The five best Arsenal players this season

Arsenal have enjoyed a fine second half of the season this year, and as well as being in with a shout of some silverware this is shaping up to be a somewhat successful season for Arsene Wenger.

But which of his stars have outshone the others? Who has pulled it back and turned it around since that dismal Christmas period? There have been many highs and lows along the way, but below are the five players that have stood out the most.

5. Nacho Monreal

At the beginning of the season, one would have been hard-pressed to find anyone who felt the Spaniard still had a role in the squad. However, he has since become a vital and versatile player in Arsene Wenger’s arsenal (no pun intended). Having been forced to adjust to an unfamiliar centre-back role, he has now moved ahead of Kieran Gibbs as the club’s first-choice left-back.

4. Santi Cazorla

He failed to impress in a slightly wider role last term, something that was rectified by Wenger this year as he returned him to a more comfortable central role. In doing so, he has unleashed a focused and talented player that has contributed to a healthy total of goals and assists this season.

3. Olivier Giroud

It looked as though it wouldn’t be the Frenchman’s season this time around. Breaking his foot early on in the season seemed to suggest that new boy Danny Welbeck would be leading the line from then on. But fans should know by now that you can’t keep a good striker down, and he recovered sufficiently to become the club’s leading goalscorer.

2. Francis Coquelin

The midfielder himself probably didn’t see this coming at the beginning of the season. He had seemingly resigned himself to finding a new club in the new year, having been shipped out on loan to Championship club Charlton Athletic. He was quickly recalled, reinstalled, and thus began one of the most impressive transformations of recent history. Now a vital part of the squad, Wenger may no longer be fielding calls to spend inordinate amounts of money on a new defensive midfielder when he already has one.

1. Alexis Sanchez

Who else was it going to be? The Chilean has been a class act from start to finish, and though he has lost his way a little recently, that dip can be put down to the acclimatisation of his first season in England. Equipped with an impressive work rate, he is still the club’s top scorer despite playing the second half of the season from the wing.

edited by Bhavna Rachuri