It's Been A Blast!

And that's a wrap! A lovely Sunday afternoon, much enjoyed by all present (unless you're a Wolves fan!). And, frankly, it's been a pretty decent season. I reckon we'd have all taken it had it been on offer before it kicked off, but there's always going to be that nagging regret, isn't there?

It was a typical sunny end-of-season carnival in the sun against a team that appeared to have left for their summer holidays some time ago. Lovely jubbly; and it's a real shame that the game didn't have anything meaningful on it, because they're exactly the sort of opposition you want if you need to win your final game to sew up the title. Hey-ho...

I'll give some thoughts about what's been achieved - and give out a few awards - a little lower down in this piece. And this won't be my final contribution of the season, as I'm intending to follow up with a 'What's Next' piece later in the week.

But let's deal with the Wolves game first. And also the Forest game that preceded it; after which I did not post as I had literally nothing positive (or indeed different to anything that hadn't been said over the previous few weeks since the start of the so-called 'bottling') to say about what was to all intents and purposes a terrible performance from both Arteta and his players. To sum it up, the selection and formation didn't make much sense to me, the play was absolutely pedestrian - so much so that I reckon that if they were out there now playing Forest right now they still wouldn't have scored! - and Odegaard contributed his third assist for the opposition in the past 6 weeks. Yes, the winning goal was unlucky and yes, Jesus was denied a stone bonk penalty by another joke of a VAR non-decision. But sometimes you've just got to go out there and do it yourself; and Arsenal could not.

And so on to the stroll in the sun: Same XI from Arteta, somewhat to everyone's surprise, but I guess that this was a different type of 'test' to the previous week's. And following a slightly slow start, two goals from our soon to be departing Swiss midfield dynamo, Granit Xhaka, quickly turned the afternoon into a proper party. The first a simple header from a pinpoint right-wing cross from Gabriel Jesus, and the second following clever play from Bukayo Saka (back to his devastating best today) and a sumptuous back heel from Odegaard which, perhaps slightly fortuitously, found its way to the unmarked Xhaka just 8 yards out. 

Granit was serenaded following both goals, fluffed the chance of a hat-trick when he slashed at a later opportunity, and was afforded a quite loving standing ovation when he was substituted in the second half. Bearing in mind what happened that day in October 2019 at home to Crystal Palace, it's been a remarkable turnaround for a player who has divided opinion - of that there can be no doubt - but who has always worked his socks off (sometimes possibly trying TOO hard!) - for the cause. A 'captain without armband', and a powerful personality both on and off the pitch; those qualities will be missed next season if - as we suspect - he heads off to Leverkusen in the summer. 

To hear him serenaded with 'Granit Xhaka; we want you to stay', brought a little tear to my eye and - I suspect - to his too. I don't think that I was ever 'Xhaka Out', but I do remember thinking that there was no way back for him, whether I wanted that or not. However, Arteta challenged him, and he responded. What a final season it has been for him, and I'll give a bigger tribute to him in my next piece.

The third goal, again before half time, came from Starboy himself - fresh from his contract signing - following some delightful interplay on the right involving several players. Saka received from Trossard, chopped back inside Kilman, and curled a sumptuous shot into the far corner. Arsenal were running rings around the left hand side of Wolves' defence, and it was no surprise at all that their left back, the badly-named Bueno, failed to make it out for the second half. Bueno he certainly was not!

For the 4th, Trossard was released down the left by Jorginho's raking vertical pass and put in a perfect cross for Jesus to head powerfully into the net at the far post. The 5th was Kivior's first goal for the club, and came about in a scramble following a corner. An absolute stroll. And a very pleasant 45 minutes followed at the end of the game, with a few speeches and the customary - and well-received - Lap of Appreciation in the Islington sun.

Of course, it's difficult to take this game too seriously in the context of what had come before it. The previous few weeks have been painful to witness; poor results since failing to hold on for the win at Anfield ultimately costing the team what would have been an unlikely title based on pre-season expectations. Nonetheless, given where the team were in late March, it's been a disappointing couple of months on the whole.

It's an opportunity missed. 8 points clear at certain points, but unable to get over the line. The collapse was, unfortunately, spectacular - and spectacularly depressing - and can be put down to a number of factors. The key must be to learn from what went wrong, and to ensure that it cannot happen again. 

So why was the last quarter of the season such a letdown compared to what had come before? Let's examine the two main factors:

• March 16th; Europa League home tie with Sporting Lisbon. Takehiro Tomiyasu comes off with a season-ending injury. Followed minutes later by William Saliba following him down the tunnel and into the treatment room. Alongside Sporting's late equaliser that knocked Arsenal out, this was a very, very bad night for the club.

Saliba had been a revelation all season. Perhaps not back to his brilliant best following the World Cup; but the double loss of him and the versatile Japanese defender on the same evening were blows from which the team never recovered. Whatever the merits of playing Saliba on that night were, only Arteta can answer, but the injury was/is chronic and could have occurred at any time, I guess. Either way, with Rob Holding the next taxi off the rank ( he clearly didn't feel that Kivior was ready), this was a night from which Arsenal's season never recovered.

Throughout the season, Arteta had been asking Thomas Partey to do two jobs in the single pivot role, and he'd been generally magnificent. But the loss of Saliba behind him made the dual role too onerous, as he suddenly had extra ground to cover and the Ghanaian's form fell off a cliff.

• Player rotation; or rather lack of it. Arsenal made considerable fewer changes than any other side in the Premier League. Less than half than made by Pep Guardiola. Ultimately, the hundreds of extra minutes got into the legs of the players and they ran out of gas. As they had the previous season.

Arsenal's first choice side is a match for anybody's. But scratch below the surface and we were left with the same players who'd got the team into 5th place the previous season, and 8th the one before that. The new signings had pretty much all been starters, and it was clear from the lack of changes that Arteta did not trust his squad players. Mistake? Yes. But Arsenal are a year ahead of where anyone expected them to be. They were supposed to be challenging for 4th or maybe 3rd - not going for the title. There hadn't been time to address the squad in full over the summer. There hadn't been any preparation for a title challenge.

Could more have been done in January? Perhaps. But hindsight is a marvellous thing. A summer that saw Zinchenko and Jesus come in, and the return of Saliba, followed by the signings of Jorginho, Trossard and Kivior in January; that looked enough at the time. However this summer there can be far less excuse! There'll be plenty of 'churn' and Arteta, Edu and Garlick have got their work cut out to maintain and improve a squad that'll be playing Champions League football next season; thus requiring a jump in both quality and quantity.

I'll be discussing this - as will loads of others over the next few days and weeks - in my next offering in a few days time. Expectations are higher now. We have to trust the owners, the Board, and the Management to get it right. One way or the other, it's going to be an interesting summer!

Now it's time for a few end of season awards. All of which will be up for discussion, I reckon:

Player of the Season - Martin Odegaard. Has kept the wheels well and truly oiled. The heir apparent to Kevin De Bruyne's crown

Young Player of the Season - Bukayo Saka. Was also in the running for the main award

Most Surprising Player of the Season - William Saliba. Who knew he was this good? Was also in the running for the above award

Biggest Disappointment of the Season - Fabio Vieira. Needa a summer in the gym

Best Moment of the Season - Reiss Nelson's 98th minute winner vs Bournemouth. Scenes!

Performance of the Season - Newcastle United away. Although Spurs away ran it close

Most Disappointing Performance of the Season - Manchester City away. Outclassed

Best Song of the Season - 'Tequila/Saliba'

That'll do; for starters anyway. Honourable mentions for their contributions go to... well, most of the team! Ramsdale, White, Zinchenko, Gabriel, Partey, Xhaka, Martinelli, Jesus, Trossard, Jorghinho... it's been a hell of a season!

And so we wait to see what the summer brings. Look out for my speculation very soon... COYG!