What a sour end to the season, After beating Chelsea and Barcelona I think we expected better than 4th place and embarrassment at Wembley.
So what happened?
1-1 at the start of the season at Anfield is not so bad but a red card to a debut player and a goal conceded at the near post wasn't the greatest start. Obviously it was shadowed Reina's flop. This made our goalkeeping shambles less of a bother for a little while annoyingly.
Games like our 1-1 draw with Sunderland are games that we need to stop happening next season otherwise it will be worse than 4th next year. Fabregas scoring in the 12th minute and us not killing the game off with Rosicky missing a pen, Sunderland as like every other team this season from this position scores in the last kick of the game.
Sandwiched between two horrific matches being Sunderland and W.B.A. On the 21st September (My birthday I shall add) we played a great match Vs Spurs. Very exciting and extra time adding drama, we need not have worries about extra time as the matched finished 4-1 and our only win Vs Spurs.
So on to Chelsea. The usual match we have against the top teams, all on top and looking great but ultimately loosing with a flop.
Shakhtar Donetsk was a real highlight in the Champions League a 5-1 win and Eduardo scoring (6-0 really) was a great bonus. What a way to say goodbye.
Nasri continues his fine form with a goal Vs Birmingham and away to Manchester City, The City game was very important and the early sending off did help. We did play well and managed to withstand a little pressure and our penalty miss.
November, always a horrible month for Arsenal. Defeat to Shakhtar and Newcastle starts the month going and a good win Vs Everton slightly takes the nastily edge off, until we played Spurs. First half brilliant! Nasri again with an amazing goal, 2-0 at half time and looking great. To then loose 2-3 is unbelievable, mentally it's not helping us to see games to the end.
2 late goals for Braga in the Champions League meant having to win Vs Partizan Belgrade to be sure to Qualify. This adds so much unnecessary pressure, we need to learn next season to see it through till it's done and dead!
The end of November saw us win at Villa and at home to Wigan. The Villa game showed we can score when we need to but makes no difference on the season as we didn't do it enough.
So in to December and a very important month.
We beat Partizan Belgrade 3-1 after a nervy affair and it saw us qualify 2nd. Roll on Barcelona.
A very usual disappointing loss against United at Old Trafford but great for Szeczesny to start in goal and to show us he's good enough.
After a break and a nice Christmas, Boxing day was the cherry! What a performance! To be honest there could have been a few times were Chelsea could have scores and would have be the same story to any other recent meeting, we held strong and Song got the goal. After half time we got the vital 2nd goal and that was that 3-1 in the end and should have set us off to winning something.
But it didn't. Dropping points at Wigan made all the difference to confidence and after the great win Vs Chelsea, we are right back where we were before. Tut.
A busy new year winning away at Birmingham then our stupid 0-0 draw with Manchester City (millions of pounds worth of player to stand behind the ball all match) after that Leeds in the FA Cup winning an unneeded, but lucky replay.
A poor performance at Ipswich led to a 0-1 loss in a semi-final we should have walked. We didn't they had fight and it surprised us. This shouldn't happen. But from here on our form really picked up, 3-0 at West Ham, 3-1 in the replay at Leeds and 3-0 home to Wigan. Que 2nd leg of the Carling Cup Semi-final, nervy until the 60th. Patent and controlling and we finally got to Wembley.
We end January with a scrappy win over Huddersfield, at least it wasn't a replay.
February, Everton's offside goal wasn't enough as we beat them 2-1 and could have been a title winning moment.
Newcastle was a different story, 4-0 up at half time, then Poor refereeing, with Diaby not thinking and just utter self destruction made the biggest comeback in the Premier League. 4-4, unbelievable.
Robin Van Persie continuing to score goals gets all of them in a 2-0 win over Wolves, which then led to a two horse race for the title Vs United.
Arsenal 2-1 Barcelona feels good don't it?
Another great performance our heads didn't drop and that's the reward we get. Stunning game and what an atmosphere! Why oh why can't we keep that up every game, look how it motivated the players. The crowed has to take blame for some of the nervy games we play at home.
After playing that game we had an easy tie in the FA Cup away to Layton Orient. It didn't go so well. After scoring in the 53rd minute we gave a cheap goal away that went underneath Almunia in the 88th. We love doing it the hard way...
Fabregas goes off injured Vs Stoke on the Wednesday before the Carling Cup final with a difficult and nervy 1-0 win.
So Wembley time for us to grab our first piece of silverware since 2005. We must have all thought we won it before kick off or at least the players thought they did. Going down 0-1 and a lot of flapping Robin Van Persie saved us with a lovely volley inside the box. 2nd half Birmingham looked very tired and it was ours for the taking. 89th minute yes the 89th, ball in to the Arsenal box a call from Szczesny and Koscielny retreats his foot which bounced off the goalkeepers chest in to the path of Martins to tap it in to the back of the net. Wow what a blow and it's all down hill from here...
March was our ultimate killer we said goodbye to the Champions League and the FA Cup also denting our League hopes as we went on.
An easy 5-0 win in the FA Cup replay should have happened in the first game was our only win in this month. Saturday we drew 0-0 at home to Sunderland and missed out on being a point behind United.
Going to Barcelona was always going to be tricky we did OK in the first half shame to go 0-1 down after a mistake from Fabregas but a silly yellow card for Van Persie didn't help the absurd second yellow card for shooting a second after the whistle blew for offside, 10 men we didn't stand a chance, even when they gifted us an own goal from a corner. The game ended 1-3.
Next was a trip to Old Trafford for the FA Cup again we played well if we were as clinical as United are we would have been at Wembley again. So a disappointing 0-2 loss and another exit to a competition.
Just the League now and from 0-2 down at W.B.A. didn't look great but a good comeback to 2-2 kept our title hopes alive, just.
April now and United came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at West Ham, we needed a win but Blackburn had other plans and another massively nervy home game finished 0-0
Away to Blackpool we welcomed back Jens Lehmann to goal after an injury to Almunia and won 3-1 to just keep the title alive.
Liverpool next and after 90 minutes of nothing and the crowd on the players backs we got a last minute penalty that saved us from another draw at home. Oh wait, no it didn't. In the 101st minute we drew. Eboue conceded a silly penalty and that was that.
Going to Spurs to keep any hope alive and for them to keep 4th place alive set up a great match, 2-1 12 minutes great start to the game. We grabbed another goal in the 40th but let another 2 goal lead slip and it finished 3-3. Disappointing but a lovely game of football.
A 1-2 loss at Bolton and that was that mathematically still in it but it was never going to be likely.
1st May grabbed our 1st win over United for a while, it means nothing for us this season but will boost our confidence for the players to go out and beat them again next year so a small tactical victory maybe.
Our 1-3 loss at Stoke killed it all and another year of nothing, the 1-2 defeat at our last home game to Villa was a very bitter occasion and we end the season drawing 2-2 a Fulham, one little bonus was Robin Van Persie's run scoring away from goal, let's see if he can keep it up next year. The guy is our only legend playing for us I feel. He's loyal and loves the club you never see Robin with a Fabregas or Nasri type story. He says he is staying and that it that. No umms or ahhs just to the point. I love his loyalty I just wish some other players followed. I guess it's rare these days unfortunately.
Anyway Arsenal, the only team to finish 4th in a two horse race...
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