Among Arsenal’s most long-standing and best-known chants is the deceptively simple “One-nil to the Arsenal”. It is a chant that has become deeply embedded in Gunners’ culture, usually sung, unsurprisingly, when Arsenal go 1-0 ahead or are close to winning by such a scoreline. In this article, we will explore when the chant first began and why it has proven such a hit.
Origins of 1-0 to the Arsenal?
The history of football chants can be a slightly murky business at times, as it is not like releasing a pop song on a set date. There is no definitive answer to when ‘One-nil to the Arsenal’ became a regular feature at Highbury, but let us take you through the most convincing theories. Having done some thorough research on this topic, the earliest reference of this chant dates back longer than you might think.
Theory #1
The year 1939 saw the release of the film The Arsenal Stadium Mystery, in which Arsenal takes on a fictional amateur team, the Trojans. At half-time, the commentator says “The score at half time is Arsenal 1, Trojans 0,” which is a perfectly ordinary thing to say, but then his co-commentator, who happened to be then Arsenal-manager George Allison, replies: “And that’s just how we like it!”
Clearly, there seems to be some sort of association between Arsenal and 1-0 at this point, but this would not have come in the form of stadium chanting. Commentators and newspapers may have perhaps referenced it, but synchronised stadium chants were not much of a thing in the pre-war era. Additionally, 1-0 was a rare final scoreline at this time, so opportunities to sing it would have been more limited.
You would also be right to point out that the chant is based on the song ‘Go West’, which was not released until much after WWII. The counter to this is that Go West was composed on a chord progression from Canon in D Major, by Johann Pachelbel, the 17th-century German composer. While it is possible that Arsenal fans used this fine piece of classic music to make up a chant, it does seem extremely far-fetched.
Theory #2
The song ‘Go West’, which surely inspired the famous ‘One-nil to the Arsenal’ chant, was a song initially released by Village People in 1979. It was not a massive hit in the UK by all accounts, though, peaking at number 15 in the singles charts. The song reappeared in 1992 when The Pet Shop Boys sang for an AIDS charity gig and then released it as a single in 1993. On the second attempt and with several changes made to the original track, the song performed very well, peaking at number two in the charts.
The second theory about the origin of 1-0 to the Arsenal is that fans sang it during a 1-0 win over Manchester City in September 1992. The Pet Shop Boys had performed the song for the charity gig by this point, as the event took place in May. However, it was not sung at a massive festival; rather, it was at the Hacienda nightclub in Manchester. The idea that following this performance, the song made its way down the country and into Highbury seems very improbable.
Theory #3
The most established and convincing theory about the popularisation of Arsenal’s famous chant is that it emerged during the 1993/94 edition of the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. A small number of fans believe it was sung during the quarter-finals versus Torino, a tie Arsenal won by one goal courtesy of a 1-0 win at Highbury. Although the scoreline lends itself to such a chant, as does the timing, as it was after the Pet Shop Boys released ‘Go West’, there is more of a consensus that it took off in the semi-finals of the competition.
The 1994 Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final saw Arsenal face French outfit Paris Saint-Germain. Ian Wright put the Gunners into the lead after 35 minutes, and they took this advantage through to half-time. During the interval, the stadium began playing Go West, because PSG fans would sing ‘Allez, Paris Saint-Germain’ to the same tune. It is believed that upon hearing this, some creative and spontaneous Arsenal fans began singing ‘1-0 to the Arsenal’.
Having enjoyed something of a trial run in Paris, there were some fans aware of this new chant by the time the clubs played the reverse fixture two weeks later. The chant could have easily been forgotten about at this point, but the rematch at Highbury gave it the perfect conditions to thrive. Kevin Campbell put Arsenal 1-0 ahead after just seven minutes, and this scoreline remained for the remainder of the match. With this 1-0 win enough to progress, a jubilant Arsenal crowd had 83 minutes in which to sing the newly crafted ‘1-0 to the Arsenal’ to their heart’s content.
Helping cement the chant even further is that the Gunners won the final against Parma in Copenhagen by the same scoreline, in what was their 11th 1-0 victory of the campaign.
Is 1-0 to the Arsenal Still Sung Today?
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What no doubt aided the popular chant was how Arsenal played under George Graham. They would often take the lead and be happy to defend it, given their talents at the back. The eleven 1-0 victories across competitions in the 1993/94 season provided a lot of opportunities for the chant. By comparison, the Gunners only won 1-0 six times across competitions in 2024/25.
The chant doesn’t require Arsenal to win 1-0, however, it only needs Arsenal to be winning 1-0 at some point in the match. This is something they still do extremely often. In the 2024/25 Premier League season alone, the Gunners took the lead in the match 26 times, more than any other side. Having enjoyed countless renditions over the decades, the chant is still regularly heard at the Emirates – and often referenced in articles and fan’s blogs alike.