Arsenal: The 5 Most Important Goals Scored This Season

Way back in August, which might as well be years ago now seeing as how the 2011 portion of this current Arsenal season has dragged its feet like a timid five-year-old sizing up his first-ever day of school, there was no guarantee that the Gunners would book passage into the Champions League group stages for a 15th consecutive term.

Udinese Calcio, led by their diminutive trequartista extraordinaire Antonio di Natale, stood in the way of Arsenal progression by way of a decidedly tricky playoff.

The first leg of the home-and-away tie, played at the Emirates Stadium, saw Arsenal win 1-0 on the back of a first-half Theo Walcott strike. A good result, but by no means unassailable—particularly with the return leg coming in Udinese's cauldron of a home field.

Di Natale, the ever-present menace, sent his side level on aggregate early on in the return leg, and for awhile it looked as if Udinese might press on and win the tie.

Yet up stepped Walcott once more. The 22-year-old English winger, who has cut such an embattled figure this season, would follow captain Robin van Persie onto the score sheet and seal the game at 2-1 in the Gunners' favor, thereby booking Arsenal's passage (along with a tidy £25 million stipend) to the group stages.

Disaster, which had been looming all too menacingly after Arsenal's poor start to league play (a 2-0 loss at home to Liverpool came between the two playoff legs) would look almost certain after a harrowing 8-2 shellacking at Old Trafford just four days after the 2-1 victory in Italy.

Yet the ascertaining of Champions League football was a worthy feat, and it came thanks to Walcott.

An argument could be made that van Persie, elected captain this season after the departure of Cesc Fabregas, deserved the greater credit against Udinese as his goal canceled out di Natale's strike and set Arsenal back on course for the next level.

It's a fair shout, but my hat is tipped to Walcott, whose two goals over the two-leg tie were crucial in delivering Arsenal to its 3-1 win on aggregate.

Here are five more goals that have proved vital to Arsenal's 2011-12 prospects. You might argue the order—but I would pay little attention to that. A number is just a number on some occasions, and this set of slides is a perfect representation of that philosophy.

The goals themselves might not be the most spectacular, but then Walcott's two strikes against Udinese were far from season-ending highlight material.

Their importance, then, is augmented in different ways. There is a reason behind each goal—sometimes symbolic, sometimes confidence-related. Sometimes they meant more in context.

Read on to find out who made the cut.

5. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Shrewsbury Town

I get the ball, I shoot. In an Arsenal side chastised for its inclination to walk the ball into the back of the net, sometimes that philosophy is a welcome departure.

And how better to describe this 25-yard screamer from England's newest it-boy? This was the goal that sent the hype train surrounding Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain into overdrive.

Arsene Wenger, as per usual when dealing with young starlets who experience rampant success, has attempted to lessen the billowing storm of accolade swirling around AOC by limiting his first-team exposure until he is truly set to assume a consistent role.

All the same, that cautious approach has not stopped the pundits from bandying about Chamberlain's name as a potential candidate for inclusion in England's 23-man side for next summer's European Championships.

That Carling Cup match against Shrewsbury Town couldn't have been a better senior-team debut for Chamberlain, who would finish September in a goal-scoring flourish (he would grab one of Arsenal's two against Olympiacos in a 2-1 CL victory on the 28th) and, though his hat trick with England's U-21 side against Iceland was rather elementary in regards to the finishing, three goals at any level is nothing to scoff at.

Coincidentally, Chamberlain has been rumored as a potential usurper of Walcott's right wing position at Arsenal.

Both are former Southampton men, and AOC may well be a future option at either wing. But for now Walcott's recent upsurge in form has kept Chamberlain on the first-team fringes. For how long, no one knows.

4. Aaron Ramsey, Olympique De Marseille

The Gunners left it late that night in the southern reaches of France, but they got the 1-0 victory in their third group stage match.

Aaron Ramsey's cool finish in stoppage time proved to be the decisive contribution on the night, especially in light of Arsenal's draw with the same Marseille side this past Tuesday at the Emirates.

Eight points from four matches and first place in Group F certainly looks a lot better than six from the same and a second-placed positioning behind the French side—which is where Arsenal would have been had Ramsey not found the net and Arsenal had labored to a draw.

Many said this goal symbolized Ramsey's rebirth. The Welshman, whose well-chronicled fightback from a gruesome double leg break on Feb. 28, 2010 (tibia and fibula) required almost eight months of intensive recuperation before he could retake the playing field, looked short of fitness and comfort in the early portions of the season, ESPN Soccernet had reported.

There were critics who said he'd never provide the production of a Fabregas or Nasri in that attacking midfield role.

But that misses the point entirely. Ramsey is a different player than those two since-departed Gunners; if a comparison must be made, he is more along the lines of a Gerrard—direct, technically wondrous at times, with a knack for finding the back of the net.

Since this goal, he has been in terrific form for the club, as evidenced in last Saturday's performance against Chelsea.

So impressed was Robin van Persie by his teammate's industry during that 5-3 classic that he gave him his Man of the Match champagne in fitting tribute to the midfielder's fantastic work in the middle of the park.

3. Robin Van Persie, Bolton Wanderers

The talismanic Dutch captain couldn't have picked a better occasion to score his 99th and 100th goals for the club (he's since increased that total to 107).

After Arsenal's floundering start to the campaign, which saw them planted in the bottom half of the standings through late August to mid-September, the rumor mill began churning with stories flying from the presses and blogosphere about van Persie's inevitable departure from Ashburton Grove at the end of his contract in 2013.

Van Persie would need to go elsewhere to win trophies, they said.

Paying no heed, the Dutchman let his play speak for him. His prowess against Bolton notwithstanding, van Persie was simply sublime in October, scoring seven goals in only six appearances.

He had cut a frustrating figure to start the campaign, and "only" had three goals from seven matches (all competitions) going into the Bolton fixture.

Contrasted with his September call-up with the Dutch national team, when van Persie hit for four goals in one match against European minnows San Marino, perhaps some had started to worry that the Arsenal No. 10 would not be able to continue upon what had been a blistering return rate in the second half of the 2010-11 season with his club.

Easy to say that with his two-goal substitute's turn against Stoke City and his hat trick (his second for the club, which have both come in 2011) against Chelsea in his last two EPL appearances, van Persie is back at the top of his game and looking like the world-beater Arsene Wenger has always believed he would become.

2. Gervinho, Stoke City

I thought about putting Park's goal against Bolton Wanderers in last week's Carling Cup tie, but seeing as how the South Korean will soon be leaving the Emirates, I figured the goal that cemented Gervinho's recent upturn in form would prove the more important, considering that the Ivorian will be wearing Gunner red far longer.

Thus, in a roundabout way, Gervinho's confidence seems more important to Arsenal's fortunes than that of Park's for the time being (or at least as long as van Persie stays fit...*knock on wood.*)

After scoring Arsenal's first goal against Stoke two Sundays ago (thanks to a delightfully weighted chipped ball from Aaron Ramsey) with a calm left-footed drive, Gervinho turned provider, dishing out two assists to van Persie, whose star turn as a substitute in that match took away most of the glamor from what was an excellent performance by Wenger's summer signing (£10.7 million) plucked off Lille's books.

Gervinho can be maddeningly inconsistent at times, but that is to be expected from any player making the switch from another league into the fight and fury of Premier League football.

When he's been on point, Gervinho has been a revelation to watch—providing goals and assists along with some eye-pleasing industry by way of some deft dribbling on the flanks.

1. Robin Van Persie, Chelsea

I couldn't find the video, but the picture says it all. The goal that sealed his hat trick and ensured Arsenal victory on the day meant everything.

There are few times where you feel, in watching a player celebrate after scoring, that he might have enjoyed scoring more for his club than himself. Too often we are subjected to furious pointing at the name on the back of the jersey instead of the pounding of the crest, which to my mind lies in perfect position just above the heart. Exactly where it should be, one could say.

That final strike, the searing left-footed effort that befuddled Petr Cech as it flew into goal, appeared to eviscerate all the pain and foreboding that had swirled about Arsenal since the season's beginning.

For a day, all was well. The captain had provided for his club, just as it should be.

And to his credit, van Persie realized that the 5-3 victory meant just as much to the fans in attendance as it did to the players on the field.

In calling over the Arsenal players after the final whistle to go thank the hardy band of traveling supporters who had made the trip across town to Stamford Bridge, he was not only thanking them for their boisterous support on the day.

He was thanking them for sticking by the side throughout these past few months. They may have wanted to stop believing at times, but they persevered. And that has made all the difference.