Finishing above Tottenham is one thing, but Arsenal fans must not forget the pain and anguish that they felt throughout the season, here I remind the Gunners supporters of how the season really panned out, Spurs losing to Newcastle wasn’t the only game this season…
It was a strange season in the Premier League. There were big hopes for Arsenal fans, but even bigger disappointments. Although this season will always be remembered for Leicester’s phenomenal achievement, many will believe that it should have been the year that Arsenal became the kings of English football. The Arsenal squad boasts lots of technical quality and over the summer was only improved with the signing of Petr Cech from Chelsea for a bargain of £11m. The Czech’s first game at his new club was at Wembley, where Arsenal defeated Chelsea 1-0 to win the Community shield.
Arsenal started the season in the most Arsenal of ways, losing 2-0 at home to West Ham. The previous day had seen Leicester City beat Sunderland, but this would have looked like an irrelevant result at the time. The following week, however, Arsenal were back on track win 2-1 at Selhurst Park before drawing at home to Liverpool the following Monday. It was far from a great start for Arsene Wenger’s men. Arsenal then won back-to-back matches against Newcastle and Stoke City before the signs of crumbling became clear.
Arsenal travelled to Zagreb in the first match of the Champions League group stage, where astonishingly, Wenger chose second choice goalkeeper, David Ospina, over Cech. Arsenal performed dreadfully and lost 2-1 before heading to Stamford Bridge to face fierce rivals Chelsea who were in a slump of their own. The Blues had won just one match in their previous six before Arsenal’s visit, but Wenger’s curse against Jose Mourinho continued and Arsenal were completely swept aside by Chelsea. The match was overshadowed by Diego Costa’s disgraceful behaviour which led to two Arsenal players, Gabriel and Santi Cazorla, seeing red cards. Arsenal lost 2-0 and had a tricky task against Tottenham a few days later in the Capital One Cup.
Arsenal fans love nothing more than winning the north London derby and this one will live long in the memory. A wonder strike from Mathieu Flamini knocked Spurs out of the cup with the Frenchman the most unlikely of goalscorers, grabbing a brace in a 2-1 win. Arsenal then travelled to the King Power where they absolutely destroyed Leicester City 5-2, Alexis Sanchez helping himself to a hat-trick. Little did anybody know that this would be Leicester’s only loss at home in the league all season. After the crazy game in Leicester, Arsenal sat just three points off top and looked to be finally coming into shape when they Olympiakos arrived for match day two in the Champions League.
Arsenal managed to completely mess up yet again in the Champions League, losing 3-2 at home to Olympiakos. It was a shocking performance from Wenger’s men who didn’t look up to scratch. Fans were confused yet again at Wenger’s decision to start Ospina over Cech – the Colombian was largely at fault for at least two of the Greek team’s goals. But again, Arsenal recovered, Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and co dispatched Manchester United with ease a few days later, cruising to a 3-0 win an rising to second place in the table. Arsenal, played fantastically throughout the match and really looked to have come alive. Arsenal then went on an astonishing run, beating Watford, Bayern Munich and then Everton before travelling to Hillsborough to play in the Capital One Cup 4th round.
Very few people take the League Cup seriously, but it is a domestic competition and has real value. Wenger is yet to win the trophy in his 20 years in north London and failed yet again this year after fielding a terrible XI to face Sheffield Wednesday, where Arsenal lost 3-0. Arsenal’s injury curse struck yet again, with Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain both ruled out for a large portion of time. Arsenal finished the month winning 3-0 at the Liberty Stadium.
Arsenal ended the match against Swansea joint top of the Premier League table with Manchester City, but November was not kind to Arsenal. Arsenal were absolutely torn apart at the Allianz Arena losing 5-1 to Bayern Munich before a horrendous performance saw them draw 1-1 at home to Tottenham in the league. Arsenal returned after the international break losing 2-1 to West Brom and then drawing 1-1 against Norwich at Carrow Road. Both performances, were quite frankly, diabolical. In between those games, saw Arsenal beat Dinamo Zagreb meaning anything more than a 2-0 win against Olympiakos would see Arsenal reach the Last 16 of the Champions League.
Incredibly, Arsenal disposed of Sunderland with ease before beating Olympiakos 3-0 in Greece with an Olivier Giroud hat-trick. Arsenal beat Aston Villa and then title rivals Manchester City. It is at this point, in my opinion where Arsenal absolutely crumbled. Everybody expected the Gunners to win the title and as seen in previous years, Arsenal can not cope under pressure. Arsenal were demolished 4-0 by Southampton in an absolutely horrific display on Boxing Day, but ended the year top of the league after defeating Bournemouth.
However, 2016 didn’t have many matches for Arsenal to look forward to.
As mentioned, Arsenal sat top on the first January 2016, Arsenal were also in the FA Cup, a competition they had won in each of the last two seasons as well as a last 16 clash in the Champions League against Barcelona to play. Arsenal beat Newcastle and Sunderland in the League and FA Cup in their first two games of the year before falling to pieces at Anfield. Arsenal led 3-2 in the dying second against Jurgen Klopp’s men but sloppy play allowed Joe Allen to equalise for the hosts. Arsenal then failed to beat Stoke and lost at home to Chelsea a few days later. The only positive from January was the defeat of Burnley which took Arsenal to the FA Cup quarter final.
Arsenal yet again failed to score against Southampton and drew 0-0 against the Saints at the Emirates before winning their second league game of the year against Bournemouth on February 7th. The weekend later, Arsenal beat Leicester for the second time in the season with a 94th minute winner from Danny Welbeck who had returned from injury that day. It was an incredible match for all Arsenal fans and will go down as one of the best that they have witnessed at the Emirates. But yet again, with Arsenal the favourites for the title, the Gunners began to crumble.
Arsenal failed to beat Hull at home forcing a replay and then lost 2-0 at home to Barcelona. Of course, it is no embarrassment to lose to Barcelona but the way that Arsenal did it was very questionable. Arsenal were absolutely terrible in front of goal and surely could have beaten Lionel Messi and his team-mates if they had a clinical striker up front. Then five days later, Arsenal lost at Old Trafford to perhaps the worst Manchester United in years, Marcus Rashford scored twice – a day before his Chemistry exam at school.
Arsenal then slumped to their lowest ebb and lost at home to Swansea before travelling to White Hart Lane. Tottenham had been incredible all season and it is baffling that 10 man Arsenal avoided defeat against Pocchetino’s team, drawing 2-2. Arsenal thrashed Hull in their replay less than 72 hours later but crumbled under pressure at home to Watford in the quarter final. Arsenal’s season was now all but over, out of both cups and trailing in the champions league. Arsenal lost 3-1 to Barcelona leaving the Premier League as the only piece of silverware left available but Arsenal were eight points off top.
Arsenal beat Everton and got their revenge on Watford before travelling to West Ham. Arsenal let a 2-0 lead go and drew 3-3 against the Hammers on their final clash at the Boleyn Ground. Arsenal were poor a week later as they drew at home to Crystal Palace. Arsenal did however beat West Brom 2-0 before travelling to relegation strugglers Sunderland. Arsenal, almost unsurprisingly, failed to beat, and even failed to score against, Sunderland and the season was then over. Arsenal were out of all competitions and things didn’t look good. Arsenal fans even staged a protest against Wenger in the following game against Norwich, where the Londoners won by a solitary Welbeck goal.
As the season came to a close, Arsenal grabbed a 2-2 draw against Manchester City meaning that if they won against Aston Villa and Tottenham lost to Newcastle, Arsenal would finish second for the first time in 11 years. Incredibly that scenario did in fact happen, however, Arsenal were pretty poor themselves during large parts of their game against Villa.
So all in all, Arsenal finished second in the Premier League, but this has to go to down as a season of failure in north London. Arsenal have far more potential than they ever showed and should have definitely won the title this year, especially with all the other teams falling apart. In my opinion, finishing above Tottenham should not be worth celebrating, Arsenal fans should be furious that their side failed to win the league in their best chance in years – even St. Totteringham’s day doesn’t repair the damage that was done throughout the year. Arsenal fans should hope their team performs better, with more heart, passion and clinical finishing next season.
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