Arsenal's top 10 biggest wins including double-figure routs

Arsenal Insider has taken a look at the top 10 biggest wins that Arsenal Football Club have ever achieved, including victories over Aston Villa, Everton and Leeds United.

The best Arsenal performances through the years have often come when the team have played the way that fans have become accustomed to with free-flowing attacking football.

Gooners love nothing more than a goal fest. Arsenal even afforded their fans several high-scoring feasts in 2023/24 when they beat West Ham United 6-0, Burnley 5-0 and Sheffield United 6-0 in successive Premier League games.

The Gunners’ run of high-scoring fixtures also saw Arsenal become the first English club to ever win three successive away league games by five or more goals. Declan Rice even hammered one in against West Ham to help Arsenal trash his former club.

But even from their earliest days in south London as Woolwich Arsenal, through the George Graham era and to Arsene Wenger’s tenure, the N5 natives have racked up some huge scorelines in Arsenal’s storied history.

So, with that in mind, Arsenal Insider has compiled a list of Arsenal’s top 10 biggest wins of all time…

Aston Villa 1-7 Arsenal

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Match: Aston Villa 1-7 Arsenal
Competition: 1935/36 First Division
Stadium: Villa Park
Date: December 14, 1935
Goalscorers for Arsenal: Ted Drake (7)

Arsenal recorded their biggest away league win in 1935 with a 7-1 triumph at Aston Villa. Incredibly, centre-forward Ted Drake scored all seven goals with a heavily strapped knee and a first-half hat-trick. In total, Drake attempted nine shots and directed eight of them on target with just one saved.

Arsenal 7-0 Leeds United

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Match: Arsenal 7-0 Leeds United
Competition: 1979/80 League Cup
Stadium: Highbury
Date: September 4, 1979
Goalscorers for Arsenal: Alan Sunderland (3), Liam Brady (2, pen), Frank Stapleton, Sammy Nelson

In the second League Cup round in 1979, an Alan Sunderland hat-trick and two penalties from Liam Brady guided Arsenal to a massive victory under manager Terry Neill’s watch.

Boasting the likes of club record appearance holder David O’Leary in defence and legendary goalkeeper Pat Jennings at the back, it was a League Cup second leg after a 1-1 draw in the first thanks to a Frank Stapleton goal.

Standard Liege 0-7 Arsenal

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Match: Standard Liege 0-7 Arsenal
Competition: 1993/94 Cup Winners’ Cup
Stadium: Highbury
Date: November 3, 1993
Goalscorers for Arsenal: Alan Smith (2′), Ian Selley (20′), Tony Adams (37′), Kevin Campbell (41′, 79′), Paul Merson (71′), Eddie McGoldrick (81′)

Arsenal took the club’s biggest away win in a Cup Winners’ Cup thrashing of Standard Liege in 1993. With George Graham in charge, Alan Smith opened the scoring in just the second minute to set the tone in Belgium.

Arsenal 7-0 Everton

Match: Arsenal 7-0 Everton
Competition: 2004/05 Premier League
Stadium: Highbury
Date: May 11, 2005
Goalscorers for Arsenal: Robin van Persie (8′), Robert Pires (11′, 50′), Patrick Vieira (37′), Edu (69′ pen), Dennis Bergkamp (77′), Mathieu Flamini (85′)

An inspired performance from Dennis Bergkamp helped Arsenal on their way to one of their biggest Premier League wins in 2005. Bergkamp had two assists inside 12 minutes, while Edu Gaspar also chipped in with a goal.

Mikel Arteta, who later took over as Arsenal’s manager in December 2019, was on the wrong end of the defeat after starring in midfield for Everton that day.

Arsenal 7-0 Middlesbrough

Match: Arsenal 7-0 Middlesbrough
Competition: 2005/06 Premier League
Stadium: Highbury
Date: January 14, 2006
Goalscorers for Arsenal: Thierry Henry (20′, 30′, 68′), Philippe Senderos (22′), Robert Pires (45′), Gilberto Silva (59′), Alexander Hleb (84′)

Wenger’s team equalled Arsenal’s record Premier League win in January 2006 with a drubbing of Middlesbrough as Thierry Henry equalled Cliff Bastin’s record of 150 league goals for the club.

The French talisman starred with a hat-trick in front of a back four featuring Lauren, Johan Djourou, Philippe Senderos and Pascal Cygan.

After the game, Wenger singled out Arsenal’s collective efforts, despite Henry’s excellence.

“We played our game and the goals came as a consequence of the quality of our game,” he said. “Of course, Thierry scored three – and everybody nearly scored!

“But Reyes contributed with his final balls and the most important thing is that the team plays the game we want to play and plays with a great spirit.”

Arsenal 9-1 Grimsby Town

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Match: Arsenal 9-1 Grimsby Town
Competition: 1930/31 First Division
Stadium: Highbury
Date: January 28, 1931
Goalscorers for Arsenal: David Jack (4), Jack Lambert (3), Cliff Bastin, Joe Hulme

At the start of Arsenal becoming a dominant force under Herbert Chapman, Grimsby Town were swept aside with a 9-1 scoreline in a Division One game in January 1931 at Highbury.

The Gunners’ 10th-highest all-time top goalscorer, David Jack, also netted four of their haul that day. Jack Lambert also added a hat-trick as Arsenal drove up the scoreline.

Arsenal 8-0 Blackburn Rovers

Match: Arsenal 8-0 Blackburn Rovers
Competition: 1932/33 First Division
Stadium: Highbury
Date: February 25, 1933
Goalscorers for Arsenal: Ernest Coleman (3), Cliff Bastin (2), Joe Hulme (2), Reginald Robert Stockill

Over their 1932/33 Division One title-winning season, Arsenal inflicted a number of heavy defeats on the weaker teams in the league. The Gunners even secured an 8-0 drubbing of Blackburn Rovers at Highbury thanks to an Ernest Coleman hat-trick early on.

Arsenal 11-1 Darwen FC

Match: Arsenal 11-1 Darwen FC
Competition: 1931/22 FA Cup
Stadium: Highbury
Date: January 9, 1932
Goalscorers for Arsenal: Cliff Bastin (4), David Jack (3), Jack Lambert (2), Joe Hulme (2)

On the back of three successive defeats, Arsenal recorded a huge win in a 1932 FA Cup clash against Darwen FC. Bastin starred with four in front of a crowd of over 37,000 at Highbury.

The opponents, Darwen FC, were real underdogs. They also played rugby and cricket as well as football, which wasn’t uncommon at the time.

Due to a multitude of financial issues and a fire that ravaged their Anchor Ground in 1990, the club never got back on their feet and were wound up in 2009. Their successor team, AFC Darwen, was founded shortly after.

Woolwich Arsenal 12-0 Ashford United

Match: Woolwich Arsenal 12-0 Ashford United
Competition: 1893/94 FA Cup
Stadium: Manor Ground, Plumstead
Date: October 14, 1893
Goalscorers for Arsenal: Arthur Elliot (3), James Henderson (3), Charles Booth (2), Joseph Frederick Heath (2), Gavin Crawford, Joseph Powell

Both of Arsenal’s record wins were by a 12-0 scoreline and played at home at Manor Ground, Plumstead in south London.

Just seven years after the club’s foundation as Dial Square, hat-tricks from Arthur Elliot and James Henderson guided Woolwich Arsenal beyond the first qualifying round of the 1893 FA Cup with a romping performance against Ashford United.

Football positions have also evolved since Arsenal’s record 12-0 win over Ashford United. While they had no inverted wing-backs back then, the game featured the likes of wing-half, inside forward and half-back at the time.

Woolwich Arsenal 12-0 Loughborough Town

Match: Woolwich Arsenal 12-0 Loughborough Town
Competition: 1899/1900 Division Two
Stadium: Manor Ground, Plumstead
Date: March 12, 1900
Goalscorers for Arsenal: Ralph Gaudie (3), John Dick (2), Alexander Main (2), James Tennant (2), Ernest Herbert Cottrell (2), John William Anderson

With a strong contingent of Scottish and English players, Woolwich Arsenal equalled the club’s all-time record win after seven years against Loughborough Town.

A Ralph Gaudie hat-trick contributed to the high-scoring affair in the Football League, Second Division in 1900. Interestingly, Arsenal only beat the same team 3-2 a week earlier.

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Arsenal’s top 10 biggest wins including double-figure routs