The five most memorable moments of Arsenal's season so far

From the North London Derby defeat, to the harrowing home loss to Manchester United, to the early League Cup exit, to the recent Champions League annihilation. There’s been plenty of schadenfreude for neutrals to indulge in at Arsenal’s expense this season. Yet, the silver lining is this: Arsenal sit third in the Barclays Premier League, their quest to defend their F.A. Cup remains strong and, yes, their Champions League campaign may be hanging by a thread, but a two-goal deficit is certainly one that can be overturned.

Alexis Sanchez has sparkled during his debut season, Santi Cazorla has returned from his year sabbatical to emulate the form he showed in his first season for the Gunners, and there’s been several individuals moments for the Arsenal faithful to revel in.

So, without further ado, here are my top five memorable moments from Arsenal’s season so far:

5) Alexis Sanchez’s thunderbolt against Manchester City — September 13th 2014

Headed aloft by Jack Wilshere, the Chilean, in only his second home league start for the Gunners, peeled off the back of Manchester City full-back Pablo Zabelta to blast the ball with the inside of his foot high and out of the reach of Joe Hart in goals. It was elegant. The power generated with the inside of his right-boot was simply inconceivable at first, and still is five months on.

Although City later went onto equalise, the split-second of brilliance from the winger provided Arsenal fans with a taster of what was later to come from the Chilean.

4) The late resurgence in Belgium — October 22nd 2014

“Sometimes you have to be a little bit lucky and today was the day,” remarked Lukas Podolski after Arsenal had left it to the dying embers of the game to snatch a crucial victory in Anderlecht.

Arsene Wenger’s side were already experiencing a turbulent time in the Premier League before they travelled to Anderlecht in Matchday 3 of the Champions League, and their state looked set to worsen after Andy Najar headed Anderlecht into the lead 20 minutes from time.

Jack Wilshere described the game as not one of Arsenal’s “prettiest performances” and his view was echoed by many Gooners. Arsenal were feeding on scraps for the large chunks of the game and the Belgian champions had them rattled.

However, Arsenal were adamant on giving Arsene Wenger something to cheer about on his 65th birthday and they stayed true to their word courtesy of late strikes from Kieran Gibbs and Lukas Podolski.

Calum Chambers sent a deep-cross to the far-stick where the England international was waiting to pounce and he met the ball with both conviction and precision to pull Arsenal level.

Arsenal had seemingly gotten themselves out of jail by salvaging a point where none seemed possibly, but Podolski’s injury-time strike ensured that Arsenal would return to London with all three. Alexis Sanchez’s low-drive cross fell to the feet of the ex-Cologne man who rifled his effort into the roof of the net to send the travelling contingent into ecstasy.

3) A Turkish delight from Aaron Ramsey — December 8th 2014

Let’s be frank, the Welshman has been a shadow of the player that he was in last season’s F.A. Cup winning season. Injuries, a change of system and a goalscoring drought have all converged to prevent Ramsey from replicating his stellar 2013/14 campaign. Yet, in a meaningless Champions League encounter against Galatasaray, the midfielder underlined the audacity and sheer talent he possesses that was enough to crown him Arsenal’s player of the season last campaign.

A simple headed-out corner fell on the half-volley to the Welshmen who needed no invitation to leather the ball with his weak-foot from 25-yards. The sheer power generated on the strike caused the ball to rocket upwards eventually landing in the top-corner of the Galatasaray ‘keeper Sinan Bolat’s net.

“I have seen the goal back and it is definitely the best I have scored.

Before that, it was probably the volley at Norwich. As soon as I hit it, I thought it had a chance and thankfully it went into the top corner.”

Ramsey

Hell, even the Daily Mail had a bash at trying to conjure up an explanation for the goal:

Source: Daily Mail

In fact, hop onto Youtube, type “Aaron R” into the search box and take a glance at the dropdown options. That’ll reveal to you the sheer magnitude of the strike.

2) Danny Welbeck’s hat-trick against Galatasaray — October 1st 2014

His first, an elegant little toe-poke through Fernando Muslera’s legs. His second, a blend of pace and power and lovely finessed finish to round it off. His third, a beautiful dink following a defence-splitting pass from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Welbeck raced away in jubilation as he had not only sealed three vital points for the Gunners, but he had also become only the third player in Arsenal’s history to net a hat-trick in a Champions League tie – joining the likes of Thierry Henry and Nicklas Bendtner.

“Honestly, I knew he was quick but he can be electric when he starts,” said Wenger in his post-match interview. Indeed, Galatasaray looked disjointed from the get-go but Welbeck’s pace had the back three of the Turkish side rattled. Supplemented by the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Özil, Welbeck gave the Arsenal crowd reasons to be optimistic heading into their weekend encounter with Chelsea.

The hat-trick did, naturally, draw collective derision towards Manchester United. Welbeck had been allowed to join Arsenal as he was seen as surplus to requirements, yet he had already exceeded Radamel Falcao’s goal-record in a United shirt in one night.

From back to front, Arsenal were sound – barring Szczesny’s dismissal. It was the forward’s first hat-trick in his professional career, and one that had helped Arsenal to a memorable Champions League victory.

1) A Santi masterclass against the champions — January 18th 2015

Perhaps a dubious decision given that collectively Arsenal were outstanding, but Santi Cazorla put in one of his most memorable performances in an Arsenal shirt in certainly one of the toughest place Arsenal would have to visit all season.

Francis Coquelin’s emergence in defensive midfield may have been the prominent story in the newspapers the following morning, however Cazorla’s dazzling feet coupled with the determination he exhibited will be a showing applauded for years to come.

Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp described it as “one of the best individual performances of the season”, Thierry Henry added that Cazorla was the player that “makes Arsenal tick” after the game, Aaron Ramsey told reporters that the Spaniard was a “magician” and expressed his bewilderment at the situations he can wriggle himself out of due to his peerless dribbling qualities, and mostly importantly, Arsene Wenger remarked that he was “an example for the young players of today”.

Flattering indeed, yet the praise was undeniably warranted. Arsenal had broken their big-game hoodoo and Cazorla was the orchestrator. The result will live long in the memory of Arsenal fans for various reasons, and it’s a tale that cannot be told without reference to the Spaniards performance.