Premier League rankings: Arsenal analysis, line-up & predicted finish

Arsenal begin a third season without Champions League football and they have only themselves to blame after bungling performances in the final furlong of Unai Emery's debut season.

The Gunners' no-show in the Europa League final – they lost 4-1 to Chelsea – was the last chance of returning to Europe's premier club competition and it should not have come to that as Arsenal failed on numerous occasions to secure a top-four Premier League spot.

Emery will spent the summer mourning Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's injury-time penalty miss at Spurs, a 3-2 home loss to Crystal Palace and 1-1 draw with Brighton – all in the final ten matches as Arsenal eventually finished fifth.

There were many good moments at the Emirates. Palace and Manchester City were the only teams to down the Gunners, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United were all beaten by two-goal margins and Liverpool were happy to leave with a point.

However, Emery's side were pathetic away, conceding 35 of their 51 goals on the road. The only clean sheet came at a Watford team reduced to ten men on 11 minutes and there were no wins at their fellow top-half finishers.

The frustration will be that scoring goals is supposed to be the hardest part of football and yet Arsenal find it relatively easy. Deadly marksman Aubameyang (22) and Alexandre Lacazette (13) plundered 35 between them in a grand total of 73. Only the top two bagged more.

Behind those numbers, however, are concerning statistics.

Arsenal were just 11th in the shots table and seventh in attempts on target as they comfortably lagged behind their top-six rivals on expected-goals ratings.

Dani Ceballos's arrival on loan from Real Madrid compensates for the departure of Aaron Ramsey in midfield but influential centre-back leader Laurent Koscielny went AWOL in an attempt to force a move back to France and unless Arsenal improve defensively they could once again be on the outside looking in at the Champions League.

Possible team 3-4-1-2: Leno; Holding, Sokratis, Monreal; Bellerin, Xhaka, Torreira, Kolasinac; Ceballos; Lacazette, Aubameyang.

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