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2021 is nearly over. It’s been a year to forget in almost every conceivable way, but one that will be impossible to forget. While Arsenal have ended this calendar on a high, there have been some considerable lows.
It’s fortunate that 2021 finishes with all smiles in north London. Five wins on the spin including four in the Premier League has lifted spirits at just the right time, because that’s all going to come crashing down to earth on Saturday.
What better way to start 2022 than with a midday kick-off against the side on course to run away with the Premier League title?
The juggernaut that is Manchester City head to the Emirates primed to give everyone a considerably painful reality check. Do Arsenal stand any chance? Well, there is always hope.
Arsenal 2021 review: best and worst moments of the year ahead of Premier League clash with Manchester City in 2022
But with that daunting occasion on the horizon, how about a look back on what has been over the past 365 days? Rollercoaster doesn’t quite cut it.
Arsenal under Mikel Arteta have taken fans through the emotions. Pleasant highs have been met with crushing lows. The year is long and looking back there are events that took place that feel like a lifetime away. For others, it’s like they happened yesterday.
Reviewing 2021 for its best moments, worst moments, and the alternative awards will bring up a whole variety of choices, some that people may agree with and some others. But it’s all a bit of fun, right?
Here are the highly acclaimed 2021 awards.
Funniest Moment – Aaron Ramsdale at Leicester
Everything about Aaron Ramsdale is just terrific: his shot-stopping, his distribution, his dedication, his response to criticism.
But let’s not mess around. Well and by far his best trait is the exceptional quality of banter he has on the pitch. Obviously.
A man who loves to get involved with the atmosphere, the heckling, and even the singing, Ramsdale took it to another glorious level away at Leicester earlier in this season.
With the home fans warming up for a classic ‘ooooh you sh*t b*astard, ahhhhhh’, the 23-year-old felt inclined to join in with them, turning around and giving it the old fist bump as well.
What a guy.
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Best Moment – North London Derby Win
The North London Derby is the first fixture you look up when they’re all announced, and the butterflies immediately start fluttering.
It is also, however, the worst game for many fans to endure. This particular writer loathes it. Hates it. It’s like some sick addiction where you always want to play Spurs, but everything about the stress of it makes it unbearable.
Even in the days where Arsenal used to trounce them every season, the nerves are there from minute one to minute 90, whatever the score.
This particular win was so special. Arsenal’s form was dire, the season had started horrendously and in the glorious London sun a win over them would have done everything for a beleaguered team and fanbase. 35 minutes of pulsating football followed and the smile couldn’t be wiped off of anyone’s face. Spurs fans even started leaving. What a day.
Didn’t make the second half any less fear inducing, mind.
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Shock of the Season – Forgetting Red Cards Exist
Football is full of contentious decisions. Referees have one of the toughest jobs in sport and it’s for that reason that the footballing authorities decided to bring in a little thing called VAR.
Which apparently doesn’t work.
Arsenal have been able to thank VAR and poor refereeing across 2021, as they’ve got away with calls that were the shoe to be on the other foot would have sparked some outrage. However, two in particular that went against them are on their own planet: James McArthur’s karate kick on Bukayo Saka and Ben Godfrey’s stamp on Tomiyasu’s face.
There is no argument whatsoever that justifies neither of the two being sent off. McArthur tries to get to a ball that is on the other side of a human being by booting him as hard as he can in the back of the leg, while Godfrey has every opportunity to move his studs away from Tomiyasu’s face in their collision.
At least Arsenal got six points from those matches and the respective red cards wouldn’t have changed the course of the game, right?
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Worst Moment – Villarreal Semi-Final
Not just the first leg. Not just the second leg.
Every single second of it was horrific. Arteta went into full blown tactical meltdown with insane decisions in personnel and system, coupled with appalling in game management both with the substitutes and his unwillingness to fix what was clearly broken on the pitch.
Watching Willian plod around the pitch while a grinning Unai Emery booked his place in another European final stung. It still stings.
The manager got it all wrong but some of the performances from the players were inexcusable. It was one of the toughest nights/weeks/months of being an Arsenal fan.
Still not forgiven.
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Best Signing – Takehiro Tomiyasu
In the long run this will probably prove to be Martin Odegaard. At this very moment in time there is an equally strong case to make for it being Ramsdale.
It’s a toss of a coin between the goalkeeper and Takehiro Tomiyasu, but the Japan international just pips it. He’s been a revelation.
Arsenal had to go out and find a specific profile of player to fulfill this role in the team, and not only have they achieved that, they’ve found the perfect man within that spectrum.
Unbelievably consistent in everything he does, Tomiyasu has had a transformative impact on this team. Gradually he’s become more expansive in his play as he has settled, and his physical presence and aerial dominance are joyous to watch each week.
You can always gauge how important a player is to a team by the reaction to them picking up an injury. The smell of fear permeated Elland Road when he went down clutching his calf.
Others can quite easily scoop this award, but Tomiyasu gets the nod.
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Best Performance – Arsenal 2-0 West Ham
The North London Derby might have been the best moment, but the best performance goes to the recent win over West Ham.
An encouraging trend across 2021 is that Arsenal’s ‘best’ performances keep being overtaken by ‘better’ ones. Very simply and very blandly put, admittedly.
That mostly boils down to the completeness of the displays. Across the year we’ve seen Arsenal improve in some departments and fine-tune aspects of their game, and the West Ham win was the finest example yet of them maintaining defensive solidity, controlling the midfield, being a threat from all areas and sustaining spell of pressure for long periods.
Having put in strong collective outings against weaker sides and then come up short against opposition above them in the table, beating a Hammers side who’d beaten Liverpool and Chelsea just prior was as good as we’ve seen from this team in 2021.
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Best Recurring Theme – Kieran Tierney’s Angry Celebrations
We love them.
For someone who doesn’t score a great deal of goals, when Kieran Tierney does stick one in the back of the net you’d expect him to be jumping for joy and beaming from ear to ear. That is not his style.
He scored against Watford on the final day of the 2019/20 season and…did nothing. Gradually since then he’s started injecting some fierce emotion into his celebrations and they make for majestic viewing.
There was the one at Benfica which was at about 75%, with the best of all coming away at West Brom where he looked like he wanted to fight someone having just scored a peach of a goal. The anger in his celebrations is in such hilariously stark contrast to the dancing vibes of a Gabriel Magalhaes. That makes it even more endearing.
It also looks like the fury is here to stay with yet another p*ssed off celebration with his strike at Norwich. Long may this recurring theme continue.
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Best Goal – Bukayo Saka vs West Brom
Speaking of West Brom and the snow, the best goal Arsenal scored in 2021 has to be Bukayo Saka’s at the Hawthorns.
We’ve got to travel all the way back to January 2 for this one and although it only just makes it into this year’s awards, it’s worthy of winning the gong for multiple years.
This goal was a work of art. It demonstrated the invention and awareness of Emile Smith Rowe, the measured link-up play from Alexandre Lacazette and the speed of thought from Saka.
Smith Rowe’s third man run and the way he scoops the ball on to Lacazette while turning his man is delightful. The whole goal is a joy to watch and there is something even more special about it taking place amid heavy falling snow.
It was also one of the first Hale End-made goals that Saka and Smith Rowe were involved in. The pair are behind only Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney for direct goal contributions in the Premier League under the age of 21.
They’ll beat it.
Best Player of 2021 – Emile Smith Rowe
A tough one to call.
If we were factoring in international exploits then Saka would get the nod, with the ironic part being that his incredible displays at Euro 2020 are probably the reason he misses out on this. Playing such an obscene amount of football saw him suffer a bit of a drop in form at the start of this season, meanwhile Emile Smith Rowe has been outstanding throughout.
2021 really has been his year.
Coming into them on a regular basis little over a year ago, he’s added speed, dynamism and energy into the Arsenal attack with his own goal contributions progressing along nicely. Scoring with every shot he takes and assisting with every pass he lays off, his trajectory over such a short space of time no longer sees him listed as a ‘young player’.
He may only be 21 years old but he’s one of the two best players at the football club. Arsenal have an unbelievable talent on their hands who is going to own that No. 10 shirt for many, many years to come.
“Here we goo-oooooo, Saka, Martinelli, Smith Roweeeeeeee”