Arsenal have finished the season in 4th place and have the FA Cup trophy glistening nicely in The Emirates trophy cabinet. However you feel the season went, you would have to say that after 9 barren seasons it has been a success.

We led the Premier League table for 128 days last season and until about Christmas so we have show that we can compete with the very best in England. Considering the amount of money Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham and even Manchester United spent over the summer and January, we’ve done very well.

But as we tailed off in the league after January, it’s obvious that we need some key signings this summer if we’re serious about finally winning the Premier League for the first time in 10 seasons.

But who do we need? Who should we sign?

Send me a message using this online form here or leave your comments below, and I will feature the best messages and leave a response.

So who do Arsenal need to get to the next level? Have your say here.

As we bask in the glory of our first major trophy in 9 seasons, I think it’s time to evaluate and see whether this season was a success or a failure.

Before the transfer window ended, things looked pretty gloomy. Jose Mourinho had joined Chelsea, Manchester City had spent big money, Tottenham Hotspur had lost Gareth Bale to Real Madrid but had spent around £100 million on reinforcements and Manchester United were still the champions from the season before (and still had the same squad that went on to win the league by a massive 11 points), added to that they had strengthened with Marouane Fellaini, a player we were reportedly after.

We had just lost to Aston Villa at home in the first game of the season, and missed out on any big signings. We had brought in Yaya Sanogo and Mathieu Flamini, both free transfers. We missed out on Luis Suarez (stayed at Liverpool), Gonzalo Higuain (Napoli), Stevan Jovetic (Manchester City), Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United) and host of other big names we were linked with all summer.

So it’s hard to establish what our expectations were at the start of the season. At the start of the summer everyone was optimistic that we would use the massive “war chest” at Arsene’s disposal and at that point I think most of us thought that this might be our year and we could finally win something, and at least compete for the Premier League. But after the Aston Villa game we wondered if Arsenal could finish in the Top Four and some of us even wanted Arsene Wenger to leave.

The Mesut Ozil signing lifted spirits and his arrival alone inspired Arsenal to top the Premier League for 128 days, the most any team was at the Premier League summit. Obviously, you only need to be top for one day (that last day) but there are positives and negatives to this season.

The positives are that we were so good for so much of the season, and the table doesn’t lie. Ozil and Ramsey in particular were the catalyst for all the good things we did for the first part of the season which saw us lead the Premier League table for most of the season. We were playing great football, had the belief and at times we were unstoppable.

The negatives however where that after managing to get ourselves in such a fantastic position we didn’t capitalise on our advantage. It was glaringly obvious that we needed another striker (possibly even two) to share the burden or replace Giroud, depending on your viewpoint, and we didn’t strengthen in January. There’s no doubt that Arsenal could have won the league if we had added a world class striker to help us kick on going into the second half of the season. Of course it’s easier said than done to find another striker but that’s what Arsene Wenger and his highly paid staff are at the club to do.

Another negative was the performances in the big games. We simply disappeared and had embarrassing matches against Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City all away from home. When you consider we finished 7 points off Manchester City at the end of the season, it’s not hard to realise that draws in those games and a top striker could have made the difference.

Everyone is saying that if Liverpool were ever going to win the league it would have been this season, as they don’t have the resources to improve next season and might lose their top players, but you could also say the same for Arsenal. They had such a good base to work with this season so it almost feels criminal that we didn’t maximise our potential and take that extra step and win the league.

Chelsea are only missing a striker and they’re certain to get one this summer, Manchester City will strengthen despite the transfer issues and Manchester United have recruited Luis Van Gaal who is one of Europe’s top top managers – and he will reportedly have around £150 million at his disposal. Tottenham will no doubt add to their squad (and will appoint someone who isn’t worse that Tim Sherwood), Everton are a bit of an unknown quantity and so are Liverpool, although the red side of Merseyside might come back stronger next season.

So it does feel like an opportunity missed.

Obviously, the FA Cup success was fantastic and I like every other Arsenal fan is still over the moon. It’s the least Arsene Wenger deserves, the players deserve it and most importantly the fans deserve it. And to be quite frank it’s just amazing to win a major trophy!

We say this every summer but you do feel that this is a massive summer for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal. After winning the FA Cup, it’s imperative that we kick on and build on this success.

So was this season successful or a failure? Vote below and leave your thoughts in the comments section:

The England squad was announced today and overall, the reception to it has been positive from fans and experts alike. The Manchester United duo of Carrick and Cleverley have been rightly left out, as well as the Toronto-bound Jermaine Defoe.

For Southampton, it’s a triumph as they have 3 players going in Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw.

Now I don’t profess to know a huge amount of Luke Shaw, and I’ve only seen him play a handful of games this season. But from what I’ve heard and read, he is supposed to be the next big thing (when it comes to left backs anyway) and Manchester United have been after him all season.

And however well he’s done this season (and congratulations to the lad by the way) I can’t see how he’s a better choice that Kieran Gibbs in that position. You already have Leighton Baines as Ashley Cole’s successor but for me, Gibbs is next in line.

Gibbs has played at the top level, for a top team, for the last 3 seasons. He has Champions League experience (surely an important trait for an International player) and has competed at the top of the Premier League. And possibly more importantly, if Arsenal do lift the FA Cup next weekend he will have experience of winning a major trophy in a major knockout competition.

You all know how I feel when Nacho Monreal is playing for us and that’s partly down to how poor defensively the Spaniard is, but also down to the fact Kieran Gibbs is fantastic defensively. He has fantastic pace, can deliver a good cross and is more than willing to support attacks.

With Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jack Wilshere making the squad, it would have made sense to take Kieran and if you’re talking about the number of appearances the young English lads have made this season – you could even argue that Gibbs is more worthy of a place on the plane than The Ox and Jack.

With Arsenal having secured 4th place and Champions League football for yet another season, Arsene confirmed that he would be signing a new deal which will seem him here for the next few seasons.

Over the last few months, there has been speculation to whether Arsene would stay but Arsenal fans have to wonder no more.

Arsene has had his critics this season, but if we end the campaign with Champions League football and the FA Cup, it will be regarded as a success amongst most Arsenal fans.

The fact we lead the Premier League for the most number of weeks than any other team (including the cash rich sides such as Manchester City and Chelsea) is a feat in itself, and remember we have had terrible injuries to key players such as Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott and Mesut Özil for big parts of the season. You just wonder how we would have done if we had Ramsey and Theo in particular.

We can end the season on 79 points, which is only 7 less than the number of points Manchester City and Liverpool can possibly achieve come the end of the season.

Many fans (including myself) have called for change but the facts speak for themselves.

The two regrets from this season are the injuries to big players, but also the performances against the big sides. Mathematically, we’d still be well in the race (if not leading it) if we managed to get draws against Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton and Manchester United away this season. If we played a tight game instead of playing extremely naive football, we’d be in there.

But who will (eventually) succeed Arsene Wenger as Arsenal manager? Obviously it won’t be this season or next, but who will be the man to take over the reigns after Arsene?

It’s a difficult question to answer as we don’t know when Arsene is thinking of retiring or moving on, but it is a question we will have to ask ourselves sooner or later.

Great result against Norwich today, Jose:

And below is a snapshot from an article from The Telegraph published at the start of the season: