Arsenal: The 20 Greatest Moments in Club History

Twenty has never seemed a smaller number.

For a club as steeped in history and pedigree as Arsenal FC, 20 marquee moments seems to provide but a brief glimpse into its past.

But that number can still provide an idea of all that this club has accomplished since its founding 125 years ago.

It's fitting, perhaps, that Arsenal are celebrating that many years in existence this season. It has been trying; there have been times where it seemed all hope was in danger of being lost.

But they have responded each time—most recently with a seven-match league winning streak—and shown the necessary brand of resilience that allows a club to shine at the highest stages for such a long time.

Here are 20 of the greatest moments in club history.

The Invincibles Season

It was a season so breathtaking it will stand the test of time. There are simply no other words to describe such rare mastery of a grueling English Premier League season.

Yes, there were 12 draws interspersed amongst 26 wins, but those 90 points stood on their own. There were no losses.

It is that last part that lends credence to the majesty. Many teams will try for an undefeated season, but it is highly unlikely that we will ever see it happen again.

After all, before Arsenal accomplished the task, Preston North End (which also won the double that season) were the last English team to complete a season without a loss.

That was in 1888-89.

1913: The Club Moves to Highbury

It saw some of the worst times associated with Arsenal, along with the very best.

Henry Norris, who took over the club in 1910 when it was on the verge of bankruptcy, was adamant about constructing a new stadium.

It turned out to be Highbury, in which so many enduring memories of Arsenal lore would come to be etched.

1925: Herbert Chapman Is Appointed Manager

It seems only fitting that a visionary such as Herbert Chapman worked at the club, even if his tenure came years before Arsene Wenger.

The two shared many things in common: revolutionary tactics and a penchant for winning trophies.

Chapman won his first in 1930—the FA Cup—and followed that up with two league titles.

It was his managerial prowess that ushered in a period of then-unforeseen dominance in the 1930s for Arsenal.

In an interesting anecdote, it was Chapman who was behind renaming the London tube station "Gillespie Road" as "Arsenal." Per Wikipedia, it is the only London underground station named after a football club.

Chapman Constructs 'the Kit as We Know It'

The reason behind the transformation is a topic of much debate, but what is known is that something inspired Chapman to look to redesign the Arsenal home kit to make it look like the one seen today.

What had been a plain red top—the vestiges from the club's beginnings as a new project by former Nottingham Forest players—became in 1933 an iconic "pillar box" red body with white sleeves that, when not scuppered by Nike (hello, 2008-10 home kit), is one of the best in world football.

The 1930s

Despite Chapman's tragic sudden death to pneumonia in 1934, Arsenal were able to dominate the decade.

With George Allison and Joe Shaw pulling the strings as managers, Arsenal won the 1934, '35 and '37 league titles, nabbing the '36 FA Cup along the way.

Enter the Cannon

Now inextricably linked with any image association with the club, the cannon first was stitched onto an Arsenal jersey in 1967.

The club crest has undergone numerous stylistic overhauls since its inception—the most recent coming in 2002—but through it all, the cannon remains.

1970-71 League Double

Eighteen years separated Arsenal from their last league triumph when they won the title in 1971. As if making up for lost time, they went out and won the FA Cup trophy as well that 1970-71 season.

Future frustration would follow in the 70s, but eventually, Arsenal would embark upon a run of dominance. It would take some years (the mid-1980s), but there would be one everlasting triumph to assuage fans in the meantime.

The 1979 FA Cup Final

Famous blogger "Arseblog" references it with near-impunity. It's that indelible a memory for many.

The 1979 FA Cup triumph came 10 years before I was born, but it didn't take long for me to recognize its potency as one of the high-water marks in Arsenal history.

Many refer to it as the club's greatest triumph.

It didn't hurt that the win came against Manchester United, and it didn't hurt that the game was won in nail-biting fashion. The 3-2 final score, enacted by Gunners striker Alan Sunderland's 89th-minute winner, is one for the ages.

A fun sidenote: Current Arsenal No. 2 Pat Rice was team captain for the game. He played at right-back.

1989 League Title

George Graham had won the league cup two seasons before, but it was the 1989 league title, snatched on the last day of the season against rivals Liverpool, that guaranteed his name would be etched into Arsenal lore. (The signing of that Dennis Bergkamp fellow didn't hurt his cause, either.)

The 2-0 win at Anfield was the sort of feat that most players dream of.

It sealed Arsenal's ninth league title in club history, and it denied Liverpool the chance to nab consecutive doubles.

1995: Dennis Bergkamp Signs for Arsenal

Many mistakenly credit Arsene Wenger with signing then-burgeoning Dutch talent Dennis Bergkamp from Inter Milan, but it was his predecessor Graham who accomplished that feat.

Graham broke the club's transfer record when he ponied up £7.5 million to prise Bergkamp away from the Milanese giants. It would prove a wonderfully fateful bit of business.

Other greats were signed by Arsenal, but it was Bergkamp whose arrival marked the beginning of one of the most brilliant periods in club history.

1996: Arsene Wenger Is Named Manager

The Frenchman had enjoyed success at previous stops AS Monaco (French principality) and Nagoya Grampus (Japan), but it is his time at Arsenal that cemented his status as one of the game's preeminent managerial minds.

Like Chapman, Wenger ushered in revolutionary methods during his first years in charge. As a historical brief on Arsenal.com cleverly put it, "The old-school habits of throwing teacups and tantrums were not for (Wenger). Instead the squad grew accustomed to nutrition and new training methods."

They picked up his rules quickly, and before long, he had the Arsenal machine humming with near-unprecedented efficiency.

1997-98 Double

It didn't take long for Wenger to establish Arsenal as a power on the English stage.

Little more than one season into his tenure, Arsenal had captured the domestic double (league title and FA Cup). That marked the second double of that nature in club history.

But another triumph was soon to follow.

A Media Bastion

Arsenal have a history of being at the forefront of technological change.

On 22 January 1927, their match vs Sheffield United (played at Highbury) was the first English League game to be broadcast live on radio.

Ten years later, an exhibition match between Arsenal's first team and the reserves was the first-ever televised football match in world history.

They were also included in the first-ever Match of the Day presentation on BBC in 1964 after playing Liverpool.

"BSkyB's coverage of Arsenal's January 2010 match against Manchester United was the first live public broadcast of a sports event on 3D television," Wikipedia noted.

Unfortunately, Arsenal lost that last one, 3-1.

Thierry Henry Signs for Arsenal

He had lasted but six months in Turin before Juventus sold him to Arsenal for a reported £11 million.

Suffice to say, Carlo Ancelotti—then the manager of the Bianconeri—has admitted he "may have made a mistake" in playing the Frenchman on the left wing instead of as a forward.

Whatever Wenger saw in Henry—he had already managed him at AS Monaco—allowed for one of the future greats (Henry is widely regarded as the greatest attacking player in Premier League history) to make a move to north London.

Two hundred twenty nine goals later, it's hard to disagree with Wenger's reasoning on this one.

The 2001-02 Double

All it seemed that Wenger did—and to many, it seemed it was all he would ever do—was bring in trophies to Arsenal as if they were going out of style.

The 2001-02 season was Arsenal's last double-winning campaign, but it was a great one.

Bergkamp and Henry formed a wonderful tandem up top, and they were buttressed by the inimitable wing duo of Freddie Ljungberg and Robert Pires, not to mention Patrick Vieira captaining the side in central midfield.

Add to that a rock-solid defense anchored by Tony Adams (who would retire after the season) and Sol Campbell, and you had a recipe for rampant success.

Dennis Bergkamp, Artist

You could pick and choose from any number of the hundreds of absolute top-class goals in Arsenal history, but this one by Bergkamp seems as good as any when looking for one.

It is considered one of the greatest individual goals in Premier League history, and for just cause. There was something so indefinably magnificent about the turn-plus-finish from the Dutchman; the kind of moment that sears itself into memory.

You were never going to forget this roulette. It was Arsenal personified at its best. Attacking with creative verve, finishing with inimitable genius.

2005 FA Cup

It is special perhaps because it has become the last time Arsenal grabbed silverware.

But the match itself was one for the ages.

Arsenal again faced Manchester United in a match with title implications, and just as in 1979, they held their nerve and dispatched the Red Devils and leaped to glory.

Arsenal Move into the Emirates

It seemed fitting that the match to christen the Emirates Stadium as a playing environment was Dennis Bergkamp's final one as a professional player.

It was nothing more than an exhibition, but to have a legend of such rarefied dignity and prowess make his final bow on that day was the type of beginning every club hopes for when it moves some place new.

A Night at the Emirates

It is a club so widely loved—so fiercely loved—because it stirs feelings in us such as the ones on display during this video.

Arsenal are so much more than a club at times. And when you witness nights such as the one captured in this video, it's impossible to think otherwise about them.

We relish the nights when they make everything seem right about the world through their wonderful displays of football. We love them all the more when they struggle simply because, like a parent caring for his/her child, our happiness is often tied to theirs.

When they struggle, we feel it deeply.

It is that fact—that they heighten our emotions so considerably—that makes them such an iconic, and rare, club.

The Awakening: Spring, 2012

Seven years without a trophy is far too long for a club such as Arsenal.

It's why the current season has been so maddening to many—yet another campaign gone without the faintest glimmer of silver(ware).

But something has happened in the last two months.

After hinting at acting upon its considerable potential for the past five years (at least), something awoke in the club.

Maybe it was the harrowing run in February, when Arsenal lost out on chances to progress in the Champions League and saw their run at an FA Cup title come to a crash at the Stadium of Light.

Maybe it was the five-goal surge against Tottenham at the Emirates, when the Gunners broke their North London rivals, 5-2. Maybe it was the return leg against Milan.

Whatever triggered what we're currently seeing, it has ushered in a newfound sense of confidence and good vibrations pulsating through the club.

After merely hinting at it for much of the season, they are back to playing vintage Arsenal football (under Wenger). Passing teams off the park, finishing with aplomb.

Here's to a 2012-13 season when that finally brings results.