Wenger's Arsenal on the wane

Martin O'Neill made a return to Premiership football in 2006/07.

After his spell with Leicester City (1995-2000), O'Neill left to manage boyhood favourites Celtic (2000-2005). Then, after one year on the sidelines for personal reasons, he returned to the game to manage Aston Villa.

Season 2006/07 was Arsenal's worst since Arsene Wenger took over 10 years ago.

The long-term injuries to Thierry Henry and Robin Van Persie were a cruel blow to the Gunners. The good number of youngsters in the squad showed promise but Wenger still needs to sign more experienced players to bolster his resources.

Arsenal also had problems to settle down at their new home - the Emirates Stadium - even though the team earned one more point at home than they did at Highbury the season before.

The Londoners suffered mostly when playing sides from the lower half of the classification but the fans treasured the double they did against champions Man. United.

Another curiosity was that Arsenal's opponents opened the scoring 20 times but the Gunners went on to gather 22 points from such games.

Yet, when the team was in a winning position they never ended on the losing side in the Premiership.

Arsenal were awarded 12 penalties in the league and led the way with ten in the number of conversions.

February was a disastrous month for Wenger's team in cup competitions. They were eliminated by Blackburn in an FA Cup fifth round replay, received a great setback in the Champions League following a 0-1 loss at PSV Eindhoven and lost the League Cup final to Chelsea in Cardiff.

The 2006 Champions League finalists were eliminated by PSV following a 1-1 second-leg home draw in early March.

Ellis's exit

O'Neill arrived at the end of a long era with Doug Ellis as master of Villa Park. The latter was replaced by US billionaire Randy Lerner after the board accepted a £62.6 million takeover bid.

Four consortiums had been linked with the club but the board recommended Lerner's offer to shareholders.

Ellis, 82, had been club chairman from 1968 to 1975 and since 1982 - the year when Villa captured their biggest prize, the European Cup.

O'Neill's aim was to steer Villa into Europe. Had the Midlanders obtained positive results in the middle phase of the campaign - they had a winless streak of 11 league games - they would have made it to the UEFA Cup.

They also squandered a good number of points due to their astounding total of draws - 17.

Aston Villa started the campaign on a sound footing with a nine-match unbeaten run. They finished the campaign with the same flourish, stringing up an unbeaten stretch of another nine encounters.

Villa were also proud to have completed the 2006/07 season with a remarkable disciplinary record in the Premiership, being topped only by Tottenham.

Yet, they were unlucky in the draw to reward the best two Fair Play clubs with a UEFA Cup place as they failed to be drawn out of the hat.

In domestic cup competitions, Villa lost 0-4 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the fourth round of the League Cup which eventually finished in the Blues' showcase.

In the FA Cup, the Villans were edged by beaten finalists Manchester United (1-2) in the third round at Old Trafford.