5 clubs who choked this season

#4 Arsenal

Arsene Wenger has overseen a tumultuous season at Arsenal

Arsenal’s season is a tricky one to grade given their trademark late surge may end with them in fourth position (again), but given some of the other occurrences around them, it’s hard to call it anything but a choke job really.

Firstly there’s the fact that for the first time since 1994/95, Arsenal are going to finish behind bitter rivals Tottenham in the Premier League. Should they miss out on the top four, that’ll also be the first time it’s happened since 1995/96, before the arrival of Arsene Wenger.

Then there was that awful capitulation in the Champions League. Prior to this season, the big criticism of Arsenal in Europe was that they’d always fail to win their group, meaning they’d end up facing a monster team in the second round. This season they actually won their group but ended up drawn against Bayern Munich in a stroke of bad luck. Bayern actually looked vulnerable this time though, as they’d lost to Atletico Madrid and Rostov in the group stage.

Could Arsenal take advantage? Of course not. In one of the all-time great choke jobs, they somehow lost both legs 5-1, giving them a horrific 10-2 aggregate loss. Throw in the embarrassing losses to Watford and West Bromwich Albion – as well as their recent capitulation against Spurs – and even with a miraculous top four finish, this would be Arsenal’s worst season in some time.