Arsenal FC: 10 Defining Moments of 2011

2011 has been a wild year for Arsenal.

There were fleeting emotional highs, followed by prolonged bouts of depression, as a club on the rise collapsed in on itself like a dying star, only to improbably rise again and regain their status as one of football's great powers.

This has truly been one of the most significant years in the history of the club, with much of the current squad leading a change in footballing philosophy for Arsene Wenger, and many of the old players departed.

Now, the squad is taking a new shape, and the team is finding more success than it has all year, as something of a renaissance looks to be taking place in the red side of North London.

In the spirit of reflection that takes hold during this time of the year, let us reflect on 10 moments that, for better or worse, defined the year 2011 for Arsenal.

Arsenal are where they are today because of these monumental events.

Enjoy.

Robin van Persie Scores Against Birmingham on January 1

No one knew it at the time, but when Robin van Persie stepped up and laced a free kick off Lee Bowyer to give Arsenal a 1-0 lead against Birmingham, the Dutchman began one of the greatest runs of goalscoring form ever seen in England.

Including that fateful strike, van Persie has scored 34 goals in this calendar year, equaling Thierry Henry's club record and just two short of Alan Shearer's all-time mark of 36, with two matches left before the end of the year.

Without their Flying Dutchman in such sublime form, Arsenal would probably not be in such a strong position today, as van Persie's inability to stop scoring has carried Arsenal out of the relegation muck and into Champions League contention.

And perhaps just as significantly, van Persie's goal against Birmingham came on his return from a a lengthy ankle injury, and Robin has, amazingly, remained almost completely healthy since. Without that unprecedented run of health, Shearer's record certainly would not be within reach.

The 4-4 Draw at Newcastle

For many, this awful moment was the worst point of Arsenal's season.

It was certainly the first low of many.

Though Arsenal had taken a seemingly insurmountable 4-0 lead inside of 26 minutes, everything went wrong after Abou Diaby got sent off for lashing out at Joey Barton.

Two Barton penalties and a Leon Best goal later, Cheick Tiote unleashed a thunderbolt from 30 yards out to complete the largest and most stunning comeback in Premier League history.

The match highlighted Arsenal's mental and defensive frailty, more than anything else.

Diaby couldn't keep his emotions in check, and the Arsenal defence crumbled under the pressure. When one part of the team faltered, no one had the mental fortitude to bear down and close a game off.

Arsenal paid for it on that day.

Arsenal 2-1 Barcelona

From one of the worst moments of the season to what is, in my opinion, the best.

Nobody thought Arsenal could come close to the invincible Barcelona at the Emirates Stadium.

But in five short minutes, Arsenal did the impossible and took down the mighty Catalans, proving their worth as a football team and sending Gooners like myself into euphoria.

Barcelona played their typical game, but Arsenal were equal to it, and when Robin van Persie somehow got one past Valdes from an impossible angle, many would have been happy with the draw.

But a quick counterattack and a silky finish from Andrei Arshavin ensured that Arsenal would emerge victorious over their Spanish rivals, whom we had struggled against for so long.

The match vaulted Arsenal back into European relevance again, and Arshavin's goal provided a moment that will long remain in the memory of every Arsenal fan that watched the miracle unfold.

The Carling Cup Final

From the best moment of the season to what was probably the worst.

Everyone believed that Arsenal's infamous six-year trophy drought would come to an end against lowly Birmingham, whom Arsenal had beaten handily earlier in the season.

Alas, it was not to be.

A horrific last-second mix-up between Laurent Koscielny and Wojciech Szczesny gifted Obefemi Martins an 89th-minute winner and left me in a dazed, shell-shocked state.

The Gunners seemed to be cursed, and the team could not recover from their late-game collapse.

Indeed, many identify the Carling Cup Final as the point when Arsenal began their five-spiral dive at the end of the season, and the team never seemed to be the same afterwards.

Eboue Concedes a Penalty Against Liverpool

Despite their best efforts to self-destruct, Arsenal were still not totally out of the title race when they faced Liverpool on April 17.

Arsenal needed a win over the Reds to keep their faint title hopes alive.

Arsenal fans were in ecstasy when, in the 98th minute, Robin van Persie converted a penalty to give the Gunners an improbable 1-0 lead.

Luis Suarez smashed his 101st-minute free kick into the wall, and, as the ball rolled away from the goal, Arsenal had surely pulled off a stunning win.

Step up, Emmanuel Eboue.

For reasons no mortal will lever understand, the much-maligned Ivorian ran right into the back of Lucas Leiva, and Dirk Kuyt duly converted the resulting penalty to knock Arsenal out of the title race for good.

Many speculate that this incident was Arsene Wenger's final straw with the under-performing utility player, and rightly so. That one moment of stupidity dashed any hopes Arsenal had of lifting a trophy during the 2010-2011 season.

Cesc Fabregas Is Sold

From the end of a season to the end of an era.

Though everyone know it would inevitably happen sooner or later, the transfer of Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona on August 15 was a massive blow to Arsenal.

The club had lost its best player, its captain, and its main creative force.

And it didn't help that his transfer fee was a paltry £35 million.

Fabregas was entering his best years and was arguably the best pure talent the club had ever seen. Now, Arsenal fans are left to rue what could have been, had more of an investment been made in building a team around the prodigy.

Arsenal were left to rebuild a gutted football team around a new core of players, but nobody knew at the time whom those men would be.

Arsenal Qualify for the Champions League

In a time of great turmoil and strife, Arsenal somehow managed to get past Udinese to secure their 14th consecutive Champions League qualification.

The consequences of not securing passage to the world's most prestigious club competition would have been massive for Arsenal.

Their reputation as one of the world's biggest clubs could not have remained intact, and they could never have attracted the signings that triggered their turnaround.

It was clear that the Italians would not go down easily, and Arsenal were very lucky to escape the first leg with a 1-0 win. A nervy display saw Arsenal just scrape past Udinese in Udine to punch their ticket.

Normally, there would not have been much doubt as to whether the Gunners would qualify. But it was clear that Arsenal were a shaky side who were clearly feeling the effects of being dismantled over the summer.

Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal

As the picture accurately shows, Arsenal were simply run over by Manchester United when the Gunners fielded a weak, young and simply terrible side against the reigning champions.

After a tentative start to the new season, Arsenal had still not recorded a victory in the Premier League, and had scraped shakily through Champions League qualification.

Many were fearful of what type of performance a depleted team would display inside the cauldron of Old Trafford.

No one, though, predicted 8-2.

Even Arsene Wenger was forced to admit that his side were utterly humiliated by a team worthy of their place in England's traditional "Big Four." If Arsenal wanted to pay me Johan Djourou's wages, I could easily have put in a performance like that of the floundering Swiss.

All in all, it was simply sad to see a great club fall to such depths, and those were bad times to be a Gooner.

Transfer Deadline Day

Perhaps the one silver lining of the debacle at Old Trafford was that Arsenal were finally forced into buying good, quality, experienced players to reinforce the squad.

This was the hectic day when Arsenal were rebuilt and remade, and these four pictured men are the reasons why Arsenal is only one point out of the top four.

Andre Santos has proven to be a wonderful addition to the squad, transforming the left-back position for Arsenal before his awful ankle injury.

Mikel Arteta has been an ever-present calming influence in midfield and has acted as the fulcrum between defence and attack, while Yossi Benayoun has proven his worth as a sub.

But finally, at long last, Wenger listened to every sensible footballing mind and bought a tall, powerful central defender in Per Mertesacker. The stoic German has had a noticeable stabilizing impact on the Arsenal back line.

And I don't even want to think about who might be playing at center-back now, with all of Arsenal's injury issues in defence.

Hint: it looks something like this (cover your eyes if you're squeamish).

Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal

This was the glorious match in which, perhaps as a symbolic gesture, John Terry fell over to show that Arsenal had finally turned the corner.

And the Gunners have hardly let up since.

Everyone knew that a tough Chelsea side would be a significant test for a tentatively improving Arsenal.

Many said that the London derby would show whether the Gunners were finally ready to dine with the big boys again.

At the end of the match, Arsenal looked like they should be sitting at the head of the table.

Robin van Persie scored a scintillating hat trick as Arsenal completed a thrilling comeback to prove that they had turned the corner and are a truly different side from the one that was mauled by Blackburn Rovers earlier in the season.

With a glorious display—and a hilarious lack of balance from John Terry—Arsenal were back on cloud nine.

The Chelsea match is perhaps the moment that most defines Arsenal's season thus far: against all odds, a fabulous comeback to show that the Cannon is a force to be reckoned with once again.

Oh, and John Terry fell over.