Each time Arsenal superfan Maria Petri opens her fridge, she has the memories of her 80th birthday occasion shared at the club staring back.

For nine months now, Petri has kept the icing of the sponge cake with a picture of herself in the cool conditions needed to preserve its arrangement. It was presented to her on the pitch during a match against West Ham by Joe Montemurro, the Arsenal manager. As mementos go, it is not your traditional fare.

Just from looking at Petri you can tell Arsenal, a club she has supported for 60 years, means everything. When we meet, she is decked out in different shades of red. Memorabilia and programmes from every game she has been to pile high in her house. “I don’t know how many thousands of games I’ve been to,” she tells Telegraph Women’s Sport. “There isn’t anyone else who goes to home, away, Europe, ladies and under-23s games.” I ask her how she has time for anything else. “I don’t!” she cries.

The players, staff and fans all know Petri. She has been attending the women’s matches for 13 years and the men’s since the 1960s. She attends games alone as she does not have any immediate relations and never married. The club are her family. Two members of the women’s coaching staff went to visit Petri when she was in hospital briefly earlier this year. Even her friends and extended family plan their visits around matches. They know football comes first.