THE VITALS:

Team: Arsenal

Brand: Puma

Era: 2016-17 (Used for the 2016-17 Premier League season and the 2017 FA Cup Final)

Name/Number: Alexis #7

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

This shirt comes in very good condition; the material of the shirt is in fine nick, as is the embroidered Puma logo and club crest. There is however some wear to the number 7 on the back of the shirt which prevents this article from being described as being in excellent condition.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Medium

Pit to Pit Measurement: 21 inches

Shirt Length: 29 inches 

Made using Puma's shirt mould that they introduced in 2016; this shirt provides the dimensions for an excellent fitted size medium football shirt and may also be suitable for a size small as well!

DESCRIPTION:

Puma put together yet again another fine offering for Arsenal's home shirt in 2016-17! whilst the previous season’s edition used a more traditional version of the white sleeves and red body synonymous with ‘The Gunners’; this is a truly modern contemporary outfit with the unique collar and the use of the dark stripe down the middle and additional black accents. Also, in another change after two seasons of having a heat applied plastic crest; Puma have gone back to utilising an embroidered crest for this season's home shirt. This would famously be the shirt worn as Arsenal became FA Cup champions for a record 13th time as they defeated Chelsea in the final in the 2017 FA Cup final!

THE SEASON:

It was yet another season of upward trajectory for Arsenal as they successfully retained the Community Shield and more importantly, finished in 2^nd place; their best ever league finish since finishing runners-up in 2004-05! Shkodran Mustafi and Granit Xhaka where the club’s main signings in the close season, while, Lucas Perez and Rob Holding also arrived. The departures of: Tomas Rosicky, Mathieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta would see a huge dearth of experience leave the club, however, Arsene Wenger felt his ranks were more than adequately stocked to compensate for loss of the three midfield stalwarts.

They would welcome Liverpool to The Emirates Stadium in a mouth watering Super Sunday to kick off the 2016-17 season! An incredible game unfolded with Arsenal taking the lead before Liverpool went 4-3 ahead! The home side would score twice more but would have to settle for a 4-3 defeat. They would next visit the champions: Leicester City at The King Power Stadium and a goalless stalemate would take place leaving Arsenal still searching for their first win of the season. That day would come 7 days later as they punished Watford 3-1 at Vicarage Road to get into the ‘W’ column ahead of the 1^st international break of the season.

An exciting September began with a 2-1 win over Southampton at The Emirates, and then they would begin their European campaign. Drawn alongside: Ludogorets, Basel and Paris Saint Germain in their Champions League group; they began with the visit to the French capital and left the Parc de Princes with a 1-1 draw. Arsenal would knock 4 goals past the pairing of Hull City and Nottingham Forest respectively, however, it was the 3-0 defeat of Chelsea on September 24^th which was no doubt the highlight of the month! A very productive month for ‘The Gunners’ ended with a  2-0 win over Basel in the Champions League.

Laurent Koscielny would net a 93^rd minute winner to see off Burnley on October 2^nd, and then they made it an excellent 6 league wins in a row when they defeated Swansea City 3-2 on October 15th; a result that took them joint top with Manchester City! They would put 6 goals past Ludogorets, in a game where Mesut Ozil helped himself to a hat-trick! Not even a goalless draw with newly promoted Middlesbrough was enough to dampen the mood as the Fifth Round of the EFL Cup was reached after beating Reading 2-0, and then Sunderland were hammered 4-1 to close the month.

With the first quarter of the league played; Arsenal were still joint top! Although, now Liverpool joined them on City with level points, while Chelsea were just a point adrift themselves with 22 on the board. This set the stage for the first North London Derby of the season, and both them and Spurs would have to settle for a 1-1 draw at The Emirates. The games got no easier as they made the trip to Old Trafford on November 19^th and earnt a 1-1 draw against Manchester United, before completing trio of draws, lastly sharing the spoils against PSG in an exciting 2-2 draw at home.

A crucial December began with a fine 5-1 destruction of West Ham United on December 3^rd, where Alexis Sanchez helped himself to a hat-trick! A 4-1 win over Basel on the final day of the Champions League Group Stage bouts saw them finish top of their group and would have a Last 16 tie old enemy’s: Bayern Munich to look forward to in 2017. A come-from-behind 3-1 win over Stoke City took their league unbeaten run to 14, and they would bid to make that 15 as they travelled to Goodison Park on December 13^th.

Ronald Koeman’s side would stun the in-form visitors as they came from behind themselves to win 2-1! Next was the trip to the Etihad Stadium were Manchester City had the opportunity to leap-frog Arsenal into 3^rd. Crucially, with Chelsea winning yet again, anything less than a win for Arsenal may have huge implications as far as their title tilt was concerned. For the 3^rd time this season; Arsenal would lose after taking the lead! 2016 would at least end on a high note as West Bromwich Albion were beaten 1-0 at home on Boxing Day.

‘The Gunners’ kicked off 2017 in style as Olivier Giroud scored his Puskas Award winning ‘scorpion kick’ goal in the 2-0 win over Crystal Palace. Arsenal would next have to come from 3-0 down to secure a 3-3 draw with Bournemouth on January 3^rd! Attentions would next be focussed on regaining the FA Cup, and those preparations began with a 2-1 over Preston North End to reach the 4^th Round. Prior to the September 28^th visit against Southampton, Arsene Wenger’s side would add wins over Swansea City and Burnley to move back into 2^nd place. The month ended with Southampton being beaten 5-0 at St Mary’s to avenge their EFL Cup exit at the hands of ‘The Saints’, before a stunning upset in the league against Watford on January 31^st.

Chelsea, who had gone a record setting 13 match winning spree following their loss to Arsenal in September, were next on the marquee for Arsenal. They would be beaten 3-1 by ‘The Blues’ as any hope of reigniting the title charge dissipated. A week later an Alexis Sanchez brace secured a 2-0 win over Hull City, ahead of the trip to Bayern Munich at The Emirates Stadium on February 15^th. With the score at 1-1 at half time; Bayern would go on to win the game 5-1 following a sensational 2^nd half blitz. A 2-0 win over Sutton United would at least ensure Arsenal reached the quarter final of the FA Cup.

March was no kinder to a side now in tailspin, both on, and off the pitch, as Liverpool and West Brom were able to inflict respective 3-1 wins. Sandwiched between was yet another 5-1 defeat to Bayern Munich as the ‘Wenger Out’ voices were starting to gather more and more traction. Their FA Cup quarter final opposition were Lincoln City, and despite winning 5-0 on the night, the performance still failed to convince.

They would meet their semi-final opponents Manchester City next in the league, and the rebuild process continued on the upward trajectory as they held Pep Guardiola’s side to a 2-2 draw. A first league win in 3 games came their way as they beat West Ham United 3-0 on April 5^th, however, all the good work was seemingly undone, as they were then beaten 3-0 themselves by Crystal Palace!

Winning the FA Cup and finishing in the top 4 was now at the top of the agenda for the club; the latter looking to be a fight to the absolute finish with themselves, Liverpool and both Manchester clubs vying for 3^rd and 4^th. Middlesbrough and Leicester would beaten in succession ahead of the trip to Wembley to meet Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final. Arsenal were exceptional as they came from a goal down to seal 2-1 win in extra time to reach the final of the FA Cup once again!

They would be welcomed back to league action with a 2-0 defeat away against Spurs, a result which ensured that Spurs would finish ahead of Arsenal at the end of the season. The possibility of missing out on Champions League football for the first time since the 1997-98 season was becoming more and more of a possibility, especially with their next out against a Manchester United side whom they were level on points with. Arsenal would defeat United 2-0 at the Emirates, with Arsene Wenger securing his first ever league victory over Jose Mourinho! Fellow wins came against Southampton and in their game in hand versus Sunderland, yet they would go into their final day of the season match-up with Everton with fate no longer in their own hands…

The worst fear of the club became academic as Arsenal finished the season in 5^th place; missing out on the top 4 by just 1 point. Of course, the season wasn’t over! There was the FA Cup Final against newly crowned Premier League champions – Chelsea. In another fine showing; Alexis Sanchez would score his 30^th goal of the season to give Arsenal the lead, before Aaron Ramsey scored the winner to earn Arsenal a 2-1 win and a record 13^th FA Cup title win!

The notable players that season were:

Alexis Sanchez, Alex Iwobi, Danny Welbeck, Lucas Perez, Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott, Mesut Ozil, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey, Granit Xhaka, Mohamed Elneny, Francis Coquelin, Gabriel, Nacho Monreal, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi, Rob Holding, Kieran Gibbs, Callum Chambers, Mathieu Debuchy, Hector Bellerin, Petr Cech, David Ospina