In the 2015/16 Premier League season, Arsenal became the first team since Manchester United in 2003/04 to fail to win the Premier League after leading the league in January.
Image shows football fans wearing Arsenal colors. (Source: CBS)
Gunners fans must be ruing their second placed finish especially as unfancied Leicester finished 10 points above them while rivals Manchester United (5th) and Chelsea (10th) were never in contention.–CBS wrote.
Arsenal’s best season was the historic 2003/04 Premier League campaign.
Between May 2003 and October 2004 the Gunners set a new unbeaten record playing 49, winning 36 and drawing 13.
Winning the title at the home of bitter North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur made it even sweeter, letting their fans chant: “We won the league at White Hart Lane”.
STRENGTH
On their day, Arsenal’s attractive attacking style of football has the ability to play most of their opponents off the park.
The Gunners’ leader in attack is midfield maestro Mesut Ozil who led the Premier League in assists and produced the second highest number of crosses. Welsh international Aaron Ramsey also featured prominently in midfield and his passing statistics are among the best in the league.
Chilean international Alexis Sanchez’s pace and trickery and ability to score spectacular goals make him a world class attacker. French international striker Olivier Giroud is much maligned, but he finished the season on 16 goals – his equal best return in an Arsenal shirt.
Speedsters such as Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Hector Bellerin provide an attacking thrust down the flanks, while the defensive pairing of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny provided the Londoners with the second best defensive record in the Premier League last season.
WEAKNESSES
In the previous Premier League campaign Arsenal topped the charts in clean sheets and assists and made the top four in goals scored. However, Arsenal’s biggest problem is their inability to beat less fancied opponents and win in the big games against their biggest rivals.
Failure to get the three points against West Bromwich Albion, Norwich, Swansea, Crystal Palace, Sunderland, Crystal Palace cost them dearly last season and their poor form against Chelsea and Manchester United continued.
While Arsenal’s slick passing game can be unplayable, it can often be their greatest weakness when it’s not working. It’s not unusual to see possession stats with Arsenal recording more than 70% and only achieving a 1-1 draw against Norwich like they did last season.
When teams park the bus and leave little room for their creative players to attack, Arsene Wenger’s men struggle. Over the years the phrase ‘Arsenal want to walk it into the net’ has become a cliché from their often fruitless passing in front of goal.
