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Arsenal are all but trophyless for another year barring a miracle in Munich – it now makes it 8 years without a trophy for the Gunners. And while fans will be disappointed and quick to point the blame, the 2012/2013 hasn’t been all that bad. There have still been some positives gained from yet another regretful season.
Arsenal lost arguably the best striker in England last summer in Robin van Persie and while his creativity and leadership has been missing at times, Arsenal no longer over-rely on one player any more when it comes to goals – this is clear when one looks at Arsenal’s top scorers list this season. Last season, van Persie scored 37 goals with the other highest goal scorers being Theo Walcott and Mikel Arteta with 11 and 6 respectively.
This season, however, the goals have been more spread out with Walcott, Olivier Giroud, Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla scoring a combined 54 goals and are clicking really well. Arsenal’s third top scorer last season had 6 goals while Arsenal’s third top scorer this season (Podolski) so far has 13 goals with 3 months of the season to go and for the first time under Wenger, Arsenal could have 4 goalscorers in double figures if Cazorla scores one more goal.
This is a very positive sign for the future.
We all know Jack Wilshere is a huge talent – possibly the best English talent in recent years. However, there were many doubts regarding whether he would be the same player after a long injury lay off (a la Ramsey.) And while he was man of the match against Barcelona two seasons ago, many critics said his Premier League performances were overrated as he was yet to control a game like former captain Cesc Fabregas.
Since late October, however, those doubts have all been quashed as Wilshere has been a revelation since returning to first team action and has simply been undroppable. Having drawn plaudits from many footballing personalities, the highlight of Wilshere’s return has been another man of the match performance – this time against the mighty Brazil. The best thing is that the chances of him leaving are very low even if Arsenal don’t win for another few years (though that is not something Arsenal fans would like to see.)
After all the key players who have left over the years, this might be the first time in a while where a key player isn’t leaving at the end of the season. Bacary Sagna might leave; however, this is a different case as he is past his prime and has shown signs of decline after coming back from two leg breaks in a single season.
Aside from Sagna though, no player – particularly in their prime – looks set to leave and this was all but confirmed after Walcott “signed da ting” which is huge as Arsenal have lacked one key aspect over the past few seasons – continuity.
While Arsenal fans will be dejected about how the season has panned out - it still isn’t over. Arsenal can still come 3rd after what was Wenger’s worst start to a Premier League season while the Champions League isn’t over yet.
Given Bayern Munich are much stronger than AC Milan last season, no one expected Arsenal to even win in the return leg last season and the Gunners ended up winning 3-0 against the Rossoneri – just one goal short of the requirement. Bayern at home is close to impossible – especially if you need to score 3 goals there. But the Bavarians are chokers, as we’ve seen in recent seasons, and if a post-Mourinho Inter Milan team can win 3-2 there, so can Arsenal – provided they bring their “A game” and don’t concede more than a goal.
As a famous saying goes – “It ain’t over until the fat lady sings.”
One very notable aspect about this season is the fact that it will be the last for many fringe players at Arsenal – players who take up squad spaces and earn a lot of money for doing next to nothing. Some of these players include fallen star Andrei Arshavin, Sebastien Squillaci and Lukasz Fabianski who are all out of contract this June. The trio earn an approximate combined £145k per week and their departures would free up not only a bulk of the wage budget, but also 3 squad spaces.
Other players who could leave are Denilson, Nicklas Bendtner, Johan Djourou, Park Chu Young and Marouane Chamakh who all earn an approximate combined £225k per week – this would be a huge step for Wenger as he can use the funds generated by these sales (if all goes to plan) to spend on better squad players.
