Arsenal in the Premier League
With the start of the Premier League just 4 weeks away, it is an opportunity to look at how some of the teams have performed since its inception. We begin with Arsenal, with similar analysis coming through over the next few weeks for other teams.
Arsenal are one of the six teams to have never been relegated in the thirty year history of the Premier League. They have had only 6 managers in this time, with Arsene Wenger managing them for 22 seasons. The current manager, Mikel Arteta, is set to become the second longest serving manager of the team in the Premier League, with him all set to begin his third season with the club.
Ranking in each season
Arsenal have had two of their worst season finishes in the inaugural 1992-93 season, where they finished tenth, and two seasons later in the 1994-95 season, where they finished twelfth. They have never finished in the bottom half of the table since the 1994-95 season. The first 9 seasons under Wenger were the best years, with Arsenal finishing in the top 3 in each of those seasons. Wenger in fact finished third in his first season with the club, which was the best position Arsenal had finished in the league till then. He won the league in his next season, followed by three third place finishes, till he orchestrated the Invincibles season, where Arsenal won the league without losing a single game. After the next season, where Arsenal finished second, began a steady period of stagnation for the club. They alternated between finishing third and fourth for the next 10 seasons, so much so that it became a meme. After finishing second in the 2015-16 season when Leicester City won the league, Wenger's Arsenal began to decline, finishing outside of the top four for the next two seasons. In his final season with the club, Wenger finished sixth, his lowest league finish during his career with Arsenal.
Unai Emery, Wenger's replacement, managed to finish one place higher than Wenger in his fist season, and even took Arsenal to a Europa League final, where they lost 0-4 to Chelsea in Baku. Emery was sacked in the middle of the 2019-20 season, and was replaced by Mikel Arteta, who won the FA Cup at the end of the season. He could not finish better than Emery had in his first stint as manager for a full season, where Arsenal finished eighth for a second consecutive season. These two are Arsenal's worst finishes in the Premier League since the 1994-95 season, where they finished outside of the top ten. Despite a rocky start to the 2021-22 season, Arteta was able to finish the season at fifth position. Arsenal were in contention for finishing fourth, but a series of lackluster performances towards the end of the season saw them miss out of the Champions League spot.
Points tally in each season
Points in each season for Arsenal in the Premier League
1994-95 season saw Arsenal score the least number of points during their time in the league, with the 2019-20 season where Emery and Arteta were the managers being their joint second lowest points tally. Arteta improved the number of points that Arsenal ended up with in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, but with increased competition in the top half of the league, saw them unable to break into the top four. Arsenal won the league twice with their top two highest points tally, with the third title win coming with their sixth highest points tally.
Wins and losses in each season
Arsenal wins in each season
The least number of wins in their history was in the 1994-95 season, where Arsenal won 13 games. Their second least number of wins took place in the 2019-20 season where Arteta was appointed in the middle of the season. The least number of wins Wenger had in his career at the club was 19. His first and last seasons finished with 19 wins, with two other seasons having the same number. Arteta managed increase the number of wins in the next two seasons. Two league titles were won with 26 wins, and, and third was won with 23, the sixth highest number of wins in their history.
Arsenal losses in each season
The two highest number of losses by the club were in the 1992-93 season and in the 1994-95 season. Wenger finished his time at Arsenal with his highest number of losses in a season, at 13. Arsenal finished the last two seasons, both full seasons under Arteta, also with 13 losses. A massive achievement for the club is that they are the only ones in the thirty year history of the league to finish a season with no losses. The 2003-04 squad is known as the Invincibles for that reason.
Goals in each season
Goals scored by Arsenal in each Premier League season
Arsenal have scored the least number of goals in the 1995-96 season. They have managed to score at least 50 since then. Their first league was won with 68 goals, their fourteenth highest goal tally, while the Invincibles season was won with their eighth highest goal tally. Arteta has been a small increase in the number of goals scored under his tenure, and the next season is going to be his true test in this regard.
Goals scored against Arsenal in each Premier League season
Wenger ended his time at the club with the highest number of goals conceded in a single season by the club. It was matched by Emery in the next season, but Arsenal ended up conceding 45+ goals in 4 out of the last 5 seasons. The goals scored against the club chart, together with the goal difference chart, shows a clear deterioration at the club in the last 5 years. To Arsenal's credit, they finished with a positive goal difference in each of their seasons in the Premier League.
Goals difference at the end of Premier League season for Arsenal
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