Let’s reflect on the 2021/22 season and crown the best players and best moments from a uniquely up & down campaign.
Arsenal’s Best Home Game of the Season
This one was a toss-up between our two 3-1 victories against Tottenham and Manchester United. Due to the close rivalry with Spurs, I think our victory in September’s North London derby has to edge it. After a poor start to the season, we started to hit a run of form and continued it in this game by blowing away the Spuds inside the first 35 minutes. The Emirates was bouncing, and our youthful squad were well and truly starting to step up to the plate. Auba even pulled out the iconic Henry knee-slide celebration in front of the visiting away fans after scoring our second. We had bounced back from losing our first three games as well as we could as we made it three wins in a row with this victory. What a day.
Arsenal’s Best Away Game of the Season
We had some impressive away days this season, winning at the likes of Wolves, Leicester and West Ham. However, the clear front-runner and winner of this one has to be our 4-2 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. After three losses in a row to Palace, Brighton and Southampton, it’s fair to say that the majority of the fanbase weren’t expecting much from our trip to West London. At the end of the night, our Hale End boys had run riot and secured a surprise 4-2 victory over the Blues in a 6-goal-thriller which revived our hopes for a top four finish. It was our second win away to Chelsea in as many visits against Thomas Tuchel’s side, and what a night it was.
Arsenal’s Best Player of the Season
In my opinion, this award can only go to one of two players – Bukayo Saka or Martin Ødegaard. If Aaron Ramsdale’s form didn’t dip towards the end of the season, and maybe if Takehiro Tomiyasu was able to stay fit for longer then we may have been looking at a four-way battle, but this season’s award must go to Arsenal’s #7 or #8. Overall, I think our player of the season has to be Bukayo. The 20-year-old ended the season as our top goalscorer with 12 goals across all competitions, and recorded a respectable 7 assists. He bounced back from his personal and professional Euro 2020 heartbreak in style and despite short dips in form, was our best player for the majority of the lengthy season. He scored in big games against Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham, too, and continues to combine his footballing talent with a top work rate and attitude. The star boy’s stock just keeps on rising.
Arsenal’s Best Signing of the Season
Truth be told, this award could’ve gone to any one of Aaron Ramsdale, Takehiro Tomiyasu or Martin Ødegaard. For me though, it has to go to the Ø. Although the Norwegian starlet played for us for last season, that deal was a loan, so the 23-year-old is technically eligible to win this one after we permanently signed him from Real Madrid last summer. Ødegaard truly found his feet in North London this season, and began to consistently display the sort of high-quality performances that earned him a well-publicised transfer to Los Blancos at only 16-years of age. He created the most chances in a season for Arsenal since Mesut Özil back in 2017/18 and established himself as one of the leaders in the team, through both his ability and his attitude. I’m excited to see what he can do with a (hopefully) a top number nine playing in front of him next season.
Arsenal’s Most Improved Player of the Season
Arsenal’s most improved player of the 2021/22 season has to be ESR. The youngster almost trebled his previous best goalscoring season (4 in 2020/21) to hit 11 goals across all competitions in 37 games this season. That’s a very admirable return, especially considering injuries hampered his second half of the campaign. The youngster’s goal against Chelsea in April made him the first player in Arsenal history to hit 10 Premier League goals in a season aged under 22 years old. Although there is room for improvement in terms of imposing his will on games more, and potentially upping his assist numbers, Emile came on leaps and bounds this season and will be hoping he can build on his season even more in the next one.
Arsenal’s Unsung Hero of the Season
I’ll give this one to Gabriel Magalhaes. Arsenal’s Brazilian centre-half quietly went about his business this season and was a constant figure across a backline that kept a respectable 13 PL clean sheets. During his time at the club, Gabriel has been partnered with several CBs of differing abilities, including David Luiz, Pablo Mari, Rob Holding and this season, Ben White. The 24-year-old isn’t one to complain, but one who goes about his business professionally and pragmatically. He rarely made a mistake and added steel and steadiness to an, at times, shaky defence. The former Lille defender also impressively ended the campaign as the top scoring Premier League centre-back with 5 goals in 35 appearances (one more goal than our main striker Alex Lacazette). It’s no surprise that he wasn’t present for our first 3 games of the season which saw us end gameweek 3 bottom of the table with a goal difference of -9. We are a different side with him playing.
Arsenal’s Best Moment of the Season
Lacazette’s 95th-minute winner against Wolves to complete a dramatic turn-around and send The Emirates into a frenzy has to win this one. Arsenal’s record when going a goal down under Mikel Arteta isn’t an impressive one to say the least, so once the Wanderers went ahead through Hwang’s 10th-minute opener minute opener, a wave of anxiety was flooded into a packed Emirates Stadium. However, Nicolas’ Pepe came off the bench for his best cameo of the season, scoring a smart equaliser in the 82nd-minute to set up an intense finale to a must-win game for the Gunners. In minute 94 of the game, Laca played a one-two with Pepe who side-footed the ball back to the Frenchman, who got his feet together to smash a shot at goal, which with the help of a rare Jose Sa mistake, saw the ball nestle into the top left corner as Arsenal completed the come-back for what seemed to be an invaluable 3 points. Lacazette’s celebration encapsulated the sort of raw emotion, passion and relief that the moment elicited out of every Arsenal fan watching, both at The Emirates and at home. At the time, it seemed like an extremely important three points. It’s a shame in the end it didn’t count for more.
Arsenal’s Best Goal of the Season
We scored a few impressive goals this season, both individually and as a team. Ødegaard’s free-kick winner at Turf Moor, Xhaka’s long-range strike at home to United, Gabi’s strike away to Watford etc. all come to mind when trying to assign this award to a goal. However, the pick of the bunch has to be Laca’s goal in our 3-0 victory over Southampton at The Emirates. It’s fitting that another Arsenal Goal of the Season is given to a ‘team goal’, as the club has such a rich history of beautiful football resulting in some of the best goals in Premier League history. The ball started at the back with Ramsdale, who gave it to White, who gave it to Partey, who gave it to Tomi to play a one-two with Øde, who gave it to Saka who crossed it to Laca to smash home. Simple as that. From front to back in about 14 seconds. A move that made football look easy. What a goal.
Arsenal’s Best Save of the Season
There’s only one winner for this one, and it’s Aaron Ramsdale’s stunning stop of James Maddison’s almost inch-perfect free-kick at the King Power back in October. The Englishman did brilliantly to get an out-stretched left arm to his fellow countryman’s strike, which looked like it was destined for the top corner. He then stopped the follow-up shot from Jonny Evans too, as Thomas Partey blasted the ball as far away from the Arsenal goal as possible. Maddison had even started to run off in celebration. An unbelievable double save.
Arsenal’s Best Loss of the Season
The only answer for this one is our 2-1 home defeat at the hands of the Champions. The game started brilliantly, and we went into the break with a well-deserved 1-0 lead thanks to Bukayo Saka’s first-time strike past Ederson. We had proven in the first 45 minutes that we could go toe-to-toe with the best side in the country, against whom so many sides just set up shop and play for a point against. However, the second half didn’t go to plan, as Gabriel got himself sent off for a second yellow card offence, and Mahrez equalised before Rodri scored a cruel 93rd-minute winner. Although we lost in pretty sickening fashion, the Emirates was left with a sense of optimism that the young side was improving at a tremendously fast rate. It’s crazy to think that if the Spaniard hadn’t scored in the dying seconds, then Liverpool would’ve been Champions. It’s also crazy to think that we would’ve finished fourth had we managed to hold onto the lead. Fine margins.
Arsenal’s Flop of the Season
There’s only one winner here and it’s Alexandre Lacazette. After Auba’s departure, the side required Arsenal’s only other senior striker to step up and score the goals needed to fire us back into the top four. However, Laca’s finishing was appalling to say the least. He ended the campaign with two goals from open play and didn’t manage to score an open-play goal in 2022. We relied on him, we needed him to step up, we put our faith in him, but in the end, he proved that he just couldn’t do it. For a player who says that he wants to play in the UCL, he didn’t prove that he deserves to play in Europe’s elite competition. It was a miserable final season for a once fan-favourite.
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