Arsene Wenger enjoyed a legendary 22-year spell at Arsenal, but his final season was one to be forgotten.
The 2016-17 season saw Wenger finish outside the top four for the first time in his Arsenal career, but did win the FA Cup and finish fifth.
There was plenty of division amongst the Arsenal fanbase over whether Wenger was the right manager to take Arsenal forward, but after the cup final victory over Chelsea, he signed a fresh two-year deal to extend his stay.
This was perhaps a mistake, as Arsenal had to endure a chaotic transfer window, in which star player Alexis Sanchez dragged on a whole summer transfer saga before eventually staying, and Alexandre Lacazette arrived for a club-record fee.
Arsenal began the season poorly, and the mood around the club soured as the Gunners continued performing at an inconsistent level. The attack was firing at times with Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey in the side, but Wenger’s tactics were regarded as outdated as his side struggled defensively.
By the time January came around, Arsenal were in a complete mess.
Arsenal struggled in Arsene Wenger’s final season
Those above Wenger in the club hierarchy had repeatedly failed him in the transfer market in his final few years at the club, with director Dick Law once called out by Ian Wright.
The January window saw Arsenal try and fast-track a rebuild: Francis Coquelin, Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud and Alexis all departed as some of the longest-serving players in the squad, and in came Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Both former Borussia Dortmund stars thrived on their Emirates debut in a 5-1 win over Everton, and optimism was beginning to grow. However, this bubble burst just a week later in a North London Derby.
Arsene Wenger lost his final North London derby at Arsenal
Arsenal headed into the derby at Wembley Stadium still in the mix for a top-four spot, but were thoroughly outplayed by Spurs, who took a second-half lead through Harry Kane.
The visitors did not deserve anything from the game, but Lacazette, who came on as a substitute for Mkhitaryan, found himself through on goal in the dying seconds of the game, with a glorious chance to equalise.
The Frenchman placed his shot wide, and everyone connected to Arsenal covered their eyes in horror.
Arsene Wenger’s sad Arsenal ending was epitomised by Alexandre Lacazette miss
Wenger was regarded as a figure of calm throughout his Arsenal career, even when in tough circumstances. Theo Walcott has now revealed that during his final season at Arsenal, he could see that something had changed in Wenger.
“He was always a calm presence, but all his teams were very calm, up until the point when just before he was leaving, it started to become a bit erratic, and that’s where maybe Arsene started to lose what he was good at,” Walcott told the UpFront Podcast.
This could be seen in Wenger’s reaction to Lacazette’s miss at Spurs. The figure of calm with 22 years of highs and lows at Arsenal under his belt could not believe what he had just seen. The Frenchman could not hide his frustration at the agonising miss, shrieking on the touchline with his head in his hands just before the crushing inevitability of the full-time whistle was heard.
Wenger’s side were again in a mini-crisis. They had not won away from home in nearly two months, confidence was low, and their expensive striker signing was misfiring in front of goal.
“For him, one against one with the goalkeeper, he is a good goalscorer. He has gone through difficult periods before. He works hard in training, works on his finishing. I don’t know what happened, did he not touch the ball well? It can happen, it is a fraction of a second. Maybe the confidence is not at its highest because he has seen a competitor coming in for him,” Wenger stated of Lacazette after the game.
Wenger would announce that he would depart at the end of the season just two months later, with fans fed up of how the season had played out, and his spell came to an end with a whimper.
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Fans had lost faith in the manager they previously idolised, and Wenger no longer seemed to have the answers.
New signings were struggling to settle, his defence could not keep a clean sheet, and his attackers had failed to deliver in a key moment. Had Lacazette scored, his side may have gained the confidence to spark a turnaround in form.
Perhaps it was in this moment of sheer agony, that Wenger realised his time at the club he loves was due to come to an end.