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On Sunday, 11 February, 2024, Arsenal recorded a massive 6-0 victory at West Ham in the Premier League. It was the Gunners’ best-ever away win in the Premier League and equalled their greatest margin of victory in a league match on the road. We have to go back to 1935 for the last time the Gunners earned a six-goal margin of victory in an away league match when they beat Villa 7-1 in the old Division One. They also beat Wolves away by the same scoreline in 1932.
To mark Arsenal’s brilliant win, we’ll take a look back at the biggest wins the Gunners have achieved in various competitions throughout their illustrious history, kicking things off with their biggest win in any competition ever. And, conversely, if you’re interested in Arsenal’s Biggest Ever Defeats, we also cover those in a separate article.
Arsenal’s Biggest Win Ever in All Competitions
One of Arsenal’s greatest-ever victories came in their very first FA Cup match way back on 5th October, 1889. They were still named Royal Arsenal in those days and they hammered (the now-defunct) Lyndhurst FC 11-0. Arsenal have twice bettered that scoreline, however. Both wins saw the Gunners win 12-0, once in the league and once in the FA Cup.
- Arsenal’s Biggest League Win – Arsenal 12-0 Loughborough Town, 12 March, 1900, Division Two
- Arsenal Biggest Cup Win – Arsenal 12-0 Ashford United, 14 October, 1893, FA Cup First Qualifying Round
Apparently when Arsenal played Loughborough, the visitors were so short of cash that the Gunners paid their opponents’ train fares. By half time, Loughborough were 4-0 down and the visiting players would probably have wished they had turned down the generous gesture. Things got a whole lot worse for the away side in the second period as Arsenal scored eight more goals to round off their gigantic victory.
The aftermath of this horrendous defeat for Loughborough wasn’t great – the cash-strapped club went bust after playing just nine more league matches. Interestingly, Loughborough inflicted what is still Arsenal’s record defeat when they beat the Gunners 8-0 on 12th December 1896, but Arsenal’s revenge for that was even more brutal.
Ashford No Match for Sharpshooting Gunners
Then known as Woolwich Arsenal, the club had recently turned professional and been elected to the Football League Second Division, the first club south of Birmingham to make it into the League. Whilst the Gunners mixed it with the likes of Newcastle and Notts County in the league, they faced a fellow southern side in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup in 1893: Ashford United.
There were reports at the time that Arsenal, who were the overwhelming favourites to win the tie, had offered Ashford a cash incentive to stand aside and drop out of the match. As with many an underdog in the FA Cup since however, Ashford were bang up for the fight. Unfortunately, though, the fight they had was nowhere near sufficient to cope with the onslaught they would face and Arsenal obliterated the Kent side 12-0.
Arsenal’s Biggest Win in the Premier League
Bringing things back to the modern era, Arsenal have had some pretty impressive league wins since the advent of the Premier League for the 1992/93 season. As you might have worked out, the recent victory over West Ham United at the London Stadium was Arsenal’s biggest away win in the competition.
Prior to that, the north London side’s best away victories in the EPL were 6-1 triumphs against Middlesbrough back in 1999 and at Goodison Park against Everton on the first day of the 2009/10 campaign. Incidentally, that win over Everton occurred when David Moyes was the manager – as he was for West Ham in Arsenal’s recent big victory.
Arsenal’s very biggest wins in the Premier League have come on home soil, however. Intriguingly, these wallopings occurred against the same two sides mentioned above that Arsenal hit for six:
- Arsenal 7-0 Everton – 11 May, 2005
- Arsenal 7-0 Middlesbrough – 14 January, 2006
Toffees Come Unstuck Against Rampant Arsenal
It was Arsenal’s final home game of the 2004/05 season and the last in which the Gunners would wear their iconic red kit at Highbury (they played there for one more season but wore burgundy shirts in 2005/06). Chelsea had ultimately run away with the Premier League title but Arsene Wenger’s men had given them a fair run for their money. Everton, meanwhile, were overperforming and pushing for a top-four finish (something they achieved in the end, despite taking this battering at Highbury).
The home side wasted little time getting in the goals with Robin van Persie opening the scoring after just eight minutes. Robert Pires added Arsenal’s second a few minutes later and Patrick Vieira made it 3-0 at the break. Everton boss David Moyes (who, let’s face it, can’t enjoy playing Arsenal!) must have attempted to rally the troops at half time, but the Toffees failed to improve. A second goal from Pires was followed by an Edu penalty, and goals from Dennis Bergkamp (who also provided three assists) and Mathieu Flamini to round off the emphatic victory.
Boro Blown Away by Gunners’ Firepower
The next season, Arsenal matched that 7-0 scoreline when they hammered Middlesbrough, who were then managed by future England boss Steve McClaren. This time it was Gunners legend Thierry Henry that got the ball rolling with a goal after 20 minutes. That was the first of a hat-trick, as he scored nine minutes later and then midway through the second half.
The other goals came from Philippe Senderos, Robert Pires, Gilberto Silva and Alexander Hleb. Arsenal only finished fourth that season, but at least the Highbury crowd got to witness this massive win before they ventured to the Emirates the following season.
Biggest Wins in Europe
Arsenal have twice achieved 7-0 wins in Europe. The first of those came against Standard Liege on 2rd November 1993 in the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and remains Arsenal’s biggest-ever win away from home in any competition. Arsenal went on to win the competition, their only major European tournament win (if you don’t count the 1969/70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, that is).
The other 7-0 win came in the Group Stage of the Champions League in October 2007 when the Gunners wiped the floor with Czech side Slavia Prague. Despite the big win, they only finished second in their group behind Sevilla and, after beating Milan in the Round of 16, went out in the quarters to Liverpool, 5-3 on aggregate.
