11 Best Arsenal Strikers of All Time (Ranked)

Mikel Arteta has spent much of his managerial tenure batting away persistent calls for Arsenal to buy a world-class striker. The Gunners may not prove to need a new number nine in pursuit of a long-awaited fourth Premier League title, but the fan base can scarcely be blamed for wanting a proven goalscorer, given the club’s rich history of forwards.

From accurate artists to prolific poachers, the North London side have been able to rely upon the fearsome finishing of some legendary figures. While racking up honours domestically and abroad, Arsenal’s best sides have often been defined by their lethal centre forward. And so, here is a ranking of the club’s greatest ever strikers.

Ranking factors

• Goals
  – Sometimes the simplest answer is the best. A striker is in the team to score goals. The rate of goals per game has been considered to ensure that players in the modern era, where more matches are played, do not unfairly benefit.
• Major trophies
  – Putting your medals on the table may be a blunt way of judging success, but it is effective. Not all trophies are created equal – a Premier League title is certainly more significant than the Community Shield – which is also considered.
• Longevity
  – To rank among Arsenal’s greatest strikers, a player has to have contributed over a significant period.

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11 Nicolas Anelka

Nicolas Anelka’s complex character was captured perfectly at the end of the 1998/1999 campaign. Arsenal’s jet-heeled striker was crowned the PFA Young Player of the Year in 1999 but skipped the award ceremony in favour of a nightclubbing session.

The controversial Frenchman was commonly referred to as ‘Le Sulk’ by the press given the glum expression he wore throughout each match – even after scoring. Yet, his teammates held him in high regard. Dennis Bergkamp ranked Anelka as the best strike partner of his Arsenal career – snubbing a couple of other players in this list. Didier Deschamps, one of the greatest World Cup-winning captains, dubbed him “our Ronaldo” in 1999.

Perennially streaking clear of opposition back lines, Anelka played an instrumental role in Arsenal’s league and cup double in 1998. The only downside to his tenure was its brevity. Although the blow was softened by the £22.5m profit Arsene Wenger made on his compatriot.

10 Charlie George

One of the FA Cup’s many long-standing traditions is for the president of the Football Association, invariably a member of the Royal Family, to be introduced to each starter ahead of kick-off. As the Duke of Edinburgh made his way down the line ahead of the 1971 showpiece, Arsenal’s John Radford blurted out: “Hello Duke, meet King Charlie.”

Charlie George lived the dream of every Arsenal fan as he swapped the terraces for the Highbury turf. Not physically imposing with a slight frame, George still peaked before his 21st birthday. Flitting around the final third with an impish air, George was at the centre of Arsenal’s legendary 1971 double-winners.

Around two hours after that memorable introduction to the Duke, George enjoyed the crowning moment of his Arsenal career. Deep into extra time, George fizzed the ball beyond Liverpool goalkeeper Ray Clemence, collapsing to the turf out of exhaustion on a blisteringly hot day for an iconic celebration.

9 Nwankwo Kanu

Nwankwo Kanu moved to Arsenal in 1999 under a cloud of uncertainty. The Champions League winner with Ajax had been limited to just 12 Serie A appearances for Inter Milan after a heart defect was discovered upon his arrival in Italy. “People were asking: ‘Can he still do it?'” Kanu remembered.

The answer was an emphatic yes. A towering figure with a maverick streak, Kanu was crowned African Footballer of the Year within six months of his move to the Premier League. Never an ever-present for Arsenal – he only started more than 13 league games once for the club – but Kanu offered endeavour and end product whenever called upon.

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8 John Radford

One of Arsenal’s greatest strikers may have been better placed in the other penalty area. John Radford led the line for Arsenal with distinction, graduating from an apprentice scrubbing the baths at Highbury to celebrating with the FA Cup trophy soaked in suds at Wembley Stadium.

Yet, throughout his career, Radford would end each training session by challenging his teammates to a penalty shootout which saw him between the sticks. A friendly bet was placed on each kick and according to Radford: “I earned more in that way than I did in wages.” Ranked as Arsenal’s fourth-highest goalscorer of all time, Radford did alright for himself at the sharp end of the pitch.

7 Frank Stapleton

It may have ended in heartbreak – some are yet to forgive his move to Manchester United in 1980 – but the years that Frank Stapleton dedicated to Arsenal cannot be casually cast aside. It was, after all, Stapleton’s goals that spearheaded Arsenal’s victory in the 1979 FA Cup final (against United) – the club’s only trophy during an underwhelming 16-year stretch.

Former Arsenal player and manager Don Howe hailed Stapleton as “one of the best centre forwards”, with Liam Brady – one of Arsenal’s best midfielders – judging him to be the greatest header of a ball he’d ever seen. Perhaps if Arsenal had met his wage demands, Stapleton may be even higher on this list.

6 Robin van Persie

The modern-day version of Stapleton, Robin van Persie’s legacy at Arsenal is complicated by his transfer to Manchester United in 2012. Yet, the passionate reaction to that move from the fan base was a consequence of how deadly the Dutchman had been for the Gunners.

After several injury-hampered seasons playing second fiddle to the likes of Thierry Henry and Emmanuel Adebayor, Van Persie fully embraced his role of team captain ahead of the 2011/2012 campaign. A masterful technician who could score with every part of his body, Van Persie rattled in an unrivalled 30 Premier League goals during his final season in the capital. No Arsenal player has ever topped that tally in the competition’s history.

5 Alan Smith

Not the most glamorous name to don Arsenal’s number nine shirt, but Alan Smith’s CV is hard to argue with. Averaging one goal every three games across the best part of a decade, the England international was a reliable figure at the top of two title-winning teams for George Graham’s Arsenal, finishing as the First Division’s top scorer on each occasion.

Smith’s first appearance at Highbury after signing for Arsenal actually came in a Leicester City shirt. In a bid to help the Foxes in their fight against relegation, Arsenal loaned Smith back to Leicester for the remainder of the 1986/1987 season. This arrangement made for an awkward encounter when Leicester travelled to north London the following month, with Smith waving to both sets of fans after a 4-1 Arsenal win. There would be far happier times for Smith in front of the North Bank in the years to come.

4 Ted Drake

Arsenal manager George Allison was prone to hyperbole but he was hardly going overboard when lauding Ted Drake as “the best centre forward in the world” upon his arrival from Southampton in 1934. Drake immediately lived up to the lofty billing, rattling in 42 league goals during his debut campaign – a single-season high-watermark which no Arsenal player has been able to match.

On his 108th appearance for the club, Drake rifled in his 100th Arsenal goal. A staggering seven of those strikes were plundered on the same day against a hapless Aston Villa side in December 1935. At the end of the match, the entire team queued up to shake the hand of their conqueror before presenting Drake with the match ball signed by every player.

3 Dennis Bergkamp

Dennis Bergkamp had arguably the greatest first touch in football history, unparalleled grace and an unerring sense of where his teammates would be at any given time. Yet, even that lofty reputation overlooks some of the more subtle but equally crucial aspects of his faultless game.

Arriving in English football as a flair player in the mid-1990s, Bergkamp couldn’t afford to be a shrinking violet. Sol Campbell ranked him as “one of the strongest I played with or against”, while Thierry Henry is always at pains to highlight his “nasty” side. Most defenders struggled to even get close enough to the deft Dutchman to appreciate his strength. By the ripe old age of 33, Bergkamp was still the third-fastest Arsenal player when the squad competed in a 60m race during pre-season training.

When Bergkamp joined the Gunners for a club-record £7.5m fee, he noted that he was “the sort of player you don’t see at Arsenal”. Few have come close to matching him since.

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2 Ian Wright

“Ian Wright Wright Wright,” the famous Arsenal chant went. So good, they sang his name thrice. The club’s second-highest goalscorer of all time was still playing Sunday League football as a 21-year-old.

The affable Londoner had lost hope of becoming a professional footballer after enduring 11 years of failed trials but was given a professional contract by Crystal Palace. After soaring with the Eagles, Wright became Arsenal’s record signing in 1991. In each of his first six seasons, Wright finished as the team’s top scorer, invariably celebrating every goal – be it a tap-in or 30-yard screamer – with the same unbridled and infectious joy.

1 Thierry Henry

Kylian Mbappe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Theo Walcott, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford. There is an endless roll-call of modern-day strikers that credit Arsenal’s Thierry Henry as their ultimate inspiration.

Henry left Arsenal for Barcelona in 2007 as the only player in the club’s storied history to tip into a second century of goals. The Frenchman played with such an enthralling blend of pace and panache that he had a bronze statue outside the stadium by the time he returned for a brief loan spell in 2012.

Yet, Henry’s Arsenal career began in underwhelming fashion. Henry scored once in his first 14 matches for the club and likes to tell the story of blazing one effort so far wide it struck the minute hand hanging over Highbury’s Clock End. Neither Wenger nor Henry ever lost faith and the goals soon began to flow. A club-record 228 of them, to be precise.

Statistical data was taken from Arsenal’s official website and TransferMarkt.