Arsenal's road to 2,000 top-flight wins – the history and the memories

Arsenal’s next win in the Premier League will be their 2,000th in the top division of English football. Only Liverpool (2,065) have reached this milestone before and the London club are almost 100 victories clear of Manchester United in third.

Woolwich Arsenal, as they were called until 1914, registered their first top-flight win in September 1904 when they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 at home at the Manor Ground in south-east London (they were yet to move north across the River Thames to Highbury).

The club have gone on to win 1,998 more matches in the First Division/Premier League and 13 league titles since then. They have been in the domestic game’s top tier continuously since 1919-20 — by far the longest unbroken run of any club.

The Athletic has delved into the numbers and key statistics behind those wins and our Arsenal writers have picked their favourite victories from over the years.

First, here are the 14 clubs to have recorded 1,000 wins in England’s elite division.

Despite picking up seven fewer titles than Manchester United (13 to 20), Arsenal have won 91 more matches than them in the division — largely down to the fact they have played 356 more top-tier games.

Bolton Wanderers are the only one of the 14 clubs with 1,000 wins never to have won the title, and among the teams in the top 10, Tottenham Hotspur are the sole side not to have won it at least four times (two titles).

Arsenal’s first top-flight win came under manager Phil Kelso, who had joined the club that year (1904) from Edinburgh’s Hibernian. The Scot went on to win 54 more matches in charge of Arsenal in the elite division — one of 13 managers to record 50 or more top-flight wins at the club.

It took Arsenal almost 71 years to reach their 1,000th win (11 seasons were cancelled due to the two World Wars) — a 3-0 victory over Newcastle United in March 1975 under Bertie Mee, with Wilf Rostron, Alan Ball and Brian Kidd scoring the goals. Forty-nine years later, Arsenal are on the cusp of a 2,000th victory.

The club have won 25 games or more in a top-flight season on nine occasions — with two of those coming in the past two campaigns. Five of the nine have come in the Premier League era.

The seasons on the chart before the Premier League era (1992-93 onwards) were 42-game campaigns. The Premier League seasons listed all consisted of 38 matches. Arsenal won the title in the first six of these nine seasons and came second in each of the most recent three (2004-05 to Chelsea and 2022-23 and 2023-24 to Manchester City).

The fewest games Arsenal have won in a season, by far, is three from 38 matches in 1912-13. Managed by George Morrell, they registered their first win of that campaign in their fifth fixture on September 21 before going 23 games without another victory until March 8. They beat Manchester City and West Bromwich Albion in back-to-back matches before closing the season out with five losses and three draws to, unsurprisingly, finish 20th out of 20 and drop down to the Second Division. This remains the only time Arsenal have been relegated.

That season was the second of just eight instances of a club winning fewer than four games in an English top-flight campaign. It did not happen again until Stoke City’s three victories in 42 attempts in 1984-85.

There were 34 games in 1904-05, 38 in 1907-08 and 1909-10 (as well as 1912-13) and 42 in 1923-24, 1965-66 and 1969-70. Arsenal went from 12 wins in that latter campaign to a club-record 29 in the following one.

Here are Arsenal’s five biggest wins in the top flight — all by an eight-goal margin.

The last time Arsenal won a game in the top division by seven goals was against Middlesbrough in January 2006 when a Thierry Henry hat-trick helped Arsene Wenger’s side to a 7-0 victory.

Here are the five players to have made the most top-flight appearances for the club.

The 1993-94 season was Arsenal’s first without either Armstrong or O’Leary playing for them since 1960-61 (Armstrong made his debut in the top flight for the club in February 1962, and O’Leary’s final match for them in the division came in May 1993). Armstrong, who played as a winger, is the only one of the five who was not a defender.

And finally, here are Arsenal’s five leading goalscorers in the top flight.

Henry and Ian Wright are the only two of these five to finish as the leading scorer in an English top-flight season. Henry did so on four occasions (2001-02, 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06). Only Jimmy Greaves (six) and Steve Bloomer (five) have been the top scorer in England’s top division more often. Greaves’ final season where he topped the charts was for Tottenham in 1968-69 and Bloomer’s was in 1903-04 for Derby County.

Wright scored the most goals in the top flight in 1991-92, the last season before the launch of the Premier League. He found the net five times for Crystal Palace in his first eight matches of that campaign before transferring to Arsenal in late September (no transfer windows back then!) and scoring 24 more goals for George Graham’s team.

In the 125 completed seasons of the English top division, this is one of just two instances of the highest-scoring player representing two clubs during the campaign concerned. The other occurred a year later, when Teddy Sheringham scored one for Nottingham Forest, then 21 for Tottenham.

Our Arsenal writers’ favourite wins

Amy Lawrence

Liverpool 0-2 Arsenal; May 26, 1989

To not choose the game that had the most profound impact on me (and a significant impact on English football) would be insane. Arsenal’s best performance ever? Probably not, although it was a tactical masterpiece. Arsenal’s most important win ever? That’s hard to say but this is a contender. Arsenal’s most dramatic win ever? Surely. George Graham’s young team defied all odds, and won the title in what UK TV commentator Brian Moore described as “maybe the most dramatic finish in the history of the Football League”. There is so much depth and emotion to this story it really needs a book or a film to do it justice…

Arsenal celebrate winning the First Division title at Anfield (Mark Leech/Getty Images)

Arsenal 4-2 Liverpool; April 9, 2004

This stands out as the most emotionally powerful moment in Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ season and it was a wild ride of a game. Generally, that historic campaign was quite serene, but this came during a wobble shocking enough to leave the Highbury crowd stunned. Henry described it as being like the old place “stopped breathing”. When Liverpool took a half-time lead, a few days after Arsenal had been knocked out of both the Champions League and FA Cup in successive games, the players could feel everything crumbling. The passion and panache with which they recovered was glorious.

Aston Villa 2-4 Arsenal; February 18, 2023

Picking a top three of anything for the chronically indecisive is an impossible task. So this one is just for the feels. It’s about belonging, about family, about passing the baton. My first away game outside London — a big deal to travel as part of the tribe — was at Aston Villa in 1988 (David Rocastle’s lob was something to behold). Taking my sons to their first away game, also at Villa Park, and watching it through their eyes was more beautiful than I could have imagined. My youngest wore a replica of the 1988 Rocastle shirt. Jorginho’s strike went in off ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez’s head. The crowd went mental. Everyone sang and laughed the whole way home on the train. All in all, a perfect example of being part of this crazy thing called Arsenal.

James McNicholas

Arsenal 4-1 Sheffield Wednesday; September 16, 1996

Sometimes, you remember a game purely because of an individual performance. When Patrick Vieira came off the bench to make his Arsenal debut, it felt like modern football arrived at Highbury. Vieira’s supremacy was immediately apparent. It was as if a gangly Martian had landed in north London and begun playing football from another dimension before an awe-struck Highbury crowd. Arsene Wenger had yet to formally arrive, but Vieira’s astonishing cameo established the football template for the manager’s best years — combining athletic power with technical brilliance.

Patrick Vieira’s debut offered a glimpse of what was to come (Mark Leech/Getty Images)

Arsenal 5-3 Middlesbrough; August 22, 2004

This match had a historic significance: Arsenal’s victory meant they equalled Nottingham Forest’s all-time league record of 42 games unbeaten. That’s not, however, why this game sticks in my memory. This was the Invincibles at their swaggering best, roaring back from 3-1 behind to demolish their opponents. I’ll also remember this game for the stunning goal scored by Jose Antonio Reyes — an electric flash of potential never quite fulfilled.

Arsenal 4-2 Wigan Athletic; May 7, 2006

I was one of the 38,359 lucky souls to attend this, the club’s final game at Highbury. It was the perfect send-off: Arsenal came from behind to get a win that secured Champions League qualification, thanks in part to West Ham United’s lasagne-fuelled victory over Tottenham a few miles down the road the same afternoon.

It was a hugely emotional occasion — and for sheer iconography, this game is hard to top. I’ll never forget the image of Henry collapsing to the turf after scoring the penalty that sealed his hat-trick, and kissing the penalty spot. Henry was arguably never quite the same after leaving that hallowed stadium (he joined Barcelona a year later) — and for a long time, it felt like Arsenal might not be either.

Art de Roche

Bolton 2-3 Arsenal, March 29, 2008

The 2007-08 season was the first of those ‘glory years’ from 2005 to 2014 when Arsenal challenged for the Premier League title. It was also the season I begged my parents to get a Sky Sports subscription, so I could watch their games live at home instead of in the noisy pub down the road. Although the season ended in disappointment, going from 2-0 down with 10 men at half-time to winning 3-2 is a core memory. I still love the fact Cesc Fabregas’ winner went in via three deflections (it was officially classified as an own goal), rather than going in cleanly, as it gave an almost rhythmic feeling to the goal. I still have that season’s shirt at home, with the gold printing on the back, but I’m sure mine hasn’t been soaked anywhere as near as much as the players’ versions were that day.

Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham; February 26, 2012

This was again not from a league-winning year but forgive me, I wanted to pick a win from my formative years watching Arsenal. The backend of most of these seasons tended to be about Champions League qualification, and this was the game that came closest to embodying that era.

Ten points behind Spurs at kick-off and 2-0 down after 34 minutes, I remember the sick feeling in my stomach. Bacary Sagna getting on the scoresheet was always a rare treat, but Robin van Persie’s curler to equalise remains one of my favourite finishes of his. This was the first rendition of an end-of-season Tomas Rosicky carrying Arsenal into the top four, while Theo Walcott being another Emirates cult hero to score took the day to another level.

Arsenal managed to leapfrog Tottenham within four matches. They stayed third, with Spurs missing out on Champions League football despite finishing fourth as Chelsea, who had come sixth, beat Bayern Munich on penalties in the final a week later. Top-four finishes for Arsenal were largely taken for granted then but after six seasons out of the competition recently, the significance of Champions League football is not lost on anyone now.

Tomas Rosicky and Arsenal overhauled their north London rivals to qualify for the Champions League in 2012 (Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Arsenal 3-2 Liverpool; October 9, 2022

It feels important to include a meaningful victory for the most consistent Arsenal side in two decades. Mikel Arteta’s men were on the cusp of proving to everyone that they could compete against top teams for spells in 2022. The dramatic 2-1 loss to Manchester City on New Year’s Day was a glimpse into their progress, but this win against Liverpool early the next season felt transformative for the belief of the players and supporters. The fast start of Gabriel Martinelli’s first-minute goal signified their threat. The fightback from 2-1 down, particularly with Bukayo Saka’s winning penalty, showed their resolve. That, alongside their confidence, has only grown since.

(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)