On Saturday Arsenal beat title winners Chelsea 2-1, to win the Emirates FA Cup for the third time in four years. The match started with the Gunners in control, not allowing Chelsea to attack them, and it only took them four minutes to break the deadlock. An accidental collision between Player-of-the-year N’golo Kante and Diego Costa lead to Aaron Ramsay winning the ball back for Arsenal, Nacho Monreal then bombed down the line, who then slipped it back to Ramsay, who turned well and played it to Chilean Alexi Sanchez, who, after one failed pass attempt, played himself in with a looping header over the defence. Ramsay ran onto it, but soon realised he was offside and left it to Sanchez, who reliably finished it into the bottom corner. The goal was originally ruled offside, but after a lengthy break the referee overruled the linesman and gave the goal.
For me, the decision was wrong. The rule is that if the player is interfering with play and offside, then a free kick should be awarded. Ramsay was clearly interfering with play, as he ran onto the ball, but as he was obviously offside the defenders were already walking away. I think Chelsea certainly got unlucky there.
It was end-to-end for the rest fo the half, with both sides creating good chances, especially Gary Cahill’s brilliant off-the-line clearance from Danny Welbeck’s effort. However, as the second-half progressed, Chelsea seemed more and more in control, until Nigerian Victor Moses made a silly attempt to win a penalty in the 69th minute, running along the corner of the 18-yard box and diving across the waistline of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Unfortunately for Moses, the referee was not convinced, and gave him a second booking, to reduce the blues to ten men.
Chelsea then, soon after, levelled it up, with Diego Costa taking down Willian’s high pass, and placing it into the bottom corner of the near post on the half-volley, via a deflection from Per Mertesacker. However, it only took Arsenal 3 minutes to respond, with Welshman Aaron Ramsay nodding in Oliver Giroud’s cross, sending The Gunners’ fans into pandemonium.
Arsenal’s win means that, with 13 FA Cup wins, they have won England’s oldest trophy more than any other side, an accolade that is truly impressive, but, after missing out on The Champions League for the first time in over two decades, has the season been a success? I think that Wenger has done well to win a trophy, which will certainly lessen some of the calls for him to go, but in the long term, two more years on his contract may not be the right decision. #WengerOut has gone viral this year, with signs popping up everywhere, from planes to Wrestlemania, so surely the owners will have to bow down to the fans at some point, as keeping him on when he is clearly not wanted will worsen their own relationships with the fans.
Wenger has announced that he will have “made his future clear” by Thursday, and has also made clear that he will be managing next season, whether it will be at Arsenal or not. Arsenal’s FA Cup win also means that Southampton will be automatically in The Europa League, because as Arsenal already had it by finishing 5th, United would have it, but United Already had The Champions League, and as United already had the EFL Cup, Everton already had it, meaning whichever side in 8th would qualify, in this case, it is Southampton.
What do you think about Arsenal’s season, was it a success, or a failure? Where do you think Arsene Wenger will be next season? Please feel free to add to the discussion in the comment section down below.
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Billy
In the dugout 