With all due respect to Arsene Wenger’s career at Arsenal, the Frenchman’s final season at the north London based club proved to be his worst season. He didn’t cover himself with glory as the Gunners failed to mount any sort of a title challenge ending the season in the 6th spot.
Arsenal could manage to secure merely 63 points, and thus, they are going to remain bereft of the Champions League next season as well. Besides, they were evicted from the FA Cup in the third round, were outclassed by Manchester City in the finals of the Carabao Cup and couldn’t muster a place in the Europa League final as Atletico Madrid secured the ticket to Lyon.
Top Three Players
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang settled into life at Arsenal with sheer ease after his ground-shattering move from Borussia Dortmund for a club-record £56million transfer fee in January. The Gabon international provided genuine threat up front and plundered 10 goals and registered 4 assists in 13 appearances in the English top flight. He is certainly going to play a huge role for the club next season.
Nacho Monreal had a revival of sorts this season, scoring some important goals and offering defensive stability to a significant extent. Apart from him, midfielder Aaron Ramsey also had a decent season. The Welshman’s incisive runs through the midfield, ability to manoeuvre spectacular passes and create space earned him 11 goals and 9 assists across all competitions during the 2017-18 campaign.
Three Players to disappoint
Despite being counted as one of the best custodians in the history of Premier League, Petr Cech had a forgettable season owing to some of the comical errors he made. His misadventures eclipsed the splendid saves that he made to bail his employers out of trouble and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Arsenal going all out for a new goalkeeper in the summer to replace Cech.
Laurent Koscielny and Granit Xhaka were two other disappointments of the season. While the former lacked the traits of a leader, found it hard to marshal the back line and made some costly errors, Xhaka has hardly lived up to the expectations ever since his move to the Emirates Stadium in the summer of 2016. The Swiss international lost possession in dangerous areas on many occasions and didn’t have the vision that is needed to thrive in a club such as Arsenal.
Season Rating: 5/10
Arsenal were underachievers and in all fairness, Wenger deserved a farewell better than what he got in terms of the productivity of his side.
Statistics Credits: WhoScored