Was 2021 a good year for Arsenal?

 

Was 2021 a good year for Arsenal?

By Jonny Bray

It’s a confusing time to be a Gunners fan. 

We broke into the top four with a win against West Ham, we’ve got some of the best young players in the country in our squad, and it seems like things are on the up.

At the same time, having been burned by over a decade of disappointment in north London, it’s hard to trust that the club are genuinely going in the right direction.

To make matters worse, it’s been a rollercoaster of a season on and off the pitch.

Captaincies have been stripped, great goals have been scored, the side have been spanked by some of the best teams in the world, and we finally sorted out our defence.

But was 2021 a good year for Gunners?

Have things improved significantly, or are fans just looking for the positives in another disappointing 12 months?

 

Good

 

First things first, Arsenal are in a good place on the pitch at the end of 2021.

Yes, there have been some tough results along the way, but with Covid-19 throwing the season into disarray yet again, it looks as if the Gunners will be ending the year in the Champions League spots - becoming the first side since Wimbledon in 1996-97 to lose their first three games of a Premier League campaign and still be in the top four at Christmas.

In defence, things have improved significantly with a back four that looks like it will only improve in the years to come.

In midfield, we have some of the best young players in the country, including Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka, who have both enjoyed breakout years at the club.

Up front is the only area where you could argue the Gunners are in a worse state than 12 months ago, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of form and on his way out of the club.

However, Alexandre Lacazette has looked much better in recent weeks and Gabriel Martinelli is one of the most exciting young forwards in world football.

Off the pitch, the mood at the club has definitely relaxed, and the fan base seems far happier with the direction of the team.

And, depending on your point of view, another positive is that we’ll get to see every inside detail of the ups and downs of this season thanks to Amazon’s All or Nothing series.

The acclaimed documentary focuses on Arsenal this term and it’ll be fascinating to see how Arteta made these positive changes at the club.

 

Bad

 

It has not all been sunshine and rainbows in north London this year though.

First things first, it’s embarrassing when a club of Arsenal’s size have to rely on players under the age of 20.

The experienced professionals at the club have shown they’re pretty useless over the past 12 months.

Aubameyang has been stripped of the club captaincy in humiliating fashion, some of the performances have been woeful and then there was Granit Xhaka's - himself no stranger to having the skipper's armband taken away - botched move to Roma.

On the pitch, Arsenal had a dreadful start to this season, losing their first three games of the campaign to put Arteta firmly on the hotseat.

More recently, there were the defeats again Manchester United and Everton.

Both teams were in poor form at the time and had Arteta found a way to secure all three points in those contests, then the Gunners may have been - don't laugh - genuine title contenders at this point.

And as one final point - do we know for certain that Arteta is the the right man for the manager's job? The jury is probably still out.

 

Conclusion

 

It may not have been a classic year for Arsenal, but I feel like it’s a year Gunners fans will look back on as being essential in the rebuilding of the club.

Our team is infinitely better than it was 12 months ago and the defence especially has seen a dramatic improvement.

Furthermore, the vibe at the club has gone from horrendous to optimistic.

Another year of rebuilding like this and Arsenal could be challenging at the top of European football once again.

Image credit: Getty Images