victoria line, Mildmay Overground and Great Northern rail). Both are around a ten-minute walk and noticeably less crowded than Arsenal. Finsbury Park is the step-free option; at Highbury & Islington, only the Overground platforms are step-free. Drayton Park is closed on matchdays entirely.
Coming from outside London: King’s Cross St Pancras is your gateway. From there it’s three stops on the Piccadilly line to Arsenal, or the Victoria line to Highbury & Islington, and if the weather’s kind it’s a pleasant 40-minute walk north through the back streets.
Bus to Emirates Stadium
More than 20 TfL routes pass within a ten-minute walk of the ground, with main stops on Holloway Road, Nag’s Head, Seven Sisters Road, Blackstock Road and Highbury Corner. Every bus journey is a flat fare of under £2 with a daily cap, and the Hopper fare gives you free changes within an hour. It’s the cheapest way around and a solid escape valve if you’re sick of the Underground crush.
Emirates Stadium Parking
Don’t. Matchday road closures run from roughly an hour before kick-off to an hour after, the surrounding streets are residents-permit only with cars towed for chancing it, and the rare legitimate space runs to inflated hourly rates. There is effectively no realistic parking for visiting fans — leave the car at the hotel.
Cycling: A genuinely good shout. There’s signposted cycle parking near Arsenal’s Highbury House on Drayton Park and secure parking at Finsbury Park station, letting you skip the post-match transport scrum entirely.
Hotels Near Emirates Stadium
London is enormous and brilliantly connected, so you don’t need to be on the stadium’s doorstep — you need to be somewhere with a clean Tube line to the ground and a decent scene of its own. For most visiting supporters that means Islington, which gives you buzz, restaurants and an easy run up the Victoria line. Book early for marquee fixtures: a title-winning Arsenal means the big derbies and European nights drive serious accommodation demand.
Islington and Angel — the best all-round base
This is where we’d point most first-time visitors: a lively, restaurant-packed stretch a short hop south of the ground, with the Victoria line carrying you straight up to Highbury & Islington. The Hilton London Angel Islington on Upper Street is the comfortable upper-mid choice, right in the thick of the bars and food. The Premier Inn London Angel Islington near Angel is the dependable, good-value pick — reliably clean, reasonably priced, and a regular base for matchgoing fans. For families or longer stays, Citadines Islington offers aparthotel rooms with kitchenettes and a bit more space.
Highbury and Finsbury Park — closest to the ground
If you want to walk to the match, base yourself just north. The Travelodge Finsbury Park is a no-frills budget option right by Finsbury Park station, roughly ten minutes’ walk from the turnstiles — about as convenient as cheap gets. The Premier Inn London Archway is another reliable chain option a short Tube ride away, handy if the closer places are booked out.
King’s Cross and St Pancras — the arrival gateway
Ideal if you’re coming in by train or want a direct Piccadilly-line shot to Arsenal. The St Pancras London, Autograph Collection is the splurge — a genuinely spectacular Victorian railway hotel built into the station itself. For something far cheaper, Point A King’s Cross offers compact, modern, budget rooms two minutes from the station, and The Gyle is a solid mid-range choice nearby.
Budget options
Beyond the Travelodges, Prime Backpackers on City Road is a straightforward hostel that draws a fair few Arsenal fans on matchdays — you trade space and privacy for price, but it’s clean, central-ish and well connected. The honest tradeoff with all the budget picks is location or comfort: you’ll either be a little further out or in a smaller, plainer room, but with London’s transport you’re rarely more than 20–30 minutes from the ground.
Pubs Near Emirates Stadium
Matchday around the Emirates is a proper North London pub crawl waiting to happen, and the heart of it is Blackstock Road, the strip of supporters’ pubs running up towards Finsbury Park where the singing starts long before kick-off.
Supporters spill out of the boozers on Holloway Road, Hornsey Road and Blackstock Road from late morning on a weekend fixture, and the walk to the ground turns into a slow tide of red. Get there early, find a pub, and let the day build — half the experience is the couple of hours beforehand.
Best Pregame and Postgame Pubs
The George (Eden Grove): The closest iconic Arsenal pub to the turnstiles, three or four minutes from the ground — wall-to-wall memorabilia, Gunners Lager flowing, and an atmosphere that feels like an extension of the North Bank. It’s small and it gets packed, so arrive early.
Tollington Arms (Hornsey Road): A proper Arsenal institution, decked head to toe in shirts and scarves, about five minutes from the ground. Warm, lively and welcoming to visiting fans from abroad — one of the most authentic pre-match experiences you’ll find.
The Gunners Pub (Blackstock Road): A big, boisterous matchday operation with an outdoor patio, a stage and singing throughout. Two things to know: food is limited on matchdays, and they sometimes run age restrictions at the door for games, so it’s one for an older group rather than a family.
The Blackstock (Seven Sisters Road) and Bank of Friendship (Blackstock Road): Two reliable Blackstock-area pubs — the former a buzzy, big-screen matchday spot with a real family-club feel, the latter a traditional boozer with a sizeable beer garden and a more relaxed pace.
The Coronet (Holloway Road): A cavernous pub inside a beautifully converted old cinema, no longer a Wetherspoons but now firmly in Arsenal colours on matchdays. It serves food and it’s big enough that you won’t be queueing six deep at the bar.
Best Restaurants in the Area
Il Guscio (Highbury): A warm, family-run Italian a short walk from the Emirates on Blackstock Road — genuinely good pasta and pizza, an owner who treats you like a guest in his home, and a matchday-friendly location. The pick if you want a proper sit-down meal close to the ground.
Upper Street, Islington — the broader scene: A short trip south, Islington’s main drag is where the best of the area’s dining lives. Noci is a lively, hugely popular modern Italian; Mr LoBo is a standout Peruvian spot if you fancy something different; Terra Rossa is dependable Italian with a strong gluten-free menu and a family-friendly room; and La Petite Auberge is a cosy, classic French bistro for a more grown-up evening. For a special occasion, Frederick’s does refined British-French cooking with a lovely garden conservatory.
Why You Should Go
The Emirates spent its early years living in Highbury’s shadow, but that’s long gone — this is a modern football ground that’s finally found its voice, and a title-winning Arsenal side has given it the noise and the occasion to match the architecture. You get clean sightlines from almost any seat, a steep, enclosed bowl that holds the sound, one of the best-kept pitches in world football, and a matchday culture packed into the pubs of North London that’s worth a day on its own. Sort your ticket through the right channels, get there early enough to soak up Blackstock Road, and you’ll understand quickly why 100,000 people are sitting on a waiting list to do this every other week.
Explore our other Premier League and European Football Guides as well as these:
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Stamford Bridge
Written by Brad Richards. Founder of Gameday Guides. This guide includes insights from personal visits as well as updated info from team sources, fan forums, and stadium policies. We aim to help you plan with confidence — enjoy your gameday. If you have any tips, if we missed anything or you have a question, don’t hesitate to shoot us an email.