Well. I’m not going to say I’m not glad to se the back of what has been a traumatic and extremely stressful season.  We managed to grab third place, one point ahead of Sp*rs though, if we’re honest about it, we did everything we could to try and mess it up.

A team full of nerves against a team with nothing to play for but a manager they clearly respect.

It was the Norwich game all over again, the only difference being Martin Fulop, who once, I believe, worked as a lasagne chef, was in goal for West Brom.  We couldn’t have made it harder for ourselves but, what matters is that we got across that line, battered, shattered, and a big bit bruised.

From being 17^th at one point we made third.

From losing 8-2 at Old Trafford we made the Champions League.

From losing to Blackburn, Swansea, Fulham, Wigan and more, we did it.

From having no full backs for over one month we somehow got there.

From losing all our league games in January we were still up there.

From having no Jack all season, losing our captain during the summer, and finishing second, once again in the injury table, we made it.

We did not do it the easy way, that would not be the Arsenal way it seems, but somehow, some debt that the footballing gods seemed to owe Arsene for delivering us the Invincibles, we made it in to the Champions League for the 15^th straight season, a truly remarkable achievement when you consider the constraints he has had to operate under since we moved to the Emirates.

How we felt all season

Don’t get me wrong, amazing achievement or not, there are some very serious flaws in this side that must be addressed in the summer. Our inability to defend is one, the fact that we have a defensive midfielder who would prefer to be up the other end is another.  We’ve looked to add a helping hand to the one-man show that Robin ran up front all season by signing Podolski, but that shouldn’t be the end of it.

I don’t really know what else to say, I’m still half asleep, and the less I say now the more we’ll have to talk about over the coming days when things will slow down.  The other guys who write for this blog will be along with their take on things as well, but for now I’m going to go, try and wake up and work out just what I’m going to fill this site with every day for the long, hopefully hot, summer.

Thank you Arsenal for getting there in the end, we know at times you seemed like you didn’t really want to, and I’m pretty sure we will all be receiving a supply of anti-anxiety meds with our membership packs for next season, but today, just for one day, we can sit back and think ‘job done’ – tomorrow we can pick over the bones of needs to be done ahead of next year to make sure that it’s ‘job done better.’

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