EPL News: Arsenal season review 2009-10 and prospects in new season
Arsenal is considered to be the one of the giants of English football and part of the elite group called “The Big Four”.
At the start of the season Manchester United was made favorites following their 3 consecutive triumphs in the premiership. The only talk about Arsenal was about who would replace them in the big four, as many of the pundits declared them to be the team which will make way out of the top 4 position in the premiership.
This came as no surprise to most since Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger stuck to his young guns and did not spend money on experienced players. The only player who did join them was Thomas Vermaelen, who was 23 at the time. He was already the captain of Ajax and the move for the Belgian International cost Arsenal £10 million.
The last time arsenal lifted the premiership trophy was back in 2004 when arsenals invincible went unbeaten for the entire campaign and the last piece of silverware for arsenal was the FA cup in 2005. The expectations from the fans were high.
At the preseason friendly’s arsenal were in form as they went unbeaten in 6 matches which included yet another triumph in the Emirates Cup where they beat Athletico Madrid and Rangers but the last of the pre season friendly’s ended up in a defeat against Valencia.
The premiership season 09/10 started for arsenal on Saturday 15th august as arsenal travelled to Goodison Park to face Everton. Not many could have predicted the score line to be 6-1 in arsenals favor. Arsenal could not wish for a better start to the season. In this match Thomas Vermaelen made his debut for arsenal and started with a goal too. The match also saw the Gunners Skipper Cesc Fabregas net 2 goals. The next match for the gunners was away against Celtic for the play off for the champion’s league in which arsenal had qualified for the past 11 seasons. The two legs between Celtic were sandwiched between a match against Portsmouth which arsenal won comfortably 4-1 and the playoff against Celtic was in favor of arsenal in which they won both legs 5-1 on aggregate.
September started with yet another trip to Manchester this time arsenal faced man city. City dominated the match which saw the gunners with the second consecutive defeat in premiership (4-1). This match is also known for the controversial celebration of Emmanuelle Adebayor who had just left arsenal on £25 million transfer to the blue side Manchester. The other five matches in September arsenal managed to win all five which included 2 matches in the champion’s league.
October saw the gunners unbeaten all in 6 of their matches which included thumping of Blackburn rovers 6-2, a win against the rival big four Liverpool and the victory in the north London derby against local arch rivals Tottenham. Things were starting to look good for the gunners.
In December arsenal had a mammoth 8 matches. In which they suffered 2 defeats which saw Manchester City do a double over gunners and a draw. Arsenal won the other five matches including a double over rivals Liverpool. At the half way mark arsenal looked good and had a pretty commanding position on the premiership table. From that point arsenal looked good for challenging the honors.
Things were looking good for the gunners until April. Even thou exit in the FA cup and the Carling cup. Despite the fact that Aaron Ramsey’s horrific injury in February which would see the youngster not featuring for the remainder of the season and star striker Robin van Persie’s absence due to injury . Arsenals were still in with a chance in the champion’s league as they drew the first quarter final leg against Barcelona at home.
Things started to get from bad to worse in no time for arsenal, as they lost star players like Arshavin and skipper Fabregas both injured came at the business end of the season. The injuries derailed arsenal from the champion’s league and 3 defeats in the last 5 premiership matches saw arsenal pummel to 3rd spot finish in the league.
All in all the season for the gunners was a roller coaster ride which saw them topping the table and remaining contenders till the very end. Maybe if they had not been tormented with injuries to key players they might have won the title, but at this level of football that’s just an excuse.
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