For so long Manchester United's most serious rivals for the crown, Arsène Wenger's side brought us joyous highs but too many crushing lows to sustain their push for honours beyond the Spring.
It seems a hell of a long time since Arsenal travelled north to kick off their campaign at Anfield.
Back then, an air of optimism pervaded the squad despite a slew of gloomy predictions in the media. Wenger had supplemented his squad with Marouane Chamakh and Laurent Koscielny while retaining the services of his captain, Cesc Fabregas. What's more, a certain Jack Wilshere had been turning heads in pre-season.
The question marks over Arsenal's mental fortitude were nowhere to be seen in the first half of the season. Quite the opposite. A gutsy point was rescued at Liverpool and traditionally tricky trips to Blackburn and Everton brought victory. Meanwhile Blackpool and Bolton were brushed aside at the Emirates as Wenger's side tracked early pacesetters Chelsea at the top of the table.
The noisiest accusation was this: Arsenal couldn't beat the big sides. The stats bore this out, especially after another defeat at Stamford Bridge in October, but the critics were silenced by big wins over Manchester City at Eastlands and then Chelsea at Christmas.
Arsenal had another factor in their favour: they were superior on the road. No team in the Premier League matched their eight wins and seven draws and big wins at Birmingham and West Ham kept Wenger's men bang in contention at the turn of the year.
But the warning signs were there.
As early as September, Tomas Rosicky's missed penalty and Darren Bent's stoppage-time strike snatched a draw from the jaws of victory at Sunderland. And a failure to hold onto leads would undo Arsenal time and again, often in the most dramatic of circumstances.
A four-goal lead was surrendered at Newcastle in February, Liverpool were gifted an equaliser 11 minutes into stoppage time in April and the North London derbies realised just one point despite two-goal cushions in both matches.
The Carling Cup Final is often regarded as THE turning point in Arsenal's season but you could make a case for the game that immediately preceded it. Stoke were beaten on February 23 but Fabregas and Theo Walcott were lost to injury for a decisive month.
That period saw costly draws against Sunderland and West Brom before Blackburn became one of eight teams to leave the Emirates with something to show for their efforts. Compare that to Man United, who dropped just two points on home soil.
Another sizeable away win - this time at Blackpool - kept Arsenal in touch by mid-April but that late Liverpool penalty knocked a bit more stuffing out of Wenger's team. They took another hit at Spurs in midweek and were finally brought to their knees at Bolton.
Typically, there was one final flourish and a glimpse of what might have been when Man United were seen off in style but, tellingly, that was Arsenal's only victory in their last seven matches.
The title had seemed within touching distance at times in 2010/11. Instead Arsenal were left with fourth place and plenty of regrets.
Source: Chris Harris, Arsenal.com on 31 May 11
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