2024 was a strange year for Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta’s team boasted the best record of any team in the Premier League over the 12 months, but finished last season as runners-up to Manchester City and are ahead of Liverpool (as well as Nottingham Forest) at the end of December 2024.
The Gunners claimed their first Champions League knockout round victory in 14 years, but collected as many trophies as Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United (a Community Shield compared to an FA Cup win).
The highs may not have been as high as the lows, but there were still plenty of moments to savor along the winding route to 2024.
While Bukayo Saka’s unerring consistency, Martin Odegaard’s magical bursts and Gabriel’s prowess are worthy of recognition, Guillem Saliba he has to be considered the standout performer for the Gunners.
For all the attacking talent at Arteta’s disposal, his team is unashamedly built around a concrete defensive determination, with Saliba at its epicenter. The silk-lined French not only offers the kind of imperious presence that leads to universal praise from his peersbut he makes those around him, mainly Gabriel, that much better.
David RayaThe start to life between the sticks at Arsenal was made infinitely more difficult by his manager. It has long been forgotten, with Aaron Ramsdale and his Hagrid guise shipped off to Southampton in the summer, but Arteta initially claimed he would rotate his goalkeepers.
This unnecessary misdirection never took hold, and Raya initially struggled to get off to a confident start in front of a fan base that still longed for its likeable predecessor. one memorable night of the Champions League in march the tide turned.
Raya had already grown in confidence before saving a pair of penalties as Arsenal knocked Porto out of the last 16 in front of a sizzling atmosphere at the Emirates. The specter of Ramsdale – who watched the action unfold from the bench – had been purged.
Since then, the Spain international has gone from strength to strength, making a series of increasingly acrobatic saves at the start of the current campaign to ensure Arsenal’s season was not completely derailed.
Ethan Nwaneri‘s first Premier League start 2025 may have arrived, but the 17-year-old prodigy made a significant impact throughout 2024. In 17 appearances, most of which were cameo roles in England’s top flight, the skilful left-hander managed to score four goals
Such is Nwaneri’s undeniable talent – an appreciation of time and space that his colleague Riccardo Calafiori has described as “pure” – that Arteta has had to exercise extreme restraint not to overdo it with the teenager.
“60 million down the drain,” or so the chant goes,”Kai Havertz score again!” Arsenal’s often unlikable German, a player whose legs are too long and arms too short for his angular frame, scored an impressive 21 goals for the Gunners.
Even if it doesn’t go in Europe’s top scorers in 2024Havertz narrowly edged Bukayo Saka, who collected 20. After 19 in the league there is only Arsenal’s collective shot.
2024 has not been an amazing hiring year arsenal. The Gunners did not bring in any senior players during the previous January window and, apart from making David Raya’s loan deal permanent, only provided Arteta’s side with three new recruits last summer.
Raheem Sterling’s terrible six months barely merit consideration, leaving it a straight shootout between Riccardo Calafiori and Mikel Merino.
The two towering figures, plucked from European wings punching above their weight slightly below the upper echelons of elite continental football, have had their ups and downs.
Merino notably tore his shoulder during his first training session with the Gunners but played just three minutes less than his Italian counterpart, who has struggled with less dramatic injuries during his first six months in north London. Cauliflower just took advantage. That accolade is almost entirely due to his spectacular brace in a 2-2 draw with Manchester City in September, before the reigning champions were knocked out.
Arsenal last hosted Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool at the start of February. Trailing the league leaders the Reds by five points at the time, the Gunners had it all to do at the Emirates. And they did.
Arteta’s side overcome, thought and overcome the visitors A back-to-back tandem of Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz separated the lavender shirts, leaving the normally imperious pairing of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate plagued by uncertainty and indecision.
Bukayo Saka’s opener was canceled out on the cusp of the half by an objectively hilarious handball from Gabriel, who somehow conspired to knock Liverpool level, but the Gunners roared back. 3-1 victory.
The Emirates were jubilant at the final whistle and Odegaard captured the occasion by stealing Stuart MacFarlane’s camera to take a picture of the pitchside photographer. The questionable quality of those shots was the only negative of a night to remember. “To be honest,” Odegaard admitted, “I don’t know, it was a bit of a blur!”
