Arsenal supporters unveil top five

RvP tops EA Sports poll

By Zain Alvi | 1st June 2012

The results are in and Arsenal fans have unsurprisingly chosen skipper Robin van Persie as the club’s Player of the Season in a poll sponsored by EA Sports. Alex Song, Tomas Rosicky, Laurent Koscienly, and Mikel Arteta round off the list of top five players honored by the Gunners’ faithful.

Revelation of RvP’s ranking above all his teammates was only a formality, particularly considering that his heroics throughout the 2011-12 campaign led the Dutchman to top the entire league.

He was chosen as the PFA Player of the Year and won the Football Writers Association (FWA) Footballer of the Year award a few weeks ago, making him an instant hot commodity in this summer’s transfer market.

The Gunners have already began contract talks with the man who received a staggering 77.7% of the fans’ votes during the aforementioned EA Sports poll and while no concrete results have emerged in their favor just yet, he has been tipped to remain a Gunner.

Song, 24, finished a distant second to the Gunners captain with only 4.98 percent of the vote.

However, the Cameroon international played in 83.9 percent of Arsenal’s total playing minutes last season, which is a more accurate reflection of his tireless contributions on both ends of the field.

Rosicky finished closely behind Song in third place with 4.79 percent of the votes.

Although the Czech international began showing flashes of brilliance since the very early stages of the season, it was not until a consistently impressive spell in the last three months of the season that he truly accomplished himself as a force in Arsenal’s attack.

Merely days after calls for him to be released over the summer, Rosicky turned it all around and proved that when healthy, he is an invaluable asset for any major club.

The 26-year old Koscielny ended up in fourth place with 4.29 percent of the votes.

Despite being frustrated by injuries at certain points of the season, Koscielny powered his way through difficult times using his newfound strength to help his side keep 15 clean sheets.

Arteta, a deadline-day signing from Everton in August last year, secured 4.1 percent of the votes to land in fifth place.

The 30-year old Spaniard thrived under the pressure to help compensate for the loss of former Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona last summer and despite watching his season end early due to injury, he managed to win the hearts of a vast majority of Gooners.