Arsenal

Following a rare year without European football under the bright lights of the Emirates, Arsenal were back on the continental stage and punched well above their weight in the top flight, but as springtime rolled around, so did a familiar sense of dejection.

Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look back at Arsenal's unforgettable 2022-23 campaign.

SEASON OVERVIEW

Final league position: 2nd

EFL Cup: Third round

FA Cup: Fourth round

Europa League: Last 16

Top scorer: Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard (15)

Most assists: Bukayo Saka (11)

On the back of a near-perfect period of pre-season preparations - including a 4-0 thumping of Chelsea in Orlando and 6-0 drubbing of Sevilla in the Emirates Cup - Arsenal began the 2022-23 season as they had commenced the 2021-22 campaign, with a London derby away from home.

Lightning would not strike twice for the Gunners as they kicked off the new Premier League season by beating Crystal Palace 2-0 - their first of a five-game winning streak as they surprisingly cemented themselves at the top of the table.

On the back of several award nominations, Arteta's men were brought crashing back down to earth by Manchester United soon after, but their soft underbelly had been replaced by a hardened shell, and another eight-game winning run in all tournaments followed, also allowing them to assume control of their Europa League group.

During that eventful hot streak, the sporting calendar was thrown into disarray by the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Ethan Nwaneri became the Premier League's youngest-ever player - debuting at 15 years and 181 days versus Brentford - and Thomas Partey ended his perennial run of sending long shots into row Z with a brilliant opener in October's 3-1 North London derby success over Tottenham Hotspur.

Liverpool were also put to the sword at the Emirates in the Autumn, raising a few more eyebrows across the UK, but in the wake of a 2-0 defeat to PSV Eindhoven in the Europa League, Arsenal learned the horrifying news that Pablo Mari - on loan at Monza - had been stabbed in an Italian shopping centre.

Thankfully, the Spaniard had not suffered life-threatening injuries, and the Gunners paid tribute to their teammate prior to a 5-0 thumping of Nottingham Forest, after which their place in the last 16 of the Europa League was sealed with a 1-0 win over FC Zurich.

An early EFL Cup exit to Brighton & Hove Albion did dampen the spirits somewhat, but Arsenal went into the World Cup break five points clear at the top of the Premier League table - guaranteeing a first-placed berth at Christmas for the first time since 2007 - and another piece of trivial silverware was added to their cabinet in the form of the friendly Dubai Super Cup.

Arsenal's non-Qatar contingent bested AC Milan and Lyon to lift the trophy, but over in the Middle East, summer signing Gabriel Jesus suffered a serious knee injury requiring surgery, ruling him out for a number of months and leaving Eddie Nketiah to shoulder the attacking burden.

With strikes in victories over West Ham United, Brighton & Hove Albion and a brace in a dramatic 3-2 win over Manchester United, Nketiah filled Jesus's boots admirably as Arsenal unexpectedly maintained their title charge - also putting Spurs to the sword 2-0 before a fan made his way down from the stands and disgracefully kicked Aaron Ramsdale in the back; he was ultimately convicted of assault against the Arsenal number one, who had made a number of crucial saves while goading the Tottenham faithful behind his goal.

As well as signing Jakub Kiwior in January, Jorginho and Leandro Trossard arrived once Arsenal had conceded defeats in their pursuits of Moises Caicedo and Mykhaylo Mudryk - as well as learning that Mohamed Elneny would be out for the season with a knee injury - and they initially struggled to make the desired impact, as an early FA Cup exit to Manchester City marked the start of a four-game winless run in all tournaments.

The third match in that sequence was a 1-1 draw at home to Brentford, where Christian Norgaard's equaliser was inexplicably allowed to stand after VAR official Lee Mason forgot to draw the lines which would have shown the midfielder in an offside position - he subsequently stepped down from PGMOL duties two days after Manchester City overcame the Gunners 3-1 in a top-of-the-table beating.

Despite that reverse, Arteta's men were still sitting pretty in first place and responded with another winning sequence in the Premier League - seven in a row to be exact - but Sporting Lisbon ended their dreams of Europa League glory with a last-16 penalty shootout success.

The second leg at the Emirates also saw William Saliba suffer his season-ending back injury, which would mark the beginning of the end of Arsenal's lengthy title charge. Back-to-back wins over Leeds United and Crystal Palace were expected, but in subsequent 2-2 draws with Liverpool and West Ham United, the Gunners had let successive 2-0 leads slip for the first time in the Premier League era.

An enthralling 3-3 home draw with Southampton and 4-1 loss away to Man City meant that the championship was officially out of Arsenal's hands - although a top-four finish was mathematically assured - and successive triumphs over Chelsea and Newcastle United guaranteed a top-two spot for Arteta's men.

However, being humbled 3-0 at home by Brighton left Man City on the brink of title glory, and a similarly toothless 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest proved to be the final nail in Arsenal's title coffin, but the Gunners at least ended the campaign in style by putting five unanswered goals past Wolverhampton Wanderers on the final day.

PREMIER LEAGUE STATS

Wins: 26 (2nd)

Draws: 6 (=16th)

Losses: 6 (18th)

Goals scored: 88 (2nd)

Goals conceded: 43 (=17th)

Yellow cards: 52 (18th)

Red cards: (=15th)

Passes: 20,441 (5th)

Shots: 593 (4th)

Big chances missed: 50 (8th)

Saves: 95 (17th)

Tackles: 567 (19th)

Own goals: 1 (=12th)

Hit woodwork: 15 (=9th)

Clearances: 568 (17th)

HOW DID IT COMPARE TO LAST SEASON?

In some respects, Arsenal's 2022-23 season beared a striking resemblance to their 2021-22 campaign, in which a springtime collapse derailed their end-of-season aspirations.

However, this time 12 months ago, the Gunners were reeling from missing out on Champions League football to Tottenham Hotspur, while this time, the dejection stems from missing out on the title to the Manchester City juggernaut.

Finishing three places better off than the 2021-22 campaign - in which they secured a fifth-placed standing - the runners-up collected 15 more points than last season (84 compared to 69), which marked their best tally since the 2003-04 Invincibles amassed 90.

A new club goalscoring record was also set, as Arsenal found the back of the net 88 times in the top flight - a better record than any of their previous Premier League seasons and 27 more than their 61 in 2021-22 - while they also shipped five fewer goals, conceding 43 compared to last season's 48.

Having failed to even make the top seven in the 2020-21 season, a notable change to last season was the return of Europa League football to the Emirates, although Arsenal's bid for glory in the second-tier tournament ended at the hands of Sporting in the last-16 stage.

Such an elimination closed off one avenue to Champions League football, but that paled into insignificance when the Gunners sealed a top-two finish in the Premier League, although the less said about their cup runs, the better.

A fourth-round exit to Manchester City in the FA Cup was at least an improvement on 2021-22 - where they lost to Nottingham Forest in round three - but Arteta led his side to the semi-finals of the EFL Cup last year, whereas Brighton ended their hopes of silverware in the third round this time around.

PLAYER OF THE SEASON: MARTIN ODEGAARD

In truth, whittling down Arsenal's star performers to one Player of the Season accolade was a thankless task, as cases can argubaly be made for all of Saka, Saliba, Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes.

However, the Gunners' captain fantastic Martin Odegaard has led by example throughout the positive periods and tricky times during his first season with the armband, and he had pretty big boots to fill in the shape of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.

Allowing the 24-year-old time and space on the edge out of the box to let fly with his left foot was a fatal error made by more than one team this season, allowing Odegaard to finish as one of Arsenal's three highest scorers with 15 goals, while his creative influence also came to the fore with a total of eight assists.

It was no surprise to see Odegaard's excellent campaign rewarded with a host of individual accolades; he was named the Premier League Player of the Year at the London Football Awards, scooped the division's Player of the Month award for November/December and earned nominations for the Premier League's Player and Young Player of the Season prizes.

Having fulfilled the potential that convinced Real Madrid to sign him as a 16-year-old, Odegaard is understood to be in line for a new lucrative Arsenal contract as he seeks to go one better in the 2023-24 Premier League season.

STANDOUT RESULT: ARSENAL 3-2 BOURNEMOUTH

Even before Bournemouth made the daunting trip to the Emirates in early March, Arsenal had made a habit of leaving it late to turn the tide in their favour after a dissatisfactory opening to a match - see West Ham United, Manchester United and Aston Villa.

However, North London pandemonium arguably reached its peak during the visit of the Cherries, who could scarcely believe their luck when Philip Billing prodded Gary O'Neil's men in front with just 9.11 seconds on the clock - the second-quickest goal the Premier League had ever seen.

Arteta's dumbfounded side failed to muster up a response before the break, and their set-piece deficiencies came back to bite them in the second half, as Marcos Senesi doubled the Cherries' advantage approaching the hour mark.