End of season review...

A season of ups and downs, injuries, red cards and even a Champions League trophy won!!

Best Game
Two to choose from. It is hard to top a 3-0 win over Real Madrid, 2 stunning Rice free-kicks and a Merino header all but put us into the CL semi-final.
Then there is the 5-1 over Manchester City. After a raucous and rambunctious clash at the Etihad, there was a bit of needle in this one. Odegaard netted the only goal of the first half, and then Haaland - the man in the middle of much of the argy bargy in the away game - equalised just after half time. Before any Arsenal fan could think "here we go again", Thomas Partey rifled us back into the league. Havertz also netted, but it was also a special day for a pair of teenagers. Myles Lewis Skelly made sure Haaland knew who he was by scoring the third and then his childhood mate Ethan Nwaneri netted for the cherry on top 5th.


Best Goal
Back to the Real Madrid game for Rice's second free-kick. However, Riccy Calafiori's leveller at the Etihad is also noteworthy here.


Best Player
Hard to call. For a long time it looked like Gabriel would be the player of the season, but injury cut short his season. Declan Rice is in with a shout, and David Raya produced some stunning moments in goal (Atalanta for example).


Biggest disappointment
The PSG games, especially the first leg, were massive downers. Sadly a long injury list got the better of us, with sub benches in both legs featuring a lot of youngsters and few attacking options.


Worst player
Raheem Sterling - the sad fact is we would have been better off with Reiss Nelson, even considering a half season injury!!
However, Sterling is not alone. An international duty injury robbed us of captain Odegaard and the truth is he hasn't had a good season.
Saliba didn't have his best season in an Arsenal shirt.


Goodbye Edu, hello Berta
What will maybe play out to be the most significant thing that happened this season was the departure of Edu to the Greek-owned set of clubs including Forest. After a rudderless January window, Berta has come in with a bulging transfer window budget. Hopefully he will be a catalyst for success.


Refs
Some absolutely shocking performances by the refs this season!




We go into the summer with a lot of players injured, or returning from long spells out. A good summers rest, probably a few corrective surgeries and hopefully we can return in August fit and firing.
A big summer in the transfer market is also expected, can we find the players to take us to glory?


And, yes, Saturday brought us a nice shiny Champions League Trophy!! Hopefully the lassies can end Chelsea's stronghold of domestic football next season too.