It wasn’t quite the season finale we’d have wanted, seeing Arsenal miss out on top four and next season’s elite club competition. While some would say we were unfortunate not to make top four, I reckon our February to March woes cost us a spot in next season’s Champions’ League competition. Still, there’s always the FA Cup and hopefully Arsenal will top FA Cup matches to be predicted by Crownbet.
In the last game of the 2016-2017 season, the Gunners were fixed with a home match against Everton, which was a must-win game for the Gunners if they were to make it through for next season’s club elite competition. But results at the Liverpool match and Manchester City match would have to go against either, to have seen our consecutive champions league appearance continue.
A sunny Sunday afternoon at the Emirates as Arsene Wenger made three changes from the side that won against Sunderland. Laurent Koscielny replaced Shkodran Mustafi, Danny Welbeck started over and Gabriel Paulista came in for Kieran Gibbs.
It only took eight minutes for Arsenal to take the lead thanks to Hector Bellerin who reacted quicker to a misplaced kick from Danny Welbeck. Once again Mesut Ozil was brilliant in this match, he set up Danny Welbeck for the opener who had an empty post to kick the ball in but miskicked the ball but was a relieved man when Spaniard Hector Bellerin reacted quicker than the Everton players to give the Gunners the lead. That was Bellerin first goal in over a year.
Things didn’t quite go according to the script when Laurent Koscielny was shown a straight red card in the 14th minute for a rash challenge on Enner Valencia. That would automatically lead to the Frenchman not having to play a part in the FA cup final this Saturday.
The Gunners would further extend their lead with 10-men on the pitch in the 27th minute when Alexis Sanchez drilled a shot towards the Everton goal but came off on Everton player. Welbeck got hold of the deflected ball but the Everton players would claim he was offside which he wasn’t, before laying a pass to Alexis Sanchez that’d slot the ball into the back of the net to bring his league goals to twenty-four.
Gabriel Paulista looked in great pain in the second half after hurting his knee from his own challenge. It looked really bad judging from his facial expression and I think he’d play no part in the cup final. With Laurent Koscielny getting suspended, I really do hope we have Shkodran Mustafi fit and available for the final at Wembley.
Everton would eventually pull one back through a Romelu Lukaku penalty after a Rob Holding handball, the Belgian calmly tucked the ball into the corner of Petr Cech goal post. Sometimes I wonder if Petr Cech would ever save a penalty in an Arsenal shirt.
Despite the scoreline in favour of Arsenal, fans already knew no miracle would happen as Manchester City and Liverpool were comfortably winning their respective matches. A moment of brilliance from yet again Mesut Ozil, as his footwork kept aside Everton’s Holgate and found Aaron Ramsey who curled a beauty into the top corner of Joel Robles post. What a way to end the season for the Welshman who grabbed his first league goal of the season on the last day of the season.
It feels strange knowing we’d be playing Europa League next season, 14 years supporting the Arsenal and I never thought we’d enter the competition in the group stage phase. Hopefully with this change, the club can restructure and return to its glory days, but for now, it’s onto the FA cup final.
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