Arsenal on the Cusp of Achieving 2,000 English Top-Flight League Wins

A win this weekend at home to Liverpool would take Arsenal to 2,000 top-flight league wins, becoming just the second English club to achieve the feat.

Arsenal have the opportunity to hit a new landmark this weekend. If they defeat Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday, the Gunners will become just the second English team to win 2,000 top-flight league matches.

As it stands, their opponents Liverpool (2,066) are the only English club to have reached the landmark, with the Reds passing 2,000 top-flight league victories back in December 2021.

Mikel Arteta’s side put themselves on the cusp of reaching 2,000 following their 3-1 victory over Southampton on 5 October but missed the chance to hit the landmark two weeks later following a shock 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth. However, with Manchester United 90 wins behind them in the all-time ranking, there is no doubt that Arsenal will be the next team to do it.

Of their top-flight league wins, 229 have come at the Emirates Stadium following their move there in 2006, with 951 coming at Highbury. Considering away grounds only, Goodison Park has been their favoured venue, where they have defeated Everton 32 times in the top flight.

Overall, Arsenal have enjoyed 102 of their 1,999 wins against Everton, which is the most often that one team has beaten another in English league history.

Current boss Arteta is one of eight managers to have won 100+ top-flight games with Arsenal, passing the landmark toward the end of last season. Meanwhile, among players, legendary captain Tony Adams leads the way with 255 wins – his final game for the club in April 2002 saw him overtake club record appearance maker David O’Leary.

Managers to win 100+ Top-Flight League Games at Arsenal

Arsène Wenger – 476 wins
Bertie Mee – 181 wins
Tom Whittaker – 178 wins
Herbert Chapman – 171 wins
George Graham – 162 wins
Terry Neill – 134 wins
George Allison – 112 wins
Mikel Arteta – 108 wins

Players with Most Top-Flight League Wins with Arsenal

Tony Adams – 255 wins
David O’Leary – 254 wins
Lee Dixon – 230 wins
George Armstrong – 214 wins
Nigel Winterburn – 213 wins
David Seaman – 209 wins
Eddie Hapgood – 198 wins
Bob John – 193 wins
Dennis Bergkamp – 186 wins
Pat Rice – 180 wins

“One-nil to the Arsenal” has been joyfully sung by the Gunners crowd for over 30 years now, and unsurprisingly it’s their most popular winning scoreline in the top-flight. Overall, Arsenal have had 29 different winning scores, with 1-0 being achieved 398 times so far.

With the 2,000-win landmark potentially coming this weekend, we look back at some of Arsenal’s other top-flight win landmarks over time.

1st Win
2-0 vs Wolverhampton Wanderers (September 1904)

It was in 1904-05 that Arsenal – then known as Woolwich Arsenal – played their first season in the top-flight, having finished as runners up in the second tier the previous year. They had failed to win any of their first three top-flight games (D1 L2), but then welcomed Wolves to the Manor Ground.

It was the Gunners’ first competitive meeting with Wolves, and they won 2-0 thanks to goals from Charlie Satterthwaite and Tim Coleman. It was Satterthwaite’s first goal for the club, and he would go on to finish as Arsenal’s top scorer in their first top-flight campaign with 11 goals.

100th Win
1-0 vs Preston North End (October 1911)

Arsenal’s 100th top-flight victory would come in their eighth such campaign. They hadn’t finished higher than sixth since their promotion in 1904 but had managed to stay in the division during that time.

Arsenal visited the first ever top-flight champions having won just two of their 10 prior league visits to Deepdale (D4 L4) and had been beaten 4-1 at the ground the previous season. However, an Alf Common strike secured a 1-0 victory for the Gunners in Preston.

500th Win
6-0 vs Charlton Athletic (September 1947)

Between Arsenal’s 100th and 500th top-flight wins, there had been two World Wars, they had moved from south to north London and had won the league title five times.

The 1947-48 campaign would secure the Gunners their sixth title, as they started the season with six consecutive league victories. The fourth of these was a 6-0 win against FA Cup holders Charlton and was the Gunners’ biggest league victory since a 7-1 win at Villa Park in 1935 (a match famous for seeing Ted Drake score all seven of Arsenal’s goals).

Ronnie and Reg did the damage to Charlton years before the Kray twins came to prominence – Ronnie Rooke scored twice with Reg Lewis netting four of his own in this demolition.

1,000th Win
3-0 vs Newcastle United (March 1975)

Arsenal’s 1,000th top-flight victory came via a 3-0 win over Newcastle, with goals from Alan Ball, Brian Kidd and a debut strike from 18-year-old Wilf Rostron.

Rostron would also score in his next game for the Gunners against Burnley but would then make just 17 more appearances, without scoring, over two years before being sold to Sunderland in 1977. He remains one of just 17 players to have scored in both of his first two appearances for Arsenal in the club’s history.

1,500th Win
2-1 vs Chelsea (December 2001)

The last big milestone was Arsenal’s 1,500th top-flight victory, and potentially a good omen for the north London side as they won the title at the end of this particular campaign.

Arsenal were unbeaten in 12 league games against Chelsea coming into this match, and had also just come off the back of an impressive victory versus Liverpool at Anfield three days before.

Frank Lampard gave Chelsea a first-half lead, but goals from Sol Campbell – his first for the club – and Sylvain Wiltord in the second half gave Arsenal the three points.

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