Ranking Arsenal’s five best players of the 2015/16 season

It’s coming to that time at the end of the season when we start to assess who have been our best players, who needs to improve, who has no future and where we can strengthen.

It’s been a season of two halves for Arsenal after a blistering start which promised so much slowly began to slip away from the start of 2016. We led the Premier League until January, but now face a battle to secure Champions League football which shows just how far we’ve slipped off the pace.

On the whole there’s very few Gunners who have been consistently good for the entire season. Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey were excellent at the start of the season, as was Francis Coquelin, but they have all had a poor 2016 after dips in form and returning from injuries – particularly Giroud and Walcott who only have two Premier League goals between then since November.

Joel Campbell has kicked on well and put in some great performances of late after initially flattering to deceive and the likes of the Ox, Nacho Monreal, Gabriel and Laurent Koscielny have had been solid if unspectacular. In the past few weeks you have to give a special mention to Mo Elneny, Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi who have freshened up the side and given us a spark, but obviously weren’t involved for much of the season.

Here I had a look through the squad to rank our five best players over this season on the whole. Agree with me? Let us know in the comments.

Hit the image below to see the FIVE best Arsenal players of the season!

5. Santi Cazorla

Controversial as the Spaniard has missed half the season due to injury, but he still makes my top five for his almost flawless performances in the first half alone.

The Spaniard’s conversion to central midfield was a masterstroke and alongside Francis Coquelin he had a superb start to the season pulling the strings from midfield and had some of his best performances in an Arsenal shirt.

If he had stayed fit, things would be very different to how they are now and his injury has to go down as one of the key reasons we lost so much momentum after Christmas.

4. Alexis Sanchez

Another debatable inclusion with him suffering from poor form and some stick after his return from injury in Autumn, but we can’t forget his contribution on the whole.

He scored a hat-trick against eventual champions Leicester and his performance and brace against Man United in our 3-0 demolition of them is worth a place in this side on its own. He’s worked hard all term, and although he hasn’t managed the goal haul he did last season, he has had a resurgence at a crucial time for us and is back to goal scoring form with four goals in his last five matches in the run in.

It’s not been his best season or one he’ll want to remember in a hurry, but he still deserves his place on this list.

3. Peter Cech

What a debut season Peter Cech has had between the sticks after his move across London. The big Czech keeper has slotted into the club superbly and has saved plenty of points for us this term with some crucial saves in big games.

He’s a fantastic presence in the defence and he’s shown just how important it is to have a world-class and experienced keeper at the back. Here’s hoping next season he will get some silverware with us.

2. Hector Bellerin

The young Spaniard has had a great season and deserves all the credit he’s received this term. He will be gutted he couldn’t help us win a trophy, but he can be proud that he made the PFA Team of The Year and can safely bank on being a big player for us next season.

He displaced Debuchy in no time this term and with his unbelievable pace and menace going forward from the full-back position, he has put himself on footballing map as one of the best right-backs in Europe. Let’s hope he can push and repeat his form in 2017 (and that Barcelona don’t try to sign him back in the summer.)

1. Mesut Ozil

Ozil was branded by many pundits a lazy luxury in his first two seasons after his £42m move, but his critics are eating their words now after the German has stepped up to have one of the best seasons of his career.

He’s been by far and away our best and most consistent player this term and of all people, will be the most frustrated with the teams capitulation because his individual performances have been sublime and well worthy of the title. He’s created an amazing amount of chances for his teammates – beating the all-time record for chances created and the fastest consecutive assists record in Premier League history and is only two away from equalling Henry’s all-time assist record.

There was sadly no place for him in the PFA Team of the Year, but Gooners will always remember his contribution this season and thank him for it. He’s been truly superb.