It couldn't have ended any better. Beattie with the OG, van with the double and Diaby with a sneaky header.
To finish it off, Barca destroying Manure in Rome.
A long, long sad season. It looked poor to start, good towards the end, and then faltered late on.
What were the different stages of the season? We dissect it and take a look.
Stage 1: The beginning
Arsenal 1-0 WBA
It was a poor start. Threatening they were, West Brom. They could get at the defence all day and we were lucky not to concede.
Fulham 1-0 Arsenal
A terribly disappointing result where Arsenal thoroughly deserved to be beaten. They were the weaker side in midfield and defence. Everything failed and halted.
Stage 2: The false recovery
Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle
Blackburn 0-4 Arsenal
Bolton 1-3 Arsenal
It looked very very promising, with Arsenal taking 9 out of all possible 9 points, and stopping in 1st. A draw away at Kiev surely meant Arsenal's form was improving.
Stage 3: Hull-verised.
Arsenal 1-2 Hull City
Sunderland 1-1 Arsenal
Then it happened. That famous Geovanni goal knocked Arsenal right out of 1st. The team was complacent, something which was going to be exposed week after week. A late equaliser from Cesc salvaged a point, but looking at it at that time, the title race was almost surely over.
Stage 4: The rise, then the massive slump.
A win against Everton and West Ham made things look promising, but the strangest thing happened against Spurs.
4-4. That was the scoreline.
The complacency was revealed, every weakness of the club was highlighted in that nightmare of a match.
Then came Stoke. Stoke City and they quickly raced 1-0 up, before shutting Arsenal out and killing them off in the 70+ minutes. Clichy grabbed the late goal but it was to be merely a consolation.
Stage 5: The light at the end of the tunnel.
After a goalless draw against Fenerbahce, it was time to face the toughest possible opponent in the league.
Manchester United.
Things came on to a crazy start, Almunia picking up a backpass from Mikael Silvestre. United were promptly awarded an indirect free-kick in the box.
Anderson laid off for Carrick but his shot was deflected off the boot of Silvestre.
Then Clichy raced along the left and skinned Gary Neville, before putting in a pacy high cross into the box. Rio Ferdinand was clearly beaten, and Bendtner was left with a good opportunity 8 yards from goal.
He headed high and the chance was gone.
Diaby later missed a golden opportunity as van der Sar was stranded, but a mixture of deflections from Giggs, Evra and Vidic ensured the ball was securely cleared.
Shortly after, a piece of brilliance from Cristiano Ronaldo floated the ball across the right flank. He followed up with a cut-back towards Anderson who was 9 yards out. He cleverly let the ball go through he legs and Wayne Rooney was left with a wonderful chance to score from 10 yards out.
The ball bobbled and he popped the ball up like a balloon, albeit a very important one.
Then the goal finally came. Sagna was fouled on the right flank and Fabregas delivered the free kick.
Dimitar Berbatov headed the ball to safety but it was not as safe as he might have imagined. Nasri lifted the ball with his right and in what seemed to be eternity, slotted towards the far post with his left peg. The crowd held its breath as the ball floated seemingly right through the United defence and landed with a light thump in the back of the net.
Then there was noise. Cheers. Unbelievable amounts of it. People all around the stadium hollering the Frenchman's name. Nasri cupped his ears and ran around like a mad dog who had escaped from his abusive master. At that moment, millions of people watching from their television screens were either ecstatic or incensed.
The replay showed that it wasn't entirely Nasri's goal. Gary Neville nicked it and narrowed the angle towards the middle of goal. van der Sar wasn't really watching the ball as it sailed past him and could only flail his arms to no avail.
Then imagine how Park Ji-Sung would have felt when he missed his opportunity. A good move from Ronaldo and Rooney released the Korean on the left, and he surged past Gael Clichy with surprising speed and verve. Then, on his left, he put one right across goal, only for Gallas to recover in time and put his body across goal.
Shortly after, Fabregas put his long-shot wide and Toure's header was narrowly wide from a Fabregas corner.
Then the dramatics returned. Ronaldo sent a corner flying towards the far post and from an incredibly narrow angle, Gael Clichy tapped the ball out of play when Anderson looked odds-on favourites to get favourable contact on the ball. It could quite easily have been an own-goal, but Clichy was rather fortunate.
Then Clichy came back to the fore, a free-kick from Giggs was seemingly headed away by the Frenchman. Replays later showed that it came off the Frenchman's right forearm rather then his head. Sir Alex Ferguson angrily waving his hands at the officials.
After 45 minutes of action-packed thrilling football, the referee called the match to half-time.
The discussions were short but intense. Paul Merson, on Match of the Day was complaining about Arsenal not having an anchor in the midfield, while Alan Shearer was chiding Man United's lack of striking options.
Mark Sullivan of New Jersey sent in a memorable email to MotD. " I think Nasri will notch his second of the day. The scoreline will be 2-1 to Arsenal, with Ronaldo and Nasri scoring."
Of course, Damien Le Tissier was first to mention that Man United had created marginally more chances and that Sagna was on a yellow card. He also criticised Arsene's tactics on using a 4-3-2-1 Christmas Tree tactic not unlike Milan's trademark formation, claiming that there was no physical presence at the back for Arsenal.
The match was promptly started at an incredible pace, Arsenal earning a corner within half a minute. The corner came to nothing but Arsenal stringed 13 passes before the ball landed at Fabregas' feet. The Spaniard looked around briefly. Theo Walcott was running diagonally, drawing Vidic alongside himself while Nasri lay alone outside the D.
He gave a quick quarter-second thought before neatly placing it to Nasri. His vision was second to none as usual, as Ferdinand predictably failed to mark Nasri. The Frenchman took a touch, gave van der Sar a sneaky look before putting his right foot squarely below the ball.
The crowd was silent, and everyone looked with suspenseful thought in mind. Then in a split-second - yells and screams all over the stadium.
For the second time Nasri had scored. Arsenal had lost against Stoke in their last Premier League match. Man United had won 8 matches in a row. But it didn't matter.
The scoreline read clearly in white: Arsenal 2
Manchester United 0
Then a chance was given straight after Nasri's second. Ronaldo pounced on a weak clearance and from a classic Pires angle, shot it right across the face of goal. What a disappointment.
The play was unstable and unusually fast. Both teams were playing for the win. United believed they were not out of it while Arsenal knew they could not do anything rash or risk losing the match.
Then Nasri burst through the lines and into the penalty box. Vidic was hovering above him. He was felled but the referee said nothing. The replay clearly showed a shirt-pull, and Nasri was denied a clear hat-trick chance.
Chances then came at a premium, with United pressing harder and harder, and Arsenal breaking faster and faster.
Approaching the last 20 minutes, a corner was well received by Almunia, but Carrick had kicked him in the chest in an attempt to take the ball from him. The referee showed a yellow card and Almunia was soon substituted after saving a tame Wayne Rooney header.
It looked grim and done for Man United until the 90th minute, when they finally scored. Giggs with a common cross that was cleared before he put it in for the second time. This time it rebounded off Toure to Rafael da Silva. He cushioned the ball on his chest before deftly curling one away from Fabianski with his left foot.
The Arsenal fans were getting nervous, and the United fans sensed a potential upheaval. Before long, the fourth official held up his important electronic board. The fans were dreading what they were thinking would be 4 minutes or perhaps 3 minutes due to Almunia's injury. The result turned out much worst than anyone thought.
6.
The board displayed clearly the number: 6.
The Arsenal fans groaned and blew imaginary whistles with high-pitched sounds. The United fans, however, were roaring in approval.
It was a nerve-wrecking 6 minutes. Time after time Giggs and Ronaldo curled cross after cross. Every single time it was cleared by Gallas until the very last one.
Rooney rose menacingly to reach it, as Ronaldo curled what looked to be the perfect cross. Sagna was beaten, as was a stranded Toure, who was busily marking Rio Ferdinand.
Then the hero of all heroes - Lukasz Fabianski rose up high and snatched the ball literally right out of Rooney's reach. He clutched the ball in relief as the clock ticked towards the 94th minute mark.
Soon then Toure called for the ball. United had half their team in Arsenal's half and some on the half-way line. Only Nemanja Vidic was left. Toure took the ball up from Fabianski and cleverly threaded one to Nicklas Bendtner. Rather then bringing the ball to the corner flag, he took his time, dragged the ball and eventually shot high from 14 yards out.
The fans desperately kept the ball but there was no keeping the final whistle. As van der Sar smashed his goal-kick towards the midfield, the referee looked up to the sky and blew his whistle.
The sound echoed around the Emirates resoundingly, fans screaming their approval as the match was brought to an end.
Forever what would be a Premier League classic.
(Aaron Ramsey)
