Arsenal have a rich history when it comes to their attacking players. Over the years, they have seen some of the world’s most prolific strikers play for them, some of whom we’ll detail below.
Top 10 Arsenal Goalscorers
Here we’ll go through Arsenal’s top 10 scorers of all time, with some extra information about the top three scorers in the club’s history.
Thierry Henry – 228 Goals in 377 Games
Henry is considered one of the greatest players to have ever played not only for Arsenal and the Premier League but the whole world. For the Gunners, he racked up an impressive 228 goals and is currently their all-time top goal scorer with a goal ratio of 0.61 goals per game, which is around a goal every 149 minutes of football.
Henry holds the records at Arsenal for being their top scorer in the Premier League in European competitions, and, more specifically, in the UEFA Champions League, which only adds to his repertoire of accomplishments at the club. Henry will forever be known as a world class player not only to Arsenal fans but to everyone around the world.
Ian Wright – 185 Goals in 288 Games
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Ian Wright is second on the list and is the highest-scoring British player to ever play for the Gunners. Ian Wright is a cult hero among Arsenal fans for being such a consistent and effective striker for so many years. Wright’s goal ratio for Arsenal is 0.64 goals per game which comes out to around one goal every 140 minutes, which is a very impressive stat indeed.
Wright holds the club record for the most League Cup goals sored by an Arsenal player with 29 goals (but that’s still well short of the all-time career record of 49 League Cup goals by Liverpool’s former hitman, Ian Rush). Ian Wright will always be considered a success and a legend at Arsenal and will be held close to the hearts of many fans for years to come.
Cliff Bastin – 178 Goals in 396 Games
Bastin played for Arsenal between 1929 and 1947, so considering he has held his spot near the top for so long, he has to be considered as one of Arsenal’s best goalscorers. Bastin played as a winger for Arsenal, so his goal ratio is not quite as good as the top two, but it’s still an impressive 0.45, which is about a goal every 200 minutes.
His goalscoring exploits were still mightily impressive for a winger and that he has remained so high up the list for so long is a testament to Cliff Bastin’s class as a player. Not only is Bastin Arsenal’s third-highest goal scorer, he still has the most FA Cup goals scored by a player at the club with 26 of them in the competition during his years at the club.
- John Radford – 149 goals in 481 games
- Jimmy Brain – 139 goals in 232 games
- Ted Drake – 139 goals in 184 games
- Doug Lishman – 137 goals in 244 games
- Robin Van Persie – 132 goals – 278 games
- Joe Hulme – 125 goals – 374 games
- David Jack – 124 goals – 208 games
Note that the above statistics are taken from the official Arsenal website.
Other Noteworthy Mentions
Although all the players in Arsenal’s top scorers are great players in their own right there are some that are more iconic and known for their footballing and goalscoring ability among footballing fans across the world.
Robin van Persie
The first honourable mention is Robin van Persie. Van Persie scored a very respectable 132 goals in 278 games for the Gunners during his time at the club. Van Persie is not only regarded as one of Arsenal’s best-ever strikers but one of the best to play in the Premier League in general. Van Persie had a goal-to-game ratio of 0.47 for Arsenal which is around a goal every 190 minutes, almost a goal every two games.
Although Van Persie was a very successful striker for the Gunners, he did leave a lot of Arsenal fans disappointed when he left for league rivals, Manchester United, and many fans wonder just how many more goals he would have scored for Arsenal if he had stayed. Although, to be fair, injuries had started to take their toll by that point in his career.
Dennis Bergkamp
Another worthy mention is another one of Arsenal’s legends, Dennis Bergkamp. The Dutchman was at the club between 1995 and 2006 and scored 120 goals in 423 appearances. Even though Bergkamp was not the most effective goalscorer in terms of his goals-to-games ratio, which is 0.28 (which comes out to around a goal every 317 minutes), he is still regarded as one of Arsenal’s all-time greats for his ability to create goals and chances out of nothing. Dennis Bergkamp came up with some very crucial goals for Arsenal during his time and still managed to achieve over 100 goals, often from midfield or playing off the main striker.
Arsenal’s Future Goal Scorers
Arsenal have produced many talents over the years and they have developed many players into some of the world’s best. Right now, the club seems to be going through something of a purple patch. Arsenal have an array of young, talented players making it into the first team with the likes of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard and Emile Smith Rowe all currently impressing in Arsenal’s attack. The question is, will any of them make it into Arsenal’s all-time top scorers list and possible break into the top 10?
Bukayo Saka is perhaps regarded as the most promising on this list having already played for England at two major tournaments. He is only 21 years of age. At the time of writing, Saka had scored a total of 31 goals in 160 appearances for the club which is very impressive considering his age and the fact he plays in a wide position for the club rather than as an out and out striker. It is clear Saka has a bright future with Arsenal and if he continues to play with them he will more than likely break into the top 10 of all-time goalscorers for the Gunners.
Arsenal have had a very rich history in the way of goal-getters and have had some very prolific and effective players play for them. It is also clear they have some very promising goalscorers already establishing themselves and who will no doubt enter the club’s history books in years to come and possible gain the status of club legends when they retire.