The 2011–12 season was Arsenal's 20th season in the Premier League, their 86th consecutive season in the top flight of English football. and also marked the club's 125th anniversary. In the Premier League, Arsenal struggled to recover from a poor start to the season. Though they did finish the season in the final qualification berth for the next season's UEFA Champions League. Arsenal's UEFA Champions League campaign once again proved unsuccessful, falling at the first hurdle in the knockout stage, with a 4–0 defeat at Milan ultimately proving fatal. Exiting the FA Cup at the fifth round stage at the hands of Sunderland, and the League Cup in the quarter-finals against Manchester City, the two domestic cups were also out of Arsenal's reach.
Arsenal finished the season in third place after winning their last league match 3–2 against West Bromwich Albion on 13 May 2012. It was the first season since the invincibles in 2003–04 which Arsenal finished the top London club in the league, or in which Arsenal finished ahead of Chelsea.
Review
Pre-season
Arsenal's pre-season transfer activity was once again dominated by media speculation regarding the future of club captain Cesc Fàbregas, whose return to boyhood club Barcelona was widely expected, although not officially confirmed until the middle of August when an initial fee in the region of £30 million was agreed between the two clubs. Prior to this, the Gunners' first signing came in the form of young English-Finnish right-back Carl Jenkinson from Charlton Athletic on 8 June for an initial fee of around £1 million, while the first major signing did not come until 11 July with the signing of Gervinho from French champions Lille for more than £10 million. The only notable exits in July came in goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, who retired for the second time, having come out of his first retirement in March to solve an injury crisis that left Arsenal with just one match-fit goalkeeper, while Gaël Clichy joined Manchester City. It was August before the club's transfer activity increased, with promising young striker Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain joining from Southampton for a reported £12 million, before the departures of Fàbregas to Barcelona, the long-serving Emmanuel Eboué to Turkish side Galatasaray, and Samir Nasri to Manchester City for a fee of £25 million. Left-back Armand Traoré's departure to newly promoted Queens Park Rangers on the penultimate day of the transfer window completed the departures from the first team, before Arsène Wenger, under increasing criticism for the lack of arrivals so far, went on something of a spending spree in the final 48 hours of the window. South Korea captain Park Chu-young joined from Monaco, before left-back André Santos, centre back Per Mertesacker and midfielder Mikel Arteta all joined in the dying hours of the window, from Fenerbahçe, Werder Bremen and Everton respectively. Yossi Benayoun also joined the club on a season long loan from Chelsea, whilst striker Nicklas Bendtner was loaned to Sunderland for the same period, following fellow first-team members Denílson and Carlos Vela, who had joined São Paulo and Real Sociedad on loan earlier in the window. At the close of the window, Arsenal had spent an estimated £51.2 million, compared to an income of nearly £75 million.
Away from the transfer window, Robin van Persie was chosen to replace the departing Fàbregas as club captain, having stood in on several previous occasions when Fàbregas was not playing. Pre-season saw Arsenal hold their first ever Asian tour, commencing against a Malaysian League XI in Kuala Lumpur where goals from Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott, Carlos Vela and Tomáš Rosický earned the Gunners a 4–0 win. Chinese side Hangzhou Greentown proved a tougher test in Arsenal's next match, where after falling behind in the 16th minute, Vela scored to achieve a 1–1 draw. Arsenal travelled next to Germany to face 1. FC Köln where new signing Gervinho scored twice in eight minutes on his debut to put the side two goals ahead, before fellow newcomer Carl Jenkinson put the ball through Arsenal's own net, to result in a 2–1 victory for the Gunners. Arsenal's only home pre-season matches came in the annual Emirates Cup tournament, where Boca Juniors, the New York Red Bulls and Paris Saint-Germain were welcomed to London. Arsenal's matches both ended in draws, first surrendering a Van Persie and Aaron Ramsey created two-goal lead against Boca Juniors, before conceding an 84th-minute own goal from Kyle Bartley against the New York Red Bulls the next day, cancelling out a Van Persie opener. Arsenal's run of pre-season fixtures concluded with a loss to Portuguese team Benfica in the Eusébio Cup, once again surrendering a one-goal advantage courtesy of Van Persie to end up losing 2–1 in Lisbon.
August Arsenal's fixtures in the Premier League started at Newcastle United, where, despite surrendering a four-goal lead last season, they played out a 0–0 draw this time around. In the match, Gervinho receiving a straight red-card on his competitive debut, whilst Alex Song received a retrospective charge of violent conduct for stamping on Joey Barton. The Gunners faced a two-legged tie against Italian side Udinese to secure qualification to the season's UEFA Champions League competition, with Theo Walcott's fourth-minute goal separating the teams in the first leg at the Emirates, before goals from Walcott and Robin van Persie, as well as a penalty save from Wojciech Szczęsny, saw the Gunners secure victory in the away leg in Udine, and secure their place in the group stage of the competition.
The two legs were sandwiched between an early Premier League title contender clash at the Emirates against Liverpool, where an own goal from Aaron Ramsey and a last minute strike from new Liverpool signing Luis Suárez saw the team fall to a 0–2 defeat, and fuel the widely held belief that Arsenal would once again fail to prove serious challengers for the league title. Any attempt to dispel such a notion was dealt a huge blow the following week, when Arsenal travelled to Old Trafford to suffer their heaviest ever defeat in the Premier League. A hat-trick from Wayne Rooney, two goals from Ashley Young and goals from Danny Welbeck, Nani and Park Ji-sung saw the club slump to an 8–2 hammering at the hands of Manchester United, with Walcott and Van Persie's goals proving no consolation as Arsenal ended the month hovering just one place above the relegation zone, having failed to win any of their opening three league matches.
September Arsenal eventually secured their first league win of the season at home to newly promoted Swansea City at the start of September, when Andrey Arshavin's goal proved enough to separate the sides, before the team faced the first of their six Champions League group stage fixtures away to German champions Borussia Dortmund. A win looked to be on the cards thanks to Robin van Persie's first half goal, but Dortmund's Ivan Perišić equalised with just two minutes left to play leaving Arsenal to be satisfied with just a single point. Any hope of progress in the Premier League was dashed when the Gunners gave away a 2–1 half-time lead away to Blackburn Rovers, with own goals from both Alex Song and Laurent Koscielny gifting Blackburn a 4–3 victory.
Arsenal's opening match in the League Cup looked to be a straightforward home tie against League Two outfit Shrewsbury Town, but it was the opposition that opened the scoring, before Kieran Gibbs, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Yossi Benayoun eventually secured progress to the fourth round. This seemed to spark some life into the team, and they ran out 3–0 winners the following week against Bolton Wanderers in the league thanks to a brace from Robin van Persie and a late goal from Alex Song, before securing their first group stage win in Europe at home to Greek champions Olympiacos with goals from Oxlade-Chamberlain and André Santos.
October Any suggestion that the end of September had been the start of an Arsenal turnaround was proved wrong in the North London derby at the start of October. Rafael van der Vaart's opening goal at White Hart Lane was cancelled out by Aaron Ramsey, before Kyle Walker secured the bragging rights for Tottenham Hotspur. Following an international break, the Gunners' home match against Sunderland looked set to be heading for a 1–1 draw until Van Persie scored in the last ten minutes to secure all three points, whilst a late goal also earned an away European victory against Marseille, with Ramsey providing the required firepower.
Arsenal's season continued to improve with a 3–1 league victory against Stoke City thanks to two goals from Van Persie and a strike from Gervinho, before Arshavin and Park Chu-young saw the team past Bolton Wanderers in the fourth round of the League Cup. The turnaround was complete when Arsenal beat title-rivals Chelsea 5–3 at Stamford Bridge thanks to goals from André Santos and Theo Walcott, as well as a hat-trick from Van Persie, a performance that helped the Dutchman to the Premier League player of the month award, and saw the Gunners finish October, seventh in the table.
November November opened with Marseille visiting the Emirates for the return leg of the Champions League fixture, a game that ended in a 0–0 draw. In the Premier League, Arsenal's good form continued with a 3–0 victory over West Bromwich Albion thanks to goals from Van Persie, Mikel Arteta and Thomas Vermaelen, whose return from injury provided further good news for the team. After another international break, Arsenal continued where they left off with a 2–1 win at Norwich City thanks to two more goals from Robin van Persie, making him just the third player since the Premier League's inception after Alan Shearer and former Arsenal captain Thierry Henry to score 30 goals in a calendar year.
With their Premier League campaign seemingly re-energised, Arsenal's attention turned once more to the Champions League, with Borussia Dortmund being the latest visitors to the Emirates. Arsenal knew a win would be sufficient to secure progression to the knockout phase, but it was Dortmund who made the brighter start until injuries forced two of their key players – Sven Bender and Mario Götze, to be substituted before half time. This allowed Arsenal to capitalise, with man of the moment Van Persie netting two goals in the second half thanks to assists first from Alex Song and then Thomas Vermaelen, before Shinji Kagawa netted the Germans a consolation goal in injury time. The 2–1 victory was not only enough to secure the Gunners' progression, but also top spot in Group F thanks to Olympiacos' victory over second-placed Marseille in the night's other match.
This Champions League success came at a price, however, with the team appearing off form in their next Premier League game against Fulham, who took the lead in the match thanks to a Thomas Vermaelen own goal. It was only when the Belgian defender was able to convert into the right net in the 82nd minute that the Gunners were able to draw level, and end the match with a 1–1 draw. The impact of the result was only alleviated by results elsewhere, with four of the six teams above Arsenal in the table – Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Newcastle United all playing out draws in the same weekend.
November ended on somewhat of a negative note, with the team exiting the League Cup with a fifth round loss to Manchester City, although the Gunners were by no means overwhelmed by the Premier League leaders. Instead, the young and relatively inexperienced side that included the likes of Emmanuel Frimpong, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Park Chu-young, as well as reserve team players Ignasi Miquel and Francis Coquelin, held their own for much of the match, with just a single goal by Sergio Agüero in the 83rd minute being able to separate the two sides.
December