Patrick endured a challenging start to the season when he was sent-off in each of Arsenal’s first two Premiership fixtures. He overcame his early set-backs with a two goal salvo in the Gunners next match and it was this kind of character that Patrick continued to illustrate throughout the season.

Voted Carling’s Premiership Player of the Season, Patrick’s tally of five goals last term was his highest for the Gunners. He also notched his first goals for France during the summer’s Confederations Cup, scoring the winner in France’s 1-0 triumph over Japan in the Final.

Robert had a superb first season at Highbury, starting more matches than any other first team player. He also enjoyed the happy knack of scoring crucial goals, including a marvellous late equaliser against Lazio and the winner in the FA Cup Semi-Final against Spurs. Another goal against Spurs was particularly poignant as it came on the day of David Rocastle’s tragic death - one of Arsenal’s greatest players to wear that number.

After winning World Cup 1998 and Euro 2000, Robert continued to shine with France and he earned the ‘Golden Ball’ in the Confederations Cup.

Freddie made history when he became the first player to score in an FA Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff and the young attacking midfielder continued his habit of regularly hitting the target with nine goals including both in Arsenal’s 2-0 Highbury defeat of Lazio in the Champions League.

Freddie’s all-action style has made him a firm favourite with the Gunners’ faithful, who also enjoy his ever changing hairstyle! Freddie can play anywhere across the midfield and has also featured as a striker on a number of occasions, a position he has also occupied for Sweden.

Ray’s 10th season as a first-teamer at Highbury was a fruitful one as he played an important role in both domestic and European football. Following a scorching hat-trick the previous season against Werder Bremen, Ray hit another treble last season in the 5-0 home demolition of Newcastle.

The versatile midfielder also grabbed two more European goals including a thumping effort in the Champions League Quarter Final against Valencia.

Ray’s productive year kept him in the frame for his country, with first Kevin Keegan and then Sven Goran Eriksson selecting him for action.

A former team-mate of Silvinho at Corinthians, Edu arrived in London at the turn of the year and made his first team debut soon after against Leicester City at Filbert Street. The remainder of the season proved frustrating for the stylish midfielder, who suffered from a hamstring injury that blighted his first team opportunities for the remainder of the campaign.

A winner of the World Club Championship whilst with Corinthians in 2000, he also won the Brazilian Championship in 1998 and 1999 whilst with the Sao Paulo side.

Having joined the Club four years ago, the vast majority of Gilles appearances for the Gunners have come in the last two seasons, when he has proved an important member of Arsene Wenger’s squad, not least because of his ability to play in both central defence and midfield.

Quiet and thoughtful off the pitch, Gilles is a competitive presence when playing, giving everything to the Arsenal cause. The Frenchman grabbed his only goal of the season in Arsenal’s penultimate home game of the campaign against Everton.

Midfielder Giovanni signed from Rangers just five days after Francis Jeffers. The man from Rotterdam has earned over 20 caps for his country, helping Holland to the semi-finals of the 2000 European Championships.

Following his move from Feyenoord to Rangers, ‘Gio’ won the domestic treble in his first season (1998-99), achieving a second league and cup success with the Glasgow club the following year.

Gunners supporters will be hoping to see the Dutchman peppering the opposition’s goal with the powerful free-kicks for which he became famous at Ibrox.

Jermaine is the youngest ever player to feature for Arsenal’s first team, he was just under 17 years old when he played in the Worthington Cup. He also featured twice in Notts County’s first team as a 15 year-old almost a year prior to making his Arsenal bow.

Jermaine was instrumental in Arsenal’s youth team winning the FA Youth Cup in the past two seasons, though he missed the second-leg of last season’s Final to produce a hugely promising performance against Barcelona in David Seaman’s Testimonial. He broke into the England under-21 team at the end of last season.

Junichi became the first Japanese player to make a permanent transfer to an English club when he arrived at Arsenal in July from Gamba Osaka and his arrival at Highbury created huge interest across the footballing globe.

One of the stars of the Japanese national team, Junichi was part of Japan’s Asian Cup winning side last year as well as their victorious Kirin Cup campaign.

‘Ina’ arrives from Japan with a reputation as a tenacious, all action central midfielder with an impressive work rate.