Arsenal’s Biggest European Wins

Arsenal’s 7-1 demolition of PSV in the Champions League on Tuesday, 4th March 2025 created many headlines as it was the biggest knockout stage away win in the competition’s history. Winning by such a huge margin in a European fixture is nothing new to Arsenal though, as you can see from this list of their biggest victories.

Standard Liege 0-7 Arsenal

Arsenal’s first taste of winning a European match by a seven-goal margin came when hammering Belgian outfit Standard Liege in November 1993. Having already won the first leg 3-0, the Gunners did not require such an emphatic victory but they showed no mercy to their hosts. Alan Smith put the Londoners ahead after just two minutes, triggering a flood of goals.

Ian Selley, Tony Adams, Kevin Campbell (x2), Paul Merson and Eddie McGoldrick all got themselves on the scoresheet. Later rounds posed more of a challenge for the Gunners but they went on to win the competition, beating Parma 1-0 in the final.

Arsenal 7-0 Slavia Prague

Having won their opening two matches of Group H, Arsenal were in a strong position when hosting Slavia Prague. A win seemed very much on the cards for Arsene Wenger’s side but few were expecting a scoreline quite so emphatic.

With Cesc Fabregas’s second goal putting the home side six ahead after 58 minutes, it looked as though 10 might not be out of the question. Minutes later though, Wenger made a triple substitution, taking off Adebayor, Hleb and Mathieu Flamini. Arsenal lost momentum after this and could only add one more through substitute Nicklas Bendtner late on.

Copenhagen XI 1-7 Arsenal

Copenhagen XI, or Stævnet, was a strange set-up as the squad was usually formed of players from its 11 member clubs. Additionally, the only official competition they took part in was the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Outside of this they usually played exhibition matches.

The team dissolved in 1994 but they will live on in the record books thanks to this heavy loss to Arsenal. Despite losing the first leg 1-7, the Danes managed to restore some pride in the return leg by winning 3-2. With an unusual aggregate scoreline of 9-4, Arsenal progressed to the second round.

Arsenal 7-1 Dinamo Bacau

The now-defunct Fairs Cup was no stranger to some big scorelines in the early rounds. Indeed, the 1969/70 edition of the competition saw Liverpool beat Dundalk 10-0. It was unusual to see such one-sided games deep into the competition though but that is what happened as Arsenal took on Romanian side Dinamo Bacau.

Having beaten Bacau 2-0 away from home, Arsenal were in full control in London’s second leg but they were in no mood to take it easy. John Radford, Charlie George, Jon Sammels all grabbed a brace while George Graham claimed one for himself. After this dominant win, the Gunners beat Ajax in the semi-finals and Anderlecht in the final.

PSV 1-7 Arsenal

An injury crisis at the club meant Mikel Arteta had few attacking options coming into this clash against a PSV side that had just eliminated Juventus. Although the Gunners were still favourites, few were predicting more than a tight victory for the visitors in Eindhoven.

Despite the lack of goal scorers in the team, Arteta’s men were incredibly clinical in front of goal. From eight shots on target and an xG of 1.97, the Londoners managed to fire seven times past a horrified Walter Benitez. It was the first time Arsenal had scored seven goals in a match, in any competition, since beating Newcastle 7-3 in the 2012/13 Premier League season.

Arsenal 6-0 Braga

Arsenal and Braga ended up separated by just three points in Group H, not what you would expect for two teams that looked miles apart in this opening test. It was a night in which Arsenal played some scintillating football as they cut through a side that qualified for the tournament by being the second-best team in Portugal.

Fabregas opened the scoring and got another after Arshavin and Chamakh had also found the net. The extra two goals came courtesy of Carlos Vela who only came off the bench in the 63rd minute.

Arsenal 6-0 Ludogorets

Bravely, or foolishly, Ludogorets came to London looking to take the game to Arsenal. This saw them manage 57% possession and register 10 shots. The Bulgarians failed to score though and their willingness to attack left them extremely exposed on the break. Playing right into Arsenal’s hands, the Gunners took full advantage with goals from Sanchez, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain and three from Mesut Ozil.

Despite winning the game 6-0, it was the reverse fixture, a 3-2 win that many Arsenal fans have a stronger memory of. This was the match in which Ozil scored, in his words, the best goal of his career. The late winner saw the German casually loft the ball over the goalkeeper before sending two defenders to the ground and slotting home.

Arsenal 6-0 BATE Borisov

Arsenal were already guaranteed to finish top of Group H ahead of their final match against BATE Borisov. Arsene Wenger subsequently made 11 changes to the starting line-up but he was still able to field a side full of some very established names.

Less than 30,000 fans rocked up to see the demolition job of the Belarussians, the lowest attendance since moving to the Emirates Stadium. For those that did attend, they were treated to a man-of-the-match display from Jack Wilshere who ended a two-and-a-half-year goal drought.

Arsenal 6-0 RC Lens

Having lost to Lens 2-1 in the reverse fixture of this match, Arsenal had the perfect opportunity to get their revenge. This they managed, and in humiliating fashion too, as they warmed up a freezing evening with a red-hot first-half performance. By the time the referee blew his whistle for the interval, the Gunners were 5-0 up thanks to goals by Havertz, Jesus, Saka, Martinelli and Odegaard.

Arteta made a couple of half-time changes in defence but left his in-form attacking options untouched. Despite this, the second half was a much more sedate affair with Lens focused on preventing any further embarrassment. They did let in one final goal though, a Jorginho-converted penalty following a handball by Abduqodir Khusanov.