The 2019–20 season was

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

's 28th season in the Premier League, their 94th consecutive season in the top flight of English football and 103rd season in the top flight overall. The club participated in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by th ...

and

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

. Despite finishing eighth and enduring one of their most turbulent seasons in modern history, Arsenal ended the season with silverware, winning the FA Cup for a record fourteenth time.

Review

Throughout the summer transfer window, Arsenal completed the signings of forwards

Gabriel Martinelli Gabriel Teodoro Martinelli Silva (born 18 June 2001), known as Gabriel Martinelli, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Arsenal and the Brazil national team. Born and raised in Guarulhos, Martinelli began ...

and club-record signing Nicolas Pepe; midfielder Dani Ceballos on a one-year loan; and defenders

Kieran Tierney Kieran Tierney (born 5 June 1997) is a Scottish professional association footballer, footballer who plays as a left-back or centre-back for Premier League club Arsenal F.C., Arsenal and the Scotland national football team, Scotland national team ...

David Luiz David Luiz Moreira Marinho (born 22 April 1987) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays for Flamengo. Primarily a centre back, he can also be deployed as a defensive midfielder. After starting out at Vitoria, David Luiz moved to Be ...

, and

William Saliba William Alain André Gabriel Saliba (born 24 March 2001) is a French professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Arsenal and the France national team. Club career Saint-Étienne Saliba began playing football at the age of six, c ...

, the latter of which was sent back to former club AS Saint-Etienne on a one-year loan. What the Arsenal fanbase viewed as lack of budget and ambition from owner Stan Kroenke led many to protest his ownership with the social media hashtag "#WeCareDoYou". Arsenal released first-team players

Stephan Lichtsteiner Stephan Lichtsteiner (; born 16 January 1984) is a Swiss former professional footballer. An attacking right-back or wing-back, he was known for his energetic runs down the right wing, as well as his stamina and athleticism, which earned him the ...

, Aaron Ramsey, and

Danny Welbeck Daniel Nii Tackie Mensah Welbeck (born 26 November 1990) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for club Brighton & Hove Albion F.C., Brighton & Hove Albion. Welbeck m ...

, sold David Ospina,

Takuma Asano is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a winger or a forward for Bundesliga club VfL Bochum and the Japan national team. His younger brother Yuya is also a professional footballer currently playing for J1 League side Sanfrecce ...

, Laurent Koscielny, Carl Jenkinson, Alex Iwobi, and Nacho Monreal, and loaned out Eddie Nketiah, Mohamed Elneny, Henrikh Mkhitaryan,

Emile Smith Rowe Emile Smith Rowe (born 28 July 2000) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for club Arsenal and the England national team. Smith Rowe was a highly anticipated youth player at Arsenal, whilst a ...

, and

Konstantinos Mavropanos Konstantinos Mavropanos ( gr, Κωνσταντίνος Μαυροπάνος; born 11 December 1997) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a defender for Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart and the Greece national team. Mainly played as a ...

. During the preseason, Arsenal competed in the

International Champions Cup The International Champions Cup (ICC) was an annual club association football exhibition competition. In 2020, it was abolished due to COVID-19 pandemic. Format The format has changed in each competition. Subsequent tournaments have had diffe ...

, finishing 3rd, and the Emirates Cup and Joan Gamper Trophy finals, losing both. Arsenal started the

with a 1–0 win against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional Association football, football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football league system, English football. The club was ...

, and continued a consistent form of results, standing third at the table at the time of the October international break, as well as advancing to the fourth round of the

. However, their results began to deteriorate, losing to

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

in the fourth round of the EFL Cup and winning only once in 9 games since the end of the international break. As a result, head coach Unai Emery was sacked on 29 November, and former player

Freddie Ljungberg Karl Fredrik "Freddie" Ljungberg (; born 16 April 1977) is a Swedish former professional footballer and manager who played as a winger. He was most recently a former assistant coach, and interim head coach of Arsenal. He began his career at Hal ...

took over as caretaker manager. He led Arsenal to the round of 32 in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

, but had only won once in 5 games, and was replaced on 20 December by

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

assistant coach and former captain Mikel Arteta. New boss Arteta named his coaching staff on 24 December, with assistants Albert Stuivenberg and

Steve Round Steve Round (born 9 November 1970) is an English professional football coach and former player. He was until 6th July 2023, assistant first team coach of Premier League club Arsenal. After a brief playing career operating as a full-back, repr ...

, and goalkeeping coach Iñaki Caña joining the club. Ljungberg remained as assistant coach, and goalkeeping coach Sal Bibbo stayed to work with Caña. Results showed an improvement following Arteta's third game in charge against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, which Arsenal had won 2–0, and Arteta had signed defenders

Pablo Mari Pablo is a Spanish form of the name Paul. People *Pablo Alborán, Spanish singer *Pablo Aimar, Argentine footballer * Pablo Armero, Colombian footballer *Pablo Bartholomew, Indian photojournalist * Pablo Brandán, Argentine footballer *Pablo Bren ...

and Cedric Soares on loans with options to buy in the winter transfer window. Arsenal beat

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

and

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the English ...

to move to the fifth round of the

, and remained undefeated in all competitions in 2020 until 27 February, when Greek club Olympiacos knocked them out of the round of 32 of the Europa League on away goals by winning 2–1 at the Emirates. Arsenal remained consistent domestically, advancing to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup after defeating

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

but remaining in roughly the same mid-table position in the Premier League. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

caused all competitions to be suspended from March until 17 June, when Arsenal played Manchester City in a game originally scheduled to take place on 11 March, and lost 3–0. Further defeats to Brighton,

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

and

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa P ...

condemned Arsenal to an eight-place finish, far from a European qualification spot. However, victories in the FA Cup against Sheffield United in the quarter-finals and Manchester City in the semi-finals put Arsenal in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

, where they beat Chelsea 2–1 on 1 August to win their only silverware of the season and gain qualification to the

First-team coaching staff

Unai Emery (1 July 2019 – 29 November 2019)

Freddie Ljungberg (29 November 2019 – 20 December 2020)

} } ,

Transfers

Transfers in

Loans in

Transfers out

Notes

:1. Fee could rise to £35,000,000.

Loans out

Club

Kits

Adidas were announced as Arsenal's kit supplier as of the start of the season. This marked the first time since the 1993–94 season that Adidas have been the kit supplier to the club. Supplier: Adidas / Sponsor: Fly Emirates / Sleeve sponsor: Visit Rwanda

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

Goalscorers

Assists

''As of 1 August 2020''

Disciplinary record

Clean sheets

Pre-season and friendlies

Friendlies

International Champions Cup

Emirates Cup

Joan Gamper Trophy

Mid-season friendlies

Competitions

Overview

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:left" , - !rowspan=2 style="width:140px;", Competition !colspan=8, Record , - !style="width:40px;", !style="width:40px;", !style="width:40px;", !style="width:40px;", !style="width:40px;", !style="width:40px;", !style="width:40px;", !style="width:70px;", , - ,

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Premier League

League table

Results by Matchday

Matches

On 13 June 2019, the

fixtures were announced.

FA Cup

EFL Cup

UEFA Europa League

Arsenal entered the competition in the group stages as a result for their fifth-place finish in the 2018–19 season. ''The Gunners'' were drawn with

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the mo ...

and Vitória.

Group stage

Knockout phase

The draw for the Round of 32 was confirmed on 16 December.

=Round of 32

Awards

Arsenal Player of the Month award

Arsenal Player of the Month award winners were chosen via open-access polls on the club's official website. {, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" , - !Month !Player !Votes , - , style="width:130px;", August , style="width:200px;", , style="width:130px;", 34% , - , style="width:130px;", September , style="width:200px;", , style="width:130px;", 48% , - , style="width:130px;", October , style="width:200px;", , style="width:130px;", 75% , - , style="width:130px;", November , style="width:200px;", , style="width:130px;", 83% , - , style="width:130px;", December , style="width:200px;", , style="width:130px;", 37% , - , style="width:130px;", January , style="width:200px;", , style="width:130px;", 49% , - , style="width:130px;", February , style="width:200px;", , style="width:130px;", , - , style="width:130px;", June , style="width:200px;", , style="width:130px;", 40%

Arsenal Goal of the Month award

Arsenal Goal of the Month award winners were chosen via open-access polls on the club's official website. {, class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" , - !Month !Player !Competition !Opponent !Votes , - , style="width:130px;", August , style="width:200px;", , style="width:200px;",

, style="width:200px;",

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River ...

, style="width:130px;", 34% , - , style="width:130px;", September , style="width:200px;", , style="width:200px;",

, style="width:200px;",

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Walthams ...

, style="width:130px;", 39% , - , style="width:130px;", October , style="width:200px;", , style="width:200px;",

, style="width:200px;",

, style="width:130px;", 46% , - , style="width:130px;", November , style="width:200px;", , style="width:200px;",

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

, style="width:200px;",

, style="width:130px;", 31% , - , style="width:130px;", December , style="width:200px;", , style="width:200px;",

, style="width:200px;",

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium ...

, style="width:130px;", 29% , - , style="width:130px;", January , style="width:200px;", , style="width:200px;",

, style="width:200px;", Chelsea , style="width:130px;", 60% , - , style="width:130px;", February , style="width:200px;", , style="width:200px;",

, style="width:200px;", Olympiacos , style="width:130px;", 22% , - , style="width:130px;", June , style="width:200px;", , style="width:200px;",

, style="width:200px;", Sheffield United , style="width:130px;", 26%

Arsenal Player of the Season award

Arsenal Player of the Season award winner was chosen via open-access polls on the club's official website. {, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" , - !Rank !Player !Votes , - , style="width:130px;", 1st , style="width:200px;", , style="width:130px;", 74% , - , style="width:130px;", 2nd , style="width:200px;", , style="width:130px;", 16% , - , style="width:130px;", 3rd , style="width:200px;", , style="width:130px;", 10% , -

Arsenal Goal of the Season award

Arsenal Goal of the Season award winners were chosen via open-access polls on the club's official website. {, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" , - !Rank !Player !Competition !Opponent , - , style="width:130px;", 1st , style="width:200px;", , style="width:200px;",

, style="width:200px;", Chelsea , - , style="width:130px;", 2nd , style="width:200px;", , style="width:200px;",

, style="width:200px;", Chelsea , - , style="width:130px;", 3rd , style="width:200px;", , style="width:200px;",

, style="width:200px;",

, -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 Arsenal F.C. season

Arsenal F.C. seasons