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Arsenal beat Hull City 3-2 in the additional extra time at the Wembley Stadium to end their 9-year trophy drought.
It was Arsenal's 18th appearance in the FA Cup Final. En-route the final, they beat Tottenham, Coventry City, Liverpool and Wigan Athletic with all the matches being played at their home, the Emirates Stadium, in North London. Arsenal was without their captain Vermaelen, wingers Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain due to injuries.
To everyone's surprise, Hull City scored twice within 10 minutes thanks to Chester and Davies's goals. But when everyone thought it was over, in the 16th minute, Santi Cazorla scored a free kick over the right top corner to make the score 1-2. The score remained the same until the half-time whistle.
In the second half in the 71st minute, Arsenal equalized with a Koscielny goal. On the 109th minute when everyone was dead on their feet and was expecting penalties, Aaron Ramsey scored a goal, which may be the most important goal in his career that sealed gunners a silverware after 3283 days.
Let's take a look at the present status of players who ended the trophy drought of Gunners.
GK: Lukasz Fabiański
Fabianski was the goalkeeper in the historic final. He made a couple of penalty saves in the semi-final to ensure a place in the final. At the end of the season, he joined Swansea City on a free transfer and went on to become one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League. Lukasz represented Poland in their disastrous World Cup 2018 campaign.
Now, Fabianski is the first choice goalkeeper of West London Premier League outfit West Ham United.
Full-backs: Bacary Sagna and Kieran Gibbs
Sagna started at right back for the Gunners. Sagna was solid in defence and dangerous in attack. It was his assist to Koscielny which ended up as the equalizer before Ramsey scored the winner in the extra time.
At the end of the season, however, Sagna decided not to renew his contract and decided eventually to join the rivals Manchester City. Now, he is now in the MLS with Montreal Impact.
Kieran Gibbs started at the left back at the FA CUP final 2014. He was for a long time, the first choice left-back before he was replaced by the Spaniard Nacho Monreal. He went on to win another two FA Cups before he chose to join West Brom in 2017. Following their relegation, Gibbs now plays in the championship for the Baggies.
Centre-backs: Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny
Koscielny is one among the most underrated centre-backs of the Premier League. He scored the equalizer against Hull in the final to take the game to extra time.
Signed from French division 2 side Lorient FC, he went on to make 51 appearances for the country before missing out on the 2018 World Cup due to injury. After the retirement of Mertesacker, Koscielny was named as the Club captain by Unai Emery from the 2018-19 season.
The former German international started alongside Laurent Koscielny at the centre-back for Arsenal in 2014 FA Cup final. In the same year, he won the World Cup with Germany alongside fellow Gunners Mesut Ozil and Lucas Podolski. He retired from international football after the world cup. From the 2016-17 season, he was named the club captain. At the end of the 2017-18 season, he announced retirement from football and confirmed he will take charge as the Manager of Arsenal Academy.
Midfielders: Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil
The hero of Arsenal's 2014 FA Cup victory, Aaron Ramsey scored the winner at 109th minute to make sure the trophy drought ends. He was judged the Man of the Match of the final. Again, he scored the winner against Chelsea in 2016-17 FA Cup final.
The Welshman won the Arsenal Player of the year for 2014-15 and 2017-18. He was named in the UEFA Euro 2016 Team of the Tournament. Ramsey was named as one among the five captains of the Club by Unai Emery for the present season.
Mikel Arteta started as the Captain of the Arsenal against Hull City in FA Cup final. He scored in the quarter-final as well as in the semi-final penalty shoot-out. From the 2014-15 season, he was named as the captain of Arsenal.
At the end of the 2015-16 season, he retired from professional football. From the 2016-17 season, he joined Manchester City as an assistant coach to his former team-mate Pep Guardiola. In May 2018, Arteta became strongly linked to become the successor to his former manager Arsene Wenger, but instead, saw the job be awarded to Unai Emery.
The German World Cup winner played a great role in the FA Cup Final 2014. The then Arsenal record signing, Ozil was fabulous throughout the tournament. Following the FA Cup, he went on to win the World Cup very next month.
A top fan favourite among the Arsenal Community, he is the top-earning player in the team right now. Last month following Germany's disastrous World Cup 2018 campaign, Mesut announced his retirement from International Football. Frequently attacked by the English media, he was named as one among the five captains of the club by Unai Emery.
Forwards: Lucas Podolski, Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud
Podolski started at the left wing for Gunners in the final. Regarded as one of the best German Players of his generation, he won the FA Cup as well as the World Cup in 2014. He permanently left Arsenal for Galatasaray in 2015.
In 2017, Poldi played his retirement match against England where he sealed the win with a stunning goal. Now Podolski plays for Japanese side Vissel Kobe alongside the legendary Andres Iniesta.
Cazorla scored a crucial free kick to make the score 1-2 against Hull City. He was known for his passing skills as well scoring penalties for Arsenal. But the long-term issue of an injury to his tendon ruled him out for around one and a half season.
After having 8 surgeries on the problem, he never played for Arsenal after 6-0 UCL Victory against Ludogrates on October 2016. At the end of the 2017-18 season, Cazorla left the club as no new contract renewal was offered. On August 2018, his former club Villarreal announced his signing and as of now, he is a regular starter for the La Liga side.
Giroud started as the striker for Arsenal in the final and assisted Aaron Ramsey's winner. He was signed from Montpellier in 2012 and was a fan favourite. He has made 80 appearances for the international team and has scored 31 goals.
Giroud won the UEFA Bronze Boot in 2016 Euro and FIFA Puskas Award 2017 for his famous 'Scorpion Kick' against Crystal Palace. The Frenchman has scored 73 goals for Arsenal before he left for city rivals Chelsea in January 2018 in order to accommodate the arrival of Pierre Emerick Aubameyang to Arsenal. He won the 2018 World Cup with France last July.
