4 'streets won't forget' moments from Arsenal's 2024/25 season

3. Dark Arts FC & Stoke City 2.0

In the early stages of the season, Arsenal gained a reputation for playing a style of football that was reminiscent of Stoke City under the management of Tony Pulis, with the north Londoners being labelled as the second coming of the prime Barclays side.

The Gunners often preferred to protect their defensive solidity rather than attack teams with force as they had done in previous seasons and seemed to be more interested in playing for set pieces rather than score from open play. That tactic did work however, with Arsenal netting 16 goals from dead ball situations excluding penalties.

We even got to see the use of Rory Delap-esque long throws utilised through Thomas Partey in the Champions League semi-final second leg against Paris Saint-Germain, although that wasn't as successful.

Their preference to score from set pieces earned criticism from the media and fans however, with this and their insistence on wasting time earning them the moniker Dark Arts FC. It's hard to disagree that this wasn't a very boring and ineffective style of play.

Regardless, it worked for Arteta's side a lot of the time, even if the dominance did fade throughout the season. The sight of Gabriel Magalhaes racing across the box to tower above defenders and head in is etched in my mind forever.

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