Missing out on Champions League football really hurts! Although we showed great resilience with 10 men to beat Everton 3-1, it didn't stop us from finishing outside the top four for the first time under Arsene Wenger.
I heard a stat that our tally of 75 points was the most points gained by a side not to get into the top four. In some ways that shows just how competitive the league has been, but we have also thrown some really silly points away.
Hector Bellerin capped a great performance with the opening goal before Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey scored, either side of Romelu Lukaku's consolation, to ensure the Gunners ended their league campaign with a victory. But the win came at a cost with on-field captain Laurent Koscielny's red card meaning he will miss the FA Cup Final, along with fellow defender Gabriel who picked up what looks like a nasty knee injury.
Arsenal started brightly with Danny Welbeck sending an early effort wide before the Gunners opened the scoring after just eight minutes. Mesut Ozil cut the ball back and Welbeck miscued his strike, but he was soon let off as Bellerin arrived to fire the ball home. That goal temporarily lifted Arsenal into the top four and it's a shame we couldn't stay there, but we only have ourselves to blame.
Six minutes later Arsenal's hopes were left hanging by an even thinner thread as Koscielny saw red for a sliding tackle on Enner Valencia. Both players were going at full speed for the loose ball and Koscielny took out his opposite number so the red, although not malicious, was the correct decision.
Arsenal didn't let the red card affect them and continued to control the game for large spells before doubling their lead after 27 minutes as Welbeck set up Sanchez to score from close range.
Joel Robles had an impressive game in the Everton goal and he palmed away Sanchez's free-kick to prevent Arsenal from adding to their lead before half-time.
Everton finished the first half strongly with Gabriel blocking Valencia's shot before Idrissa Gueye saw his effort parried behind for a corner by Petr Cech. The Arsenal goalkeeper was called into action again soon after as he tipped Lukaku's looping header over the bar. The Belgian striker wasted the chance to reduce the deficit before the break as his shot was deflected wide.
After 44 minutes things were looking good for Arsenal as they held a 2-0 lead and Liverpool's game against Middlesbrough remained goalless. But midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum scored on the stroke of half-time to put Liverpool in front and Arsenal dropped back down to fifth. At this point I considered it game over as, although I thought we would hold out, I just couldn't see Middlesbrough scoring. My gut feeling proved correct as Middlesbrough couldn't find a goal and Liverpool went on to beat them 3-0, meaning we would miss out on Champions League football next season.
From speaking to some people who watched the Liverpool game, including home fans, it sounds like Dejan Lovren was lucky not to be sent off in the first half and Middlesbrough were also denied a penalty. But there is no hiding behind anything this season as we have been largely poor and deserve to miss out on the top four.
Back to the match and we very nearly made it 3-0 within three minutes of the restart, but a fine double save from Robles kept us at bay. Robles kept out Welbeck's initial effort before producing another fine save to deny Ozil from the follow up.
Although we were showing great resilience to be winning with 10 men, Liverpool extending their lead and us suffering a bad injury certainly tainted the afternoon. Gabriel looked in a lot of pain as he went down before the defender was stretchered off and to have two centre-backs suddenly become unavailable ahead of the FA Cup Final has just made our task even harder.
Everton reduced the deficit when they were awarded a penalty after 56 minutes for an alleged handball by Rob Holding. Lukaku made no mistake from the spot and suddenly our three points looked under threat. Although it wouldn't have made a difference to our fading top-four hopes, it was frustrating to see Ashley Williams, who had already been booked, get away with a foul on Welbeck.
Our lead was nearly thrown away 10 minutes later when Everton thought they had levelled via a Valencia header only to see the goal ruled out for a foul on substitute Per Mertesacker.
Everton tried to get back into the game with both Kevin Mirallas and Lukaku sending efforts off target, while Ozil forced another save out of Robles at the other end.
Substitute Alex Iwobi wasted the chance to get himself onto the scoresheet three minutes from time, but after a good run into the box he was denied by a decent save from Robles.
Arsenal were not to be denied a third goal though as Aaron Ramsey curled a lovely strike into the top corner in injury time for his first league goal of the season.
It could have been four soon after, but Robles showed good reflexes to keep out Welbeck's powerful close-range effort in what was a mixed afternoon for Arsenal. We actually did well against Everton and as a stand-alone result I was happy, but looking at the season as a whole I can't deny that we have been largely disappointing.
OPPOSITION VIEW
Everton fan Paul O'Neill was pleased with his side's season overall despite a frustrating result at the Emirates.
"In truth the match held no real importance for Everton," said O'Neill. "Finishing a whopping 15 points above Southampton shows how much a bigger club we are and justifies (Ronald) Koeman leaving and proving he is the man to lead us forward.
"Overall it was a good season after a bad start and qualification for the Europa League should be achievable. Also, with a new stadium on the horizon I would say the future is bright for the Toffees.
"As for the game, the sides' possession stats of 50/50 and similar shot tallies show this was a close affair even with it finishing 3-1. The sending off for Koscielny was justified, but never really threw Arsenal off the game. A stupid end of season challenge from him.
"I thought coming into the game an Arsenal banker was on, but it wasn't really a walk over and much tighter which probably shows Everton haven't got a million miles to come to be up there.
"Although Arsenal aren't exactly up there, missing out on Champions League, I wish them a fruitful campaign on the Europa League front in which hopefully Everton can prosper too."
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
We have played some great football at times, but the Premier League season has been largely disappointing for us and results like the defeats to West Brom and Crystal Palace really cost us dearly.
There can be no excuses and we deserved to finish where we did and it is now about how we respond from this setback. Whether or not Wenger leaves in the summer remains to be seen, but whatever happens we certainly have to spend. We need to ensure we get the contracts of Sanchez, Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain sorted as soon as possible and we also need to bring some new players in.
But we can't think about what is going to happen in the summer yet as there is still one huge game left to play. Regardless of whether we are in the final or not I always love the FA Cup so I am delighted that we will be part of this year's spectacle.
Chelsea will be the firm favourites so we will need to produce a huge performance on the day to stand any chance. Losing Koscielny and Gabriel has made our task even harder and Chelsea will understandably be favourites to win. But we can't go into the game with that attitude, we have to believe we can get a result and make sure we show more hunger on the day and perform to our full potential. You never know!
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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