Arsenal vs West Ham Timeline & H2H Stats

Arsenal have bigger rivals than West Ham, with the obvious being Spurs, their number one enemy, and Chelsea, the closest London club to them in terms of overall success. Equally, West Ham fans generally have greater feelings of animosity towards Millwall and Spurs. Nonetheless, as London teams that are separated by only a few miles, there is certainly a keen rivalry between these two historic clubs.

The clubs first met each other in 1906 in an FA Cup game. That ended in a 1-1 draw, with Arsenal winning the replay 3-2 away from home. Overall it is the Gunners who are well up in terms of the head-to-head stats, with around twice as many victories as the Hammers.

Most of the meetings between Arsenal and West Ham have taken place in the top flight. This is not too surprising given that the Gunners have rarely played in any other division. However, it does mean that the two clubs have not met as frequently as some other teams because West Ham have spent a good deal of time outside the Premier League (and the old First Division).

That said, these two have come face to face in the FA Cup on several occasions. As well as those first two meetings in the competition in 1906, in 1925 West Ham needed three meetings (back then replays were unlimited, with no penalties) to get the better of the Gunners in the competition. There were more multiple meetings in the FA Cup in January 1946, the season when, for the only time in its history, the competition was mostly played over two legs. Amazingly the Hammers won the first leg of the third round clash 6-0, Arsenal getting revenge, of sorts, four days later when they won 1-0.

There was yet more cup success for the Hammers in what was probably the biggest game ever played between the two London teams. On the 10th of May, 1980, West Ham legend, Trevor Brooking, bagged the only goal of the 1980 FA Cup final. The 1-0 win, in front of 100,000 fans at Wembley, brought West Ham their third FA Cup success. It is most remarkable for the fact that the club were in the second tier of English football at the time. This was the last time this occurred (as of 2024) and with the gulf between the Premier League and the rest so wide we may never see it repeated.

Arsenal’s Full Match History Against West Ham