2016/17 was certainly an odd season.

Runs of invincibility were punctuated by periods of complete idiocy.

After many, many years watching Arsenal under Arsene Wenger, the season that just finished still threw up some amazing surprises.

Here are 14 of them…

Rob Holding

“I’m sorry that he didn’t cost £50m,” may well go down as one of Arsene Wenger’s best ever quotes.

Rob has been a revelation. Calm and assured, he plays like a defender twice his age while looking like one only half it.

Cemented himself as a fan favourite by calling Diego Costa a ‘f**king nutjob’ during the FA Cup final but, in truth, we loved him already by then.

Wenger changing formation

This was probably the biggest surprise of the season.

Desperate times called for desperate measures and by the time Wenger reached into his tactics bag and pulled out a back three there was very little left to lose.

It was a shaky start, but wins came allowing the side to grow confident in their new formation. Better than that, it allowed Wenger to start getting the best out of more of his squad, notably, Aaron Ramsey who finally brought his rampaging Wales form to an Arsenal shirt.

Lucas Perez

When he plays, he scores or assists, and while injuries kept him sidelined for large parts of the season, there was a period of a few months when every team sheet was a surprise because he was missing from it. One of the biggest surprises of the season was seeing him named on the bench for the final.

Per Mertesacker’s cup final performance

He hadn’t started a game all season and had played just a handful of  minutes. Per Mertesacker was the biggest concern ahead of the Chelsea cup final but ended up being our best player.

Solid, experienced, and with go-go-gadget legs, it was a model performance that Wenger rightly highlighted as one that should serve as a template for young players awaiting their chance – if you aren’t playing, train twice as hard.

Petr Cech’s form after injury

Let’s face it, we all thought Petr Cech was done as a top-class goalkeeper for large parts of the season but his form since his return from a calf strain has been impeccable….which leads us on to….

Wenger picking Ospina to play Chelsea in FA Cup final

Like, seriously, what the actual f**k?

Not making the top four

Over the past few years, there have been some things more dependable than rain in the summer. One of them was Arsenal’s ability to pull their sh*t together to make the top four.

Not this time.

And although they put in a valiant effort in the last set of games, the damage this time was too great.

Anthony Taylor in the cup final

Not only did he overrule his linesman to give Arsenal a goal, he also sent off Victor Moses.

Granted, he probably could have sent off around three Chelsea players for two yellows and didn’t, but it’s Anthony Taylor, let’s not be too fussy.

Jon Moss sending off Granit Xhaka…twice

Let’s face it, the first red card was just a total joke as Jon Moss made up some new rules in his head and the second just smacked of vendetta.

Many got away with worse, Granit gets away with nothing.

Losing to Watford at home

In a season of awful defeats, perhaps much can be said about Watford starting it all.

In truth, Arsenal had been poor since they lost to Everton and City in December, but the 2-1 home defeat by Watford was quickly followed by a 3-1 defeat at Chelsea, two 5-1 drubbings by Bayern, the 3-1 defeats at Liverpool and West Brom and the Crystal Palace debacle.

During that run, the only sides we could beat were non-league ones.

The Ox finally finding a position

He wants to play in the centre and aims to be Steven Gerrard one day, but the Ox has shone since he was stuck in a wing-back position and that could well be his role for the foreseeable future.

Olivier Giroud’s record from the bench

Giroud started just 11 Premier League games yet scored 12 goals and grabbed four assists.

That’s a goal involvement rate of a goal or assist every 74.6 minutes. Harry Kane, Golden Boot winner for Spurs, averages a goal involvement every 70, and he’s playing week in week out which, as we all know, helps players rather than hinders them.

Finishing below Spurs

I guess it had to happen sometime, especially after two decades above them. After all, even Leicester can win the league if everything goes for you.

It’s well worth noting, however, that Arsenal’s worst season in two decades ended with a trophy while Spurs’ best one in 50 years ended with them ‘pushing Chelsea’.

Hector Bellerin getting cornrows

Thankfully, this wasn’t an ongoing concern and he also seems to have got rid of the manbun.