Another season has come to an end, and the majority of Arsenal fans are pretty happy about that fact, given the way this one unfolded.

Overview

Despite reaching a League Cup final and a Europa League semi-final, the 2017/18 season is generally regarded as a big disappointment by supporters.

Finishing sixth and missing out on Champions League football (again) probably had a large part in that outlook, and the depressing way the team lay down for Manchester City and Atletico Madrid didn’t help much either.

It wasn’t all bad though. As well as those who dragged Arsenal down to the depths they reached this campaign, let’s take a look at the individuals who shone despite where the team ended up.

First we’ll review the goalkeepers, then the defence, midfield and forwards. After that we’ll assess the new signings, before finally looking at the academy players making the step up to the first team this year.

We’ll leave out players who left the club either permanently or on loan this season, and just focus on those who ended the year here.

Scale: 0-3 is Hopeless, 4-5 is Poor, 6 is Decent, 7-8 is Very Good, 9 is Excellent and 10 is Perfect.

First up: Goalkeepers

Goalkeepers

Petr Cech 4

For me, this was undoubtedly Cech’s worst season in an Arsenal shirt, and maybe his worst in his time in the Premier League. He still had a number of good games, but not enough to make up for all his mistakes.

The first half of the year wasn’t completely terrible, and he’d racked up 10 clean sheets by mid-December. He then got just two more from then until the end of the season, in all competitions.

Cech led the team in errors directly leading to goals, and in fact he led the league for most of the season in that category. He didn’t even make two saves for every goal he conceded.

In his defence, his distribution was generally very good, finding an Arsenal player 72% of the time. He helped us avoid humiliation in the North London derbies, and saved a Troy Deeney penalty. The rest was very forgettable.

David Ospina 5

Ospina’s game was littered with mistakes, as usual, but he did almost match Cech’s number of clean sheets from significantly fewer matches. Arguably that was only because he played against lower level opposition, where Arsenal weren’t put under as much pressure.

There were a few memorable moments though. The clean sheet at the San Siro, the first penalty save for Arsenal in years against Ostersund, and helping Arsene Wenger get a win in his final game in charge against Huddersfield.

It just wasn’t enough to make me completely forget the way he dived out of the way of Diego Costa’s shot in Madrid, or conceded four times to Nottingham Forest, or went down injured every 20 minutes in every game for an entire season.

Matt Macey 6

Matt Macey only got a couple of chances this season, but he made the most of them. The 23-year-old kept a clean sheet in his only Europa League game, and only conceded one goal to a one-on-one in the League Cup. For the u23s, he kept three clean sheets in six games.

Hopefully he’ll get more chances next season, or a loan somewhere else.

Next up: Defence

Defence

Hector Bellerin 6

Bellerin has had a much better season than most supporters give him credit for. Whilst he was never consistently one of Arsenal’s best performing players, he had a lot of good games, especially considering just how many he had to play.

The right-back was one of just two players in the entire squad to complete 4,000 minutes in all competitions. With a complete lack of quality alternatives, Arsenal relied on Bellerin to play week-in, week-out, all season. I’m sure if he had some competition and a rest every once in a while his performances would’ve improved.

As it was, he didn’t hit the heights of his early days in the first team. The Atletico Madrid tie summed it up, where he was one of the best players in the first leg, before struggling in the second playing his third 90 minutes in a week.

I expect more next season, but this was by no means as bad as some people on social media would have you believe.

Shkodran Mustafi 5.5

It’s impossible to know which Mustafi you’re going to get going into any particular match.

Will it be the one that starred in a win over Spurs at the Emirates, or the one at fault for United taking a 2-0 lead in 11 minutes? The Mustafi who got seven consecutive league clean sheets, or the one who didn’t keep another one from the start of December until mid-March?

I think there’s a good player in there, but it’s so difficult to tell. The way he let Southampton, CSKA and Newcastle players all get a run on him to score in a single week implies some serious defensive deficiencies, yet statistically he’s somehow one of the players of the season. We’ll see how he does under a new manager.

Laurent Koscielny 4.5

Like Cech, Koscielny is a top quality player, who had a poor season. He played pretty well before the turn of the year, but the longer the campaign went on the more he struggled with injuries, and the more his performances deteriorated.

What made it worse was that he let the team down in the big moments. He didn’t do enough in the League Cup final, he was completely at fault in the Europa League semi-final first leg, and although there’s nothing he could’ve done to prevent his injury in the second leg, it just emphasised that Arsenal can’t rely on him anymore.

Koscielny is a very talented defender, but his body is letting him down and Arsenal need to prepare to move on. That said, we wish him the best of luck with his recovery, and hopefully he can come back at the same level as in previous campaigns.

Nacho Monreal 7.5

Whilst everyone around him in defence was having a difficult season, Monreal shone, for the most part. He started the season very well, and bar one mistake against Everton he was the clear front-runner for player of the season. A particular highlight was his goal-line clearance against West Brom.

The second half of the campaign was a bit more hit and miss, with injuries limiting his game time and a few more defensive errors, but he made up for it with a number of goals and assists.

Overall, a good season that cemented his position as a fan favourite. He still has more goals than Alexis Sanchez since the Chilean’s last game for Arsenal, which is nice too.

Calum Chambers 6

Chambers is another player on the long list of defenders whose injury problems disrupted their season. It took until December for him to really get fit and into the team.

After that he had a good season, when he played at centre-back. When he started at right-back, Arsenal lost three of their four matches, to Brighton, Newcastle, and Koln. That’s no coincidence. Arsenal need to buy a proper right-back and stop entertaining the idea that Chambers should play there.

Rob Holding 6

Holding had a good season in general, but didn’t play as much as I’m sure he would’ve liked. In fact he didn’t play a single league minute in November and December, despite the busy fixture list.

He was part of a solid League Cup defence that only conceded one goal in four matches, including keeping a clean sheet at Stamford Bridge. Then he didn’t make the squad for the second-leg and the final, and Arsenal conceded four goals.

Unfortunately he also has the stain of that performance against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup on his record, and he really didn’t have a good game that day. He also played 90 minutes in the 4-0 against Liverpool, and was on the pitch for all six of Leicester’s goals against Arsenal this season.

In general, he had a promising season, but clearly there’s still work to be done before he makes the starting eleven on a more permanent basis.

Per Mertesacker 5

Mertesacker only played a very small part on the pitch this season, making 12 appearances in all competitions, and only two of those in 2018. His final start came in the defeat to Nottingham Forest, and despite scoring I think that game spelled the end for his playing career.

Thankfully he got one last run out against Burnley, and the fans gave him the send off his career deserved. He was a top defender over the years, but couldn’t show it for Arsenal anymore. Still, I’m sure his impact in the dressing room and on the training pitches was very valuable, and I’m glad he’ll head the academy next season.

Next up: Midfield

Midfield

Aaron Ramsey 8

For me, Ramsey was Arsenal’s player of the season, if you only include those who were here all year. 11 goals and 12 assists is a fantastic return from a midfielder, especially in a team that often didn’t play very well.

11 of those goal contributions came in 2017, with the other 12 in 2018, so despite what I’ve seen some people say on social media, it wasn’t just a case of him turning up at the end of the season.

He scored and assisted in key matches, such as three times in the Milan tie, three times in the Europa League quarter-final, and when Arsenal were behind against both Manchester clubs. The only blemish on his campaign was another hamstring injury in December, and the fact his efforts weren’t enough to help the team achieve their goals.

Granit Xhaka 6.5

Xhaka finished the season very strongly, with hardly a single poor performance in the final few months. Conversely, he started poorly, and for a while it looked like he was never going to find his best form.

It’s hard to know exactly why that is, but my guess is that the formation change allowed him to reach his potential in the more recent matches.

The midfielder played in every single league game in 2017/18, the only player to do so. He made 48 appearances in all competitions, and cleaned up his act by avoiding a single red card or yellow card suspension.

He stepped up his big game goal contributions as well, with a goal and assist against Chelsea, goals against Milan and Liverpool, and an assist against Manchester United. It’s just a shame the start of the season was so bad, or he’d have a much higher rating.

Jack Wilshere 5

Wilshere didn’t make a convincing case for himself this season, in my opinion. He started well, impressing in his cameos as he returned from injury, but the more game-time he got the less he looked like he really deserved it.

Now at the end of the campaign, I’m struggling to remember his last really good performance.

He played well against Chelsea in January, so that might be it. He wasn’t bad against Atletico Madrid in the first leg, but like the rest of the team he failed to capitalise on the fact they were up against 10 men for almost the entire match. In the second leg he was terrible.

Wilshere is a perfectly capable squad player, and when he was in form in the first half of the season he was exciting to watch. The fact he’s now fit and still might not make the England squad says it all about the last few months though.

Mohamed Elneny 6

Unlike many members of the squad, Elneny grew into this campaign the longer it went on, before an unfortunate injury ruled him out of the final matches. He never played particularly poorly, even early on, but he definitely started to get a bit more adventurous in the final months.

His star performance was away in Moscow, where two lovely assists killed a dangerous looking comeback from the hosts. Unfortunately that was also his final appearance in the competition, and Arsenal lost in the next round. Similarly, he played every round of the League Cup until the 3-0 defeat in the final.

I’m glad he signed a new contract, and his enthusiasm for Arsenal will hopefully keep morale high in the dressing room and among the fans, whatever happens next season.

Santi Cazorla N/A

Didn’t play a single minute this season, but his return to training at the end of the campaign was a nice moment for fans and the player himself.

Next up: Forwards

Forwards

Danny Welbeck 6

Welbeck had a pretty standard season. He scored 10 goals, with a few of them coming at key times like the winner in the League Cup quarter-final, and three goals in three games in the Europa League knockout rounds before Atletico Madrid.

On the other hand, he had massive droughts, for example not scoring in the league between September 9th and April 8th.

Nonetheless, his work when not in front of goal was generally good, and he made a decent back up option.

Mesut Özil 6.5

This wasn’t Özil’s best campaign by any means, but the last month or so has made everyone forget how good he was at times.

From 2nd October to 27th December he scored or assisted in every single league win he played in. He also scored to give Arsenal the lead against Liverpool, but that one ended up in a draw. The rest of the team didn’t carry him to a result once during that period.

There were bad moments too, particularly the League Cup final and the Atletico Madrid tie, but by the end of the season he was clearly playing through an injury when he did start matches. Before that he’d been excellent in the Europa League, with goal contributions in every round until the semi-final.

The statistics show that it was one of his better seasons creatively, even if it clearly wasn’t on the scoring front. Hopefully he can improve on that aspect of his game next season.

Alex Iwobi 4.5

Iwobi didn’t make much progress this season, but he still reached double figures for goals plus assists despite a difficult campaign. His shooting needs a lot of work, but players as young as him have the odd off-season. He only turned 22 this month after all.

He improved in the final month of the campaign, getting a couple of assists against Southampton and a nice goal against Burnley. Now it’s just about building on those sorts of performances and putting them in more regularly.

Next up: New Signings

New Signings

Henrikh Mkhitaryan 7.5

Mkhitaryan made a good start to life with Arsenal. He plays intelligently, and the team always look better with him in it.

The former Manchester United man scored three goals and assisted six in his first few months with the club. He works hard defensively when necessary and he seems to have a good attitude towards the problems facing the team. A badly timed injury made him a big miss when they played Atletico Madrid.

He hasn’t been perfect though. His passing can be a little sloppy, he shouldn’t have given away a penalty against Leicester, and he really struggled against Tottenham and Manchester City. Hopefully those were just teething problems.

Sead Kolasinac 5.5

Kolasinac’s season started out excellently. By mid-September he had scored against Koln and Chelsea, assisted against Leicester and Bournemouth, and won the fans over with his tough tackling style. It didn’t last, and by December Arsene Wenger even preferred to pick Maitland-Niles at left-back over him.

It was only Monreal’s injury problems that eventually let the Bosnian back into the team on a more regular basis, and he never looked as confident in a back four. Defensively he needs work, even if he does provide a threat at the other end. Also, he’s often a bit wayward with his passing.

Things started to look up in the final matches though, with a couple of decent performances.

Konstantinos Mavropanos 6.5

Mavropanos really caught the eye with his first-team debut at Old Trafford, and confident follow up performance against Burnley. Those showings only built on the good work he’d already been doing with the youth teams.

Then he made one mistake against Leicester, failing to control a ball and then hauling Iheanacho down. Graham Scott made a poor decision to send him off, but it was still Mavropanos’ error that gave the referee the opportunity. Hopefully he’ll learn from that.

Alexandre Lacazette 7

Overall, a very solid first season in England for the Frenchman. He started well, with 8 goals and an assist in his first 15 games, but then struggled in the middle of the campaign until he had to undergo knee surgery in February.

At that point fans were starting to have doubts about him, but he came back with a bang, and scored eight goals in his last 10 games. His partnership with Aubameyang looks particularly exciting for next season.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 9

What a signing Aubameyang is looking. He didn’t play his first game for Arsenal until February, and was cup-tied for the Europa League campaign, yet still managed to score 10 goals and provide four assists.

His movement is world class, and his finishing is just as clinical. He has the highest conversion rate in the Premier League this season (minimum five goals), with 32%.

The striker brings out the best in his teammates, linking up with Mkhitaryan and Lacazette on multiple occasions. He also inspired the French striker’s impressive end of season run of form by gifting him a penalty to get him going, even though Aubameyang was on a hat-trick himself.

He doesn’t get a 10 because he didn’t manage a goal against the big-six sides, but in his defence he played in some pretty terrible team performances against City and Spurs, and with a bunch of kids against United. Also the assistant referee has to take some of the blame for his incorrect flag in the North London derby.

As long as he puts that right as soon as possible next season, he’s an early Golden Boot contender for sure.

Next up: Youth

Youth

Ainsley Maitland-Niles 8

This was Maitland-Niles’ breakthrough campaign, and he grasped the opportunity with both hands. He had to play at left-back, left-wing-back, centre-back (in pre-season), right-back and central midfield throughout 2017/18, and I could name at least a good performance or two in every one of those positions.

Overall he made 28 senior appearances, and really developed as the season went on. He ran the show against a Manchester United midfield containing heavyweights like Matic and Pogba. It wasn’t a faultless campaign, but you couldn’t ask for much more from a 20-year-old making his first ever starts at Premier League level.

Joshua Dasilva 6

Josh Dasilva had a fantastic campaign for the u23s, but only played 59 minutes for the first team, and this is a first-team player ratings article after all. He didn’t look out of place in his limited minutes on the pitch, and helped Arsenal to three wins in the League Cup.

Joe Willock 7

Willock had a very good campaign, transitioning slowly from the u23s to the first team. He made the most of his Europa League chances, and his star performance for me came in the League Cup quarter-final against West Ham.

The midfielder also played well against Manchester United at Old Trafford, but was a bit more shaky on his debut against Newcastle. Whenever he dropped down to the youth teams he played well, and helped them to the Premier League 2 title along with Dasilva, Nelson and Nketiah.

Reiss Nelson 7

Nelson is stuck in a bit of an awkward stage where he’s clearly much too good for the u23s, but not good enough to nail down the spot he wants in the first team. As a result he had to play out of position for the majority of his 16 senior appearances, and couldn’t get off the mark in the goalscoring department.

He showed promise in spells, but hasn’t had that one big performance that announces him to the world just yet. At academy level he has them every week, and managed 12 goal contributions in 11 PL2 games this season. If he can transfer half of that to the first team he’ll be a regular in no time.

Eddie Nketiah 7.5

Nketiah has had his big moment, scoring twice to help Arsenal come from behind to beat Norwich City. He didn’t get many more chances for the first team this season though, and still only has 127 minutes in total. A good loan next season could really get him ready for the top level.

Similar to Nelson, he is simply too good for the u23s. 12 goals and 2 assists in 13 PL2 games this season doesn’t flatter him at all. There’s no point him continuing at that level next year. Arsenal would probably win the Premier League 2 title again, but he can’t make any further progress up against academy players.

That’s it. Hopefully next season the ratings will improve as Arsenal win a trophy or two and get back into the Champions League, but we’ll have to wait and see.