The Top Ten best Arsenal moments of the decade..

Continuing my series with the theme of the last decade, I have decided to our Top Ten best Arsenal moments of 2010-2019. Put yours in the comments and let me know what topic you like me to cover next.

Be kind in the comments.

#10 14-2-16 ‘Where Seasons Are Won Or Lost’
Be honest, how many times since we have moved to the Emirates have you felt we were going to win the title? That’s the rare feeling we got when Danny Welbeck headed in a stoppage time winner? We were 1-0 down to League leaders Leicester at half time which would have seen us fall 5 points behind. Our winner felt like one of those moments where you look back on and say that was when the title was won. It should have been… It remains our biggest chance to win a Premiership since leaving Highbury and goes down as a massive chance missed. Just for a day it was nice to believe..

9- Van Persie Hat-trick at Stamford Bridge – 2010-11
Our only win at The Bridge this decade, ironically, was with one of, if not the worst squads we have ever had. I have often said never have we owed more to one player then this season, as Van Persie’s 30 goals ensured Champions League Football for a side who didn’t deserve it. When I look back at his hat trick here, I maintain it would have been a travesty if he didn’t win a Premiership title medal. He felt the owners didn’t have the ambition to make that happen and to be fair to him has he been proven wrong?

8- We got Ozil! 3-9-13
He may have divided opinion but at the time, everyone was quite excited the day we signed Ozil. Even at our most successful period we just didn’t make signings you ever heard of. It would usually be a French or African youngster we would turn into a superstar; here we were getting one of the most well-known players in the world. It was a signing for the wrong reasons, a PR exercise by our board after failing to get Suarez. A 3-1 defeat at home to Villa left the owners with no choice but to splash the cash, even if it wasn’t in a position, we needed cover in. Fans camped outside the stadium late, not believing the news until it was announced as a reality.

7- Dare To Dream – 16-2-11
Just for a moment it looked like Arsene Wenger was on the verge of creating another special team. The night we played Barcelona, we were top of the league, in the 6th round of the FA Cup and had a League Cup Final booked. It was a case of not if but how many trophies we would win?

History of course tells us we lost to Birmingham and mentally fell apart from there. But for one night it was nice to see us go toe with toe the cream of Europe, just like we were promised would happen once we left Highbury. Of course, we had to ride our luck, we were against the best team of my lifetime, but we scored two goals that just for the moment seemed to justify Mr Wenger’s football philosophy

6- North London’s Still Red 26-2-12
Don’t get me wrong there is many times over the last 10 years we have beaten Spurs but there was something extra special to this win. The media couldn’t wait to claim there had been a shift in North London, with pundits beginning to claim zero Arsenal players would make a combined 11. This was despite Spurs yet to win anything during their golden period (they still haven’t), a slap in the face to everything Arsene Wenger ever achieved. When Spurs raced into a 2-0 lead, they were set to move 15 points ahead of us. 5 goals later, we never looked back, finishing ahead of them and qualifying for the CL.

5- Wenger Has Left The Building 20-4-18
Whether you disrespected the man to grow your YouTube channel, or you were accused of having too much faith, everyone will remember where they were when Arsene Wenger announced he was leaving Arsenal. For many, including myself, we grew up with him as manger. To suddenly be without him suddenly made me feel very old. Having one boss for two decades is something that will never happen again. Even if you thought it was the right time for the Frenchman to depart it hurt to have someone who truly loved us walk away.

4- Legend Returns 9-1-12
During the MLS close season Thierry Henry was asked to return on loan for a couple of months. To many it was a decision of our board, finding the cheapest way possible to make our squad stronger. The even more cynical accused this of being purely a marketable strategy, a way to sell a few more shirts.

I was at the Leeds FA Cup tie, where the selling point was hopefully seeing the legend come off the bench. When he did it was the loudest, I have ever heard the Emirates. When he scored a few minutes later, grown adults near me were crying, the emotion of the occasion catching up with everyone.

3- Arsenal Retain Cup-30-5-15
Take a look at the history of the FA Cup and Finals are simply never meant to be this straightforward. Villa fans were thanking Tim Sherwood for saving the club by introducing young British talent who were being hyped up by the media. The way we gave a complete team performance under such under high pressure led many to believe our team was ready to kick on and be champions …not quite of course….

2- BFG Final 27-5-17
It’s perhaps a sign how far we had fallen that we had been considered such big underdogs for this FA Cup Final. A week earlier Chelsea had been confirmed as Champions the same season where we finished outside the top 4 for the first time under Arsene Wenger. When Koscielny got suspended in the same game that Gabriel got injured, even the most optimistic gooner was worried about our chances.

We were relying on Mertesacker to carry a makeshift back line with the German having been on the side-lines all year. He would play so well it’s now known as the BFG Final. Given how badly we had played away from the Emirates the fact we could play so well on this day kind of contradicted our whole campaign.

1- End Of Trophy Drought 17-5-14
Our 9-year trophy drought was becoming a psychological cloud over the whole club. It meant we couldn’t enjoy any aspect of this FA Cup campaign. When the semi-final saw us drawn against Wigan, with the winner to face Hull or Sheffield United it was clear that if we didn’t win silverware from that situation, it might mentally set back these group of players by years.

Typical of Arsenal we made it as difficult for ourselves as possible, only beating Wigan on penalties then finding ourselves 2-0 down in the opening 10 minutes of the Final. We came back to win 3-2, meaning you couldn’t enjoy an aspect of it, the moment the final whistle went you just escaped in exhaustion.

What would be your top ten best Arsenal moments of the last ten years?

Dan Smith