The Positives

Now the season's over, I'm going to look at both the highs and lows of the year, starting with the positives. Obviously, if asked an Arsenal supporter to sum up the 2010/11 campaign in one word, it's unlikely to be 'good.' However there are still many things we can look back on and be proud to brag about.

I start with Jack Wilshere. What a name he has become. Some fans may have thought that putting him in the side against Liverpool on the opening day of the season could have been risky due to his age but they couldn't have been more wrong. Wilshere appeared in all but three Premier League games and even won man of the match against Barcelona at the Emirates. He is probably one of the first names on the team sheet now and shows that die hard English spirit that this team currently lacks. In the Carling Cup final, without Fabregas, he seemed to be the motivator in midfield and because of this, I would bet on him being a future Arsenal captain. Jack is skillful, a great passer and overall one of the biggest up-and-coming talents of the world. I think this is a good reason to congratulate the youth coaches at Arsenal and also Arsene Wenger who has put a lot of faith in our number 19. You'd have to think that had Wilshere played for Chelsea or Man City very few would know him but for once Wenger has shown that potential can turn into success.

The Carling Cup run is next which can be seen as a success in one way. Not the final itself, but getting there was an achievement. Tottenham in the third round looked a tricky tie yet the manager fielded a somewhat stronger side than usual (in this cup) and it finished 4-1. Roll on round four, another thrashing. This time it was Newcastle who got beat 4-0. After beating Wigan and then Ipswich in the semi final, Arsenal were drawn against Birmingham in the final. This game will be talked about in the negatives post but to reach a final was a step forward. It was our first final appearance since 2007 in the same competition and if you don't get to the final you can't win the cup so at least the players were given the opportunity to win something. Despite this, our record in the competition isn't the best and so we weren't victorious.

16th February 2011 will be remembered well by supporters of the club as the day we beat Barcelona! Never before had we achieved this, failing most recently in the Champions League the season before and in Paris. This would turn out to be the only defeat that Barcelona suffered in the competition and this result has shown that the Gunners can beat the best. This game also saw the Arsenal goal of the season (arsenal.com) when Van Persie shot from an almost impossible angle to beat Valdes at his near post. I think that had Walcott not been injured for the second leg and Van Persie not been stupidly sent off then Arsenal would have given Barcelona a run for their money. Walcott is very influential to playing the Spanish champions as they try to win the ball back in the oppositions half asap. With Theo, you can chip it over the defence and let run at goal, either scoring or just allowing the defence to push up. If we'd beaten Barcelona 

then we would have definitely beaten Shakhtar in the next round. This would've put us in the semi-final which is a great success for any team. Not only did we beat Barcelona for the first time but we also came victorious against Man United and Chelsea after a poor run of games against both teams showing that we no longer fear the bigger teams.

Another good point about the season is that we had the best away record in the league scoring the most goals (39). This includes 3 against Man City and Tottenham. We also got 4 goals at Villa Park and St James Park. Our biggest results were 6-0 against Blackpool, 5-0 vs Leyton Orient as well as 11 past Shakhtar and Braga at the Emirates. A huge thank you has to go to Van Persie for this because despite an injury he still bagged 18 league goals. Nasri chipped in with 10 and Walcott also added 9 goals for himself. These players need to remain at the Emirates next year, and with a better defensive record, the red side of north London could be celebrating.

Finally I will mention players such as Szczesny, Miquel and Henderson who made their debuts this year so hopefully can only get better. 

I will end with some statistics. I hope you enjoyed reading this, stay posted for (unfortunately) the negatives of the year.

• Johan Djourou had the second best pass accuracy with 90.1%, just 0.1% behind Scholes
• Denilson made the most touches in a single Premier League game - 142 away to Wigan
• Arsenal hit the woodwork the most times with 22
• Jens Lehmann made his 200th appearance for Arsenal becoming the oldest player to feature for the Gunners
• Cesc Fabregas made it to 300 games against Blackpool
• Robin Van Persie scored his first career hattrick against Wigan in January 

 Pictures courtesy of arsenal.com