Arsenal

England · one of the fourteen clubs in the Normal pool

Arsenal have won the league and FA Cup Double three times and, in 2003–04, became the first side since Preston North End in 1888–89 to go through an English top-flight season unbeaten. The European Cup is the trophy they have never won.

The story in brief

1970 and 1971: Mee's Double

Under Bertie Mee, with Frank McLintock captaining a hard, organised side, Arsenal won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1970 — their first European trophy — and the league and FA Cup Double the following season. Charlie George scored the extra-time winner against Liverpool in the cup final.

The 1970s and 1980s: Brady and Jennings

The later 1970s team of Liam Brady, Pat Jennings, Pat Rice, David O'Leary and Frank Stapleton won the 1979 FA Cup, beating Manchester United 3–2 in a famous last five minutes, and lost the 1980 Cup Winners' Cup final to Valencia on penalties.

1986–1995: George Graham's back four

George Graham built Arsenal on a defence of Lee Dixon, Nigel Winterburn, Steve Bould and the captain Tony Adams. They won the 1989 title with Michael Thomas's last-minute goal at Anfield in the final match — Arsenal needed to win by two and did — and the 1991 title losing only one league game. Both domestic cups followed in 1993 and the Cup Winners' Cup in 1994, with David Seaman in goal and Ian Wright scoring.

1996–2006: Wenger's Arsenal

Arsène Wenger arrived in 1996 to find Dennis Bergkamp already there, and added Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires and Thierry Henry. Arsenal won the Double in 1998 and 2002, and in 2003–04 the "Invincibles" won the league without losing a match, part of a 49-game unbeaten run. In 2006 they reached the Champions League final and lost it 2–1 to Barcelona in Paris, after playing most of the match with ten men.

Since 2006

The move to the Emirates Stadium was followed by a long gap without trophies, broken by FA Cups in 2014, 2015 and 2017. Mikel Arteta, appointed in 2019, won the FA Cup in 2020 and built a young side round Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard, William Saliba and Declan Rice that finished second in the Premier League three seasons running from 2023.

Arsenal in Treble Winner

Arsenal are in the Normal pool but not in Easy. On Normal they come up in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s; the Double side of the 1960s and 1970s is Hard only.

Arsenal in the game's pool, decade by decade.
Decade	Players	Best-XI rating	Rank	First on	Highest rated in the game
1960s	97	75.4	112	Hard	Frank McLintock, David Herd, Joe Baker
1970s	75	74.9	146	Hard	Bob Wilson, Pat Rice, Frank McLintock
1980s	84	74.5	177	Normal	Tony Adams, Pat Rice, Pat Jennings
1990s	117	78.7	36	Normal	Thierry Henry, Tony Adams, David Seaman
2000s	171	81.9	8	Normal	Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira
2010s	173	75.5	105	Normal	Robin van Persie, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Olivier Giroud
2020s	78	75.7	102	Normal	Bukayo Saka, William Saliba, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Few clubs in the pool depend on one decade as much as Arsenal. The game rates the Wenger 2000s among the strongest cells anywhere, and nothing else Arsenal have comes close: the 1990s are next, and every other decade is clustered well below.

Drafting tips

The 2000s are the jackpot. Henry, Bergkamp, Vieira, Pires, Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole are all there; an Arsenal 2000s spin fills almost any shirt well.
Henry spans three decades: the end of the 1990s, the 2000s and his brief return in the 2010s.
Adams for centre-back appears in three decades, from the 1980s to the 2000s.
Re-spin away from the rest if the shirt is important; the other Arsenal decades are among the weaker cells in the Normal pool.