So we move on to the 2007/08 and 2008/09 seasons, the second and third in our new stadium and the first without David Dein overseeing a transfer window.
2007/08 transfer window.
In:
* Lukasz Fabianski
* Eduardo
* Bacary Sagna
* Lassana Diarra (sold the following January)
* Håvard Nordtveit
Out:
* Fabrice Muamba
* Mart Poom
* Jeremie Aliadiere
* Thierry Henry
* Arturo Lupoli
* Freddie Ljunberg
* Jose Antonio Reyes
A few younger players left the club too. The most odd signing of the summer was without doubt, Lassana Diarra who joined on deadline day from Chelsea, but in January transferred to Portsmouth.
He said – _“I read that the club \[Arsenal\] wanted to keep me. But when you want to keep someone, you do it by playing them. This hasn’t been the case.”_
Arsenal’s Premier League campaign was going really well and it looked like we had a real opportunity to win the Premier League. By the end of February we were 6 points clear at the top with 12 games to go. Then we played Birmingham City at St Andrews. The game hadn’t been going long when Martin Taylor went in late on Eduardo. It was a bad one. Taylor was sent off, Eduardo’s season was over. Despite going behind, two goals from Theo Walcott gave us the lead. As the game went into stoppage time, Clichy was adjudged to have fouled Parnaby in the box. McFadden nicked his side a point from the spot. At the final whistle, Gallas through his toys out of the pram and from that moment on, our league challenge went downhill.
We ended the season in 3rd place behind Man Utd and Chelsea. We crashed out of both domestic cup competitions, which is all I say about that and Liverpool ended any hopes of a Champions League trophy after beating us 5-3 on aggregate, with a little help from the referee, at the quarter-final stage.
Arsenal as a team had played really well for much of the season but by the time the curtain fell on that 2007/08 campaign, I’m sure like every other fan, I was left with a “what should have been” feeling.
Into the 2008/09 season and the summer transfer window looked like this:
In:
* Aaron Ramsey
* Samir Nasri
* Mikael Silvestre
* Amaury Bischoff
* Andrey Arshavin – January transfer
Out:
* Gilberto Silva
* Alex Hleb
* Jens Lehmann
* Mathieu Flamini
* Justin Hoyte
Gilberto was a huge loss, Flamini and Hleb too although Ramsey and Nasri helped to soften the Hleb blow. Losing two defensive midfielders in one summer though was hard. The goalkeeper department left a lot to be desired really as neither Almunia or Fabianski were what I’d call great keepers. They both had moments of greatness but I always felt like each had a howler or two in them at some point during a game they played in. The defence in front of them wasn’t much better either, well, apart from Sagna. I don’t think identifying and signing top quality defenders was one of Arsene Wenger’s strengths. Sol Campbell aside of course.
Yet again we ended the season in Champions League spot, 4th place behind Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea. The FA Cup run ended at the semi-final stage after losing 2-1 to Chelsea, the League Cup run lasted until the quarter-final when Burnley beat us 2-0 and Man Utd ended our Champions League run at the semi-final stage.
Other big moments from the season was Cesc Fabregas replacing William Gallas as captain and then soon after, suffered a ligament injury which kept him out for four months and in the January, Jack Wilshere signed his first professional contract with the club. Theo Walcott extended his stay at the club too.
The end of the season marked yet another fruitless campaign for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal FC.
Next up, 2009/10 and 2010/11.
