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2017–18 Arsenal F.C. season

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Arsenal
2017–18 season
ChairmanSir Chips Keswick
ManagerArsène Wenger
StadiumEmirates Stadium
Premier League5th
FA CupThird round
EFL CupThird round
Europa LeagueGroup stage
Community ShieldWinners
Top goalscorerLeague:
Aaron Ramsey
Alexandre Lacazette
Olivier Giroud
Danny Welbeck (all 1)

All:
Aaron Ramsey
Alexandre Lacazette
Olivier Giroud
Danny Welbeck
Sead Kolašinac (all 1)

The 2017–18 season is Arsenal's 26th in the Premier League and 98th consecutive season in the top flight of English football.[1] The club will participate in the Premier League, the FA Cup (as holders), the EFL Cup, the UEFA Europa League and the Community Shield.

This will be the first season that Arsenal will not be participating in the UEFA Champions League since 1997–98. It will be the first time they have played in the UEFA Europa League since its rebranding, having last participated in the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup. The season covers the period from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018.

Review

July

Arsenal made their first summer signing on 6 June, getting Sead Kolašinac for free on 1 July after his Schalke contract expired. Also, on 5 July, Arsenal were manage to secure a deal for a previous target, Alexandre Lacazette from Lyon for an undisclosed price believed to be about £46.5 million. Arsenal then took a 25-man squad to play in Australia. The squad included seven Under 23s including Reiss Nelson and Joe Willock plus both of the new signings. The first match was on 13 July, which was a 2-0 win over Sydney FC where the captain, Mertesacker scored an overhead kick and Lacazette scored a debut goal after coming on as a sub. Two days afterwards, Arsenal faced a second Sydney side, Western Sydney Wanderers in front of 83,000 people. Arsenal won 3-1 after first half goals from Giroud, Ramsey and Elneny. Arsenal then jetted off to China to face Bayern Munich in Shanghai in the International Champions Cup. Iwobi scored an equaliser in the dying seconds of the game, which Arsenal won on penalties 3-2. The 25-man squad travelled up to Beijing to face Premier League rivals, Chelsea. Unfortunately, it was a pretty convincing win for the Blues, who netted three times. On 29 and 30 July, the Emirates Cup took place. Arsenal, Benfica, RB Leipzig and Sevilla all took part in the tournament which Arsenal won after a 5-2 win over Benfica but a 2-1 loss to Sevilla. Over the tournament, Walcott was the top scorer with 2 goals, both against Benfica. Giroud and Iwobi also scored one each against Benfica and Lacazette scored one past Sevilla.

Played 6, Won 4, Drew 0, Lost 2, Scored 12, Conceded 9

August

Arsenal concluded their pre-season in the Community Shield, the traditional curtain raiser in English football. New signing Alexandre Lacazette hit the post on his competitive debut in a first half that saw Per Mertesacker replaced after a facial injury, with new signing Sead Kolasinac making his competitive debut as Mertesacker's replacement. After an end to end first half that yielded no goals, Chelsea took an early second half lead through Victor Moses, his close range strike coming from a poorly defended corner. Several saved shots made it appear Arsenal were going to suffer defeat, until a rash challenge from Chelsea winger Pedro saw him sent off. The resulting free kick was headed in by Kolasinac, for a debut goal, and forced a penalty shootout. Arsenal were victorious 4-1 through goals from Theo Walcott, Nacho Monreal, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Olivier Giroud, with Thibaut Courtois and Alvaro Morata missing penalties in the shootout that introduced the ABBA format. The result secured Arsenal's third shield in four seasons.

Arsenal kicked off their league campaign at home to Leicester City, with the Gunners having lost their last two openers, both at home to West Ham and Liverpool. The record looked to be extended when Jamie Vardy and Shinji Okazaki scored for the Foxes after a record equaling 94th second opener from new signing Lacazette, opening his league debut with his first competitive Arsenal goal with only his second touch of the game. Danny Welbeck drew Arsenal level in the last minute of first half stoppage time, but Vardy netted a second ten minutes into the second half to put Leicester ahead once more. The Gunners looked set to lose their first game to the Foxes since 1994 when the final ten minutes approached, but a five minute period of pressure yielded two goals from Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud to make it 4-3, which the Gunners held onto for only their second opening day victory since 2012.

Players

Squad information

N
Pos.
Nat.
Name
Age
EU
Since
App
Goals
Ends
Transfer fee
Notes
2 DF France Mathieu Debuchy 39 EU 2014 23 1 2019 £12M
3 DF England Kieran Gibbs 35 EU 2007 230 6 2018 Youth system
4 DF Germany Per Mertesacker 40 EU 2011 211 8 2018 £8M Club captain
6 DF France Laurent Koscielny 39 EU 2010 291 22 2020 £8.5M Vice captain
7 FW Chile Alexis Sánchez 35 Non-EU 2014 145 72 2018 £30M
8 MF Wales Aaron Ramsey 33 EU 2008 298 48 2018 £4.8M
9 FW France Alexandre Lacazette 33 EU 2017 2 1 2022 £46.5M
10 MF England Jack Wilshere 32 EU 2008 159 12 2018 Youth system
11 MF Germany Mesut Özil 36 EU 2013 163 32 2018 £42.5M
12 FW France Olivier Giroud 38 EU 2012 229 99 2019 £12.8M
13 GK Colombia David Ospina 36 Non-EU 2014 50 0 2019 £3.2M
14 FW England Theo Walcott 35 EU 2006 (Winter) 383 104 2019 £9M
15 MF England Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 31 EU 2011 196 20 2018 £12M
16 DF England Rob Holding 29 EU 2016 20 0 2020 £2M
17 FW Nigeria Alex Iwobi 28 Non-EU 2015 60 6 2020 Youth system
18 DF Spain Nacho Monreal 38 EU 2013 (Winter) 176 3 2019 £8.5M
19 MF Spain Santi Cazorla 39 EU 2012 180 29 2018 £12M
20 DF Germany Shkodran Mustafi 32 EU 2016 37 2 2021 £35M
21 DF England Calum Chambers 29 EU 2014 60 3 2020 £16M
22 MF France Jeff Reine-Adélaïde 26 EU 2016 8 0 2019 Youth system
23 FW England Danny Welbeck 33 EU 2014 71 18 2019 £16M
24 DF Spain Héctor Bellerín 29 EU 2013 117 4 2023 Youth system
25 DF England Carl Jenkinson 32 EU 2011 62 1 2018 £1M
27 FW Costa Rica Joel Campbell 32 Non-EU 2011 41 4 2018 £0.9M
28 FW Spain Lucas 36 EU 2016 21 7 2020 £17.1M
29 MF Switzerland Granit Xhaka 32 EU 2016 48 4 2021 £30M
30 MF England Ainsley Maitland-Niles 27 EU 2014 10 0 Youth system
31 DF Bosnia and Herzegovina Sead Kolašinac 31 EU 2017 2 1 2022 Free
32 FW England Chuba Akpom 29 EU 2013 10 0 2019 Youth system
33 GK Czech Republic Petr Čech 42 EU 2015 81 0 2019 £10M Third captain
34 MF France Francis Coquelin 33 EU 2008 148 0 2021 Youth system
35 MF Egypt Mohamed Elneny 32 Non-EU 2016 (Winter) 43 1 2020 £7.4M
40 DF England Cohen Bramall 28 EU 2017 0 0 Youth system
61 MF England Reiss Nelson 24 EU 2017 1 0 Youth system
69 MF England Joseph Willock 25 EU 2017 0 0 Youth system
FW Japan Takuma Asano 30 Non-EU 2016 0 0 £0.8M On loan at Stuttgart
  • Last updated: 18 August 2017
  • Source: Arsenal F.C. and footballdatabase.com (for EU passport, country as international player, contract ending and transfer fee)
  • Ordered by squad number.

Transfers

Transfers in

Arsenal's announced their first summer signing, Sead Kolašinac, on 6 June 2017. The left-back arrived on a free transfer when his contract at Schalke 04 expired.[2] He was joined by Alexandre Lacazette just under a month later, who joined from Lyon for a reported club-record fee of £46.5 million on 5 July.[3]

# Position Player Transferred from Fee Date Team Source
31 DF Bosnia and Herzegovina Sead Kolašinac Germany Schalke 04 Free transfer 6 June 2017 First team [4]
9 FW France Alexandre Lacazette France Lyon Undisclosed (~£46,500,000) 5 July 2017 [5]

Transfers out

Arsenal released Yaya Sanogo, Stefan O'Connor, Kostas Pileas, and Kristopher da Graca on 9 June 2017. Sanogo's four year stay only included 11 league appearances for the club, while O'Connor, Pileas, and da Graca never appeared for the first team.[6] Academy product Chris Willock joined Benfica on June 30 upon the expiry of his contract, signing a five-year deal.[7] Kaylen Hinds, another academy product, departed the club on 8 July, joining VfL Wolfsburg for £2.5 million, on a three year deal.[8] Additional reserve players, Glen Kamara and Daniel Crowley, also departed the club to join Dundee and Willem II, respectively.[9][10] Wojciech Szczęsny, who amassed over 150 appearances for the club during an eight year stay, joined Italian champions Juventus for £10 million after a two-year loan at Roma expired.[11]

# Position Player Transferred to Fee Date Team Source
22 FW France Yaya Sanogo France Toulouse Free transfer (Released) 9 June 2017 First team [12][a]
52 DF England Stefan O'Connor England Newcastle United Reserves [14][b]
76 Cyprus Kostas Pileas Cyprus Anorthosis Famagusta [16][c]
42 Sweden Kristopher da Graca Sweden IFK Göteborg [17][d]
68 FW England Chris Willock Portugal Benfica Free transfer 30 June 2017 [18]
48 England Kaylen Hinds Germany VfL Wolfsburg Undisclosed (~£2,500,000) 8 July 2017 [19]
52 MF Finland Glen Kamara Scotland Dundee Undisclosed (~£500,000) 13 July 2017 [20]
42 England Daniel Crowley Netherlands Willem II Free transfer 17 July 2017 [21]
1 GK Poland Wojciech Szczęsny Italy Juventus Undisclosed (~£10,000,000) 19 July 2017 First team [22]
5 DF Brazil Gabriel Spain Valencia Undisclosed (~£10,000,000) 18 August 2017 First team [23]
  1. ^ Yaya Sanogo joined Toulouse following his release.[13]
  2. ^ Stefan O'Connor joined Newcastle United following his release.[15]
  3. ^ Kostas Pileas joined Anorthosis Famagusta following his release.
  4. ^ Kristopher da Graca joined IFK Göteborg following his release.

Loans out

Takuma Asano had his season-long loan at Stuttgart from the previous season extended for an additional year.[24] Marc Bola later joined Bristol Rovers on a season-long loan. About three weeks later, Emiliano Martinez left for Getafe and Stephy Mavididi went to Preston North End.[25]

# Position Player Loaned to Date Loan expires Team Source
FW Japan Takuma Asano Germany Stuttgart 22 June 2017 30 June 2018 First team [26]
38 DF England Marc Bola England Bristol Rovers 14 July 2017 Reserves [27]
26 GK Argentina Emiliano Martínez Spain Getafe 2 August 2017 First team [28]
57 FW England Stephy Mavididi England Preston North End 4 August 2017 Reserves [29]

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

As of 18 August 2017

Numbers in parenthesis denote appearances as substitute. (R) denotes a reserve player.

No. Pos. Nat. Name Premier League FA Cup EFL Cup Europa League Community Shield Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
2 DF  FRA Mathieu Debuchy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 DF  ENG Kieran Gibbs 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 DF  GER Per Mertesacker 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
6 DF  FRA Laurent Koscielny 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 FW  CHI Alexis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 MF  WAL Aaron Ramsey 0(1) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0(1) 1
9 FW  FRA Alexandre Lacazette 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 1
10 MF  ENG Jack Wilshere 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 MF  GER Mesut Özil 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
12 FW  FRA Olivier Giroud 0(1) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0(1) 0 0(2) 1
13 GK  COL David Ospina 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
14 FW  ENG Theo Walcott 0(1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0(2) 0 0(1) 0
15 MF  ENG Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0
16 DF  ENG Rob Holding 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0
17 FW  NGA Alex Iwobi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
18 DF  ESP Nacho Monreal 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0
19 MF  ESP Santi Cazorla 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
20 DF  GER Shkodran Mustafi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
21 DF  ENG Calum Chambers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22 MF  FRA Jeff Reine-Adélaïde 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
23 FW  ENG Danny Welbeck 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 1
24 DF  ESP Héctor Bellerín 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0
25 DF  ENG Carl Jenkinson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
27 FW  CRI Joel Campbell 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
28 FW  ESP Lucas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
29 MF   SUI Granit Xhaka 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0
30 MF  ENG Ainsley Maitland-Niles 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
31 DF  BIH Sead Kolašinac 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0(1) 1 1(1) 1
32 FW  ENG Chuba Akpom 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
33 GK  CZE Petr Čech 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0
34 MF  FRA Francis Coquelin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
35 MF  EGY Mohamed Elneny 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0
40 DF  ENG Cohen Bramall 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
61 MF  ENG Reiss Nelson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0(1) 0 0(1) 0
69 MF  ENG Joseph Willock 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Players out on loan for rest of the season
26 GK  ARG Emiliano Martínez 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FW  JPN Takuma Asano 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Goalscorers

As of 11 August 2017
Rank Position Name Premier League FA Cup EFL Cup Europa League Community Shield Total
1 MF Wales Aaron Ramsey 1 0 0 0 0 1
FW France Alexandre Lacazette 1 0 0 0 0 1
France Olivier Giroud 1 0 0 0 0 1
England Danny Welbeck 1 0 0 0 0 1
DF Bosnia and Herzegovina Sead Kolašinac 0 0 0 0 1 1
Total 4 0 0 0 1 5

Assists

As of 11 August 2017
Rank Position Name Premier League FA Cup EFL Cup Europa League Community Shield Total
1 MF Switzerland Granit Xhaka 2 0 0 0 1 3
2 DF Bosnia and Herzegovina Sead Kolašinac 1 0 0 0 0 1
MF Egypt Mohamed Elneny 1 0 0 0 0 1
Total 4 0 0 0 1 5

Disciplinary Record

As of 11 August 2017
Rank Position Name Premier League FA Cup EFL Cup Europa League Community Shield Total
Yellow card Red card Yellow card Red card Yellow card Red card Yellow card Red card Yellow card Red card Yellow card Red card
1 DF Spain Héctor Bellerín 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0

Pre-season

On 9 May 2017, Arsenal announced they would travel to Australia as part of their pre-season schedule and play two matches against Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers.[30] The club also faced Bayern Munich in Shanghai as a part of the International Champions Cup, and Chelsea in Beijing.[31][32] Arsenal then hosted the 2017 Emirates Cup, and played Benfica and Sevilla as part of the tournament.[33]

Friendlies

13 July 2017 Sydney FC 0–2 Arsenal Sydney, Australia
20:00 AEST Report
Stadium: ANZ Stadium
Attendance: 80,432
Referee: Shaun Evans
22 July 2017 Arsenal 0–3 Chelsea Beijing, China
19:40 CST Report
Stadium: Beijing National Stadium
Referee: Fu Ming

International Champions Cup

19 July 2017 (2017-07-19) Bayern Munich 1–1
(2–3 p)
Arsenal Shanghai, China
19:20 CST Report
Stadium: Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai
Attendance: 55,891
Referee: Guan Xing
Penalties

Emirates Cup

29 July 2017 Arsenal 5–2 Benfica Holloway, London
16:20 BST
Report
Stadium: Emirates Stadium
Referee: Anthony Taylor

Competitions

Overview

Competition Record
P W D L GF GA GD Win %
Premier League 2 1 0 1 4 4 +0 050.00
FA Cup 0 0 0 0 0 0 +0 !
EFL Cup 0 0 0 0 0 0 +0 !
Europa League 0 0 0 0 0 0 +0 !
Community Shield 1 1 0 0 1 1 +0 100.00
Total 3 2 0 1 5 5 +0 066.67

Community Shield

6 August 2017 (2017-08-06) Final Arsenal 1–1
(4–1 p)
Chelsea Wembley, London
14:00 BST Report
Stadium: Wembley Stadium
Attendance: 83,325
Referee: Bobby Madley
Penalties

Premier League

League table

Template:2017–18 Premier League table

Results by matchday

Template:Fb rbr header Template:Fb rbr ground Template:Fb rbr result Template:Fb rbr position Template:Fb rbr footer

Matches

On 14 June 2017, Arsenal's Premier League fixtures were announced, with the first game scheduled at home to Leicester, and be the fifth season running Arsenal would start their league campaign at home. Also, Arsenal would play in the first Premier League game of the season.[34][35]

11 August 2017 1 Arsenal 4–3 Leicester City Holloway, London
19:45 BST Lacazette 2'
Welbeck 45+2'
Ramsey 83'
Giroud 85'
Report Okazaki 5'
Vardy 29', 56'
Stadium: Emirates Stadium
Attendance: 59,387
Referee: Mike Dean
19 August 2017 2 Stoke City 1–0 Arsenal Stoke-on-Trent
17:30 BST Jesé 47' Report Stadium: bet365 Stadium
Attendance: 29,459
Referee: Andre Marriner
27 August 2017 3 Liverpool v Arsenal Liverpool
16:00 BST Stadium: Anfield

Sponsorship

Main sponsors

Other sponsors

References

  1. ^ "History". Statto. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  2. ^ "Sead Kolasinac: Arsenal sign Bosnian defender from Schalke". BBC Sport. 6 June 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  3. ^ "Alexandre Lacazette joins Arsenal for club record £46.5m from Lyon". BBC Sport. 5 July 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  4. ^ "Sead Kolasinac to sign for Arsenal". Arsenal F.C. 6 June 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  5. ^ "Alexandre Lacazette agrees to join Arsenal". Arsenal F.C. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  6. ^ "Club bids farewell to four players". Arsenal F.C. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  7. ^ "Chris Willock: Arsenal youngster to join Benfica on five-year deal". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  8. ^ "Arsenal starlet Kaylen Hinds joins Bundesliga club Wolfsburg in £2m deal". Mirror Online. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  9. ^ "Glen Kamara joins Dundee". Arsenal F.C. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  10. ^ "Daniel Crowley joins Willem II". Willem II F.C. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  11. ^ "Wojciech Szczęsny: Arsenal goalkeeper signs for Italian champions Juventus". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  12. ^ "Club bids farewell to four players: Yaya Sanogo". Arsenal F.C. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  13. ^ "Yaya Sanogo joins Toulouse". Toulouse FC. Toulouse FC Official Site. 7 July 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  14. ^ "Club bids farewell to four players: Stefan O'Connor". Arsenal F.C. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  15. ^ "Newcastle United announce double deal for Stefan O'Connor and Josef Yarney". Chronicle Live. 6 July 2017. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  16. ^ "Club bids farewell to four players: Kostas Pileas". Arsenal F.C. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  17. ^ "Club bids farewell to four players: Kristopher da Graca". Arsenal F.C. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  18. ^ "Chris Willock joins Benfica". Arsenal F.C. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  19. ^ "Kaylen Hinds comes from Arsenal". VfL Wolfsburg. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  20. ^ "Glen Kamara joins Dundee". Arsenal F.C. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  21. ^ "Daniel Crowley joins Willem II". Willem II F.C. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  22. ^ "Szczęsny joins Juventus". Arsenal F.C. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  23. ^ "Gabriel has joined Valencia for an undisclosed fee". Arsenal F.C. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  24. ^ "Asano's loan at Stuttgart is extended". Arsenal F.C. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  25. ^ "Marc Bola joins Bristol Rovers on loan". Arsenal F.C. 14 July 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  26. ^ "Asano's loan at Stuttgart is extended". Arsenal F.C. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  27. ^ "Marc Bola joins Bristol Rovers on loan". Arsenal F.C. 14 July 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  28. ^ "Martinez joins Getafe on loan". Arsenal F.C. 2 August 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  29. ^ "Stephy Mavididi joins Preston North End on loan". Arsenal F.C. 4 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  30. ^ "Sydney FC v Arsenal". Arsenal F.C. 9 May 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  31. ^ "Bayern Munich v Arsenal". Arsenal F.C. 9 May 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  32. ^ "Double-header in Singapore". Chelsea F.C. 16 March 2017.
  33. ^ "Emirates Cup 2017 line-up confirmed". Arsenal F.C. 26 April 2017.
  34. ^ "We will host Leicester on opening day". Arsenal F.C. 14 June 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  35. ^ "Fixtures". Arsenal F.C. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  36. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20464096
  37. ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2321029/Arsenal-sign-30m-year-deal-Puma-years-2013-14.html
  38. ^ https://www.arsenal.com/the-club/sponsors-partners/cooper-tires/cooper-tire-europe-becomes-official-club-partner
  39. ^ https://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20170511/global-deal-with-gatorade-extended
  40. ^ https://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20160525/markets.com-extend-arsenal-partnership