The 2019–20 season was Arsenal's 28th season in the Premier League, their 94th consecutive season in the top flight of English football and 103rd season in the top flight overall. The club participated in the Premier League, FA Cup, EFL Cup and UEFA Europa League.
Despite finishing eighth and enduring one of their most turbulent seasons in modern history, Arsenal ended the season with silverware, winning the FA Cup for a record fourteenth time.
Review Throughout the summer transfer window, Arsenal completed the signings of forwards Gabriel Martinelli and club-record signing Nicolas Pepe; midfielder Dani Ceballos on a one-year loan; and defenders Kieran Tierney, David Luiz, and William Saliba, the latter of which was sent back to former club AS Saint-Etienne on a one-year loan. What the Arsenal fanbase viewed as lack of budget and ambition from owner Stan Kroenke led many to protest his ownership with the social media hashtag "#WeCareDoYou". Arsenal released first-team players Stephan Lichtsteiner, Aaron Ramsey, and Danny Welbeck, sold David Ospina, Takuma Asano, Laurent Koscielny, Carl Jenkinson, Alex Iwobi, and Nacho Monreal, and loaned out Eddie Nketiah, Mohamed Elneny, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Emile Smith Rowe, and Konstantinos Mavropanos.
During the preseason, Arsenal competed in the International Champions Cup, finishing 3rd, and the Emirates Cup and Joan Gamper Trophy finals, losing both. Arsenal started the Premier League with a 1–0 win against Newcastle United, and continued a consistent form of results, standing third at the table at the time of the October international break, as well as advancing to the fourth round of the EFL Cup. However, their results began to deteriorate, losing to Liverpool in the fourth round of the EFL Cup and winning only once in 9 games since the end of the international break. As a result, head coach Unai Emery was sacked on 29 November, and former player Freddie Ljungberg took over as caretaker manager. He led Arsenal to the round of 32 in the Europa League, but had only won once in 5 games, and was replaced on 20 December by Manchester City assistant coach and former captain Mikel Arteta. New boss Arteta named his coaching staff on 24 December, with assistants Albert Stuivenberg and Steve Round, and goalkeeping coach Iñaki Caña joining the club. Ljungberg remained as assistant coach, and goalkeeping coach Sal Bibbo stayed to work with Caña.
Results showed an improvement following Arteta's third game in charge against Manchester United, which Arsenal had won 2–0, and Arteta had signed defenders Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares on loans with options to buy in the winter transfer window. Arsenal beat Leeds United and Bournemouth to move to the fifth round of the FA Cup, and remained undefeated in all competitions in 2020 until 27 February, when Greek club Olympiacos knocked them out of the round of 32 of the Europa League on away goals by winning 2–1 at the Emirates. Arsenal remained consistent domestically, advancing to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup after defeating Portsmouth but remaining in roughly the same mid-table position in the Premier League.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused all competitions to be suspended from March until 17 June, when Arsenal played Manchester City in a game originally scheduled to take place on 11 March, and lost 3–0. Further defeats to Brighton, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa condemned Arsenal to an eighth-place finish, far from a European qualification spot and with the worst points return over a 38-game Premier League season. However, victories in the FA Cup against Sheffield United in the quarter-finals and Manchester City in the semi-finals put Arsenal in the final, where they beat Chelsea 2–1 on 1 August to win their only silverware of the season and gain qualification to the Europa League.
First-team coaching staff Unai Emery (1 July 2019 – 29 November 2019) Position Name Head coach Unai Emery Assistant head coaches Juan Carlos Carcedo Freddie Ljungberg Coach Pablo Villa Goalkeeping coaches Javi García Sal Bibbo
Freddie Ljungberg (29 November 2019 – 20 December 2020) Position Name Interim head coach Freddie Ljungberg Interim assistant coach Per Mertesacker Goalkeeping coach Sal Bibbo
Mikel Arteta (20 December 2019 – 1 August 2020) Position Name Head coach Mikel Arteta Assistant coaches Freddie Ljungberg Albert Stuivenberg Steve Round Goalkeeping coaches Iñaki Caña Sal Bibbo
Players
Transfers Transfers in Date Position Name From Fee Team Ref.2 July 2019LW Gabriel Martinelli Ituano£6,000,000First teamGK James Hillson ReadingFree transferAcademy8 July 2019CB Jason Sraha ChelseaFree transferAcademyAM Cătălin Cîrjan Viitorul DomneștiFree transferAcademy25 July 2019CB William Saliba Saint-Étienne£27,000,000First team1 August 2019RW Nicolas Pépé Lille£72,000,000First team8 August 2019LB Kieran Tierney Celtic£25,000,000First teamCB David Luiz Chelsea£8,000,000First team
Loans in Date Position Name From End date Team Ref.25 July 2019CM Dani Ceballos Real Madrid30 June 2020First team29 January 2020CB Pablo Marí Flamengo30 June 2020First team31 January 2020RB Cédric Soares Southampton30 June 2020First team
Transfers out Date Position Name To Fee Team Ref.1 July 2019 LB Cohen Bramall Colchester United Released Academy GK Petr Čech Retired First team RB Vontae Daley-Campbell Leicester City Released Academy DM Charlie Gilmour Norwich City Released Academy RB Stephan Lichtsteiner FC Augsburg Released First team CB Julio Pleguezuelo FC Twente Released Academy CM Aaron Ramsey Juventus Released First team CB Bayli Spencer-Adams Watford Released Academy CF Danny Welbeck Released First team 4 July 2019 GK David Ospina Napoli £3,000,000 First team 8 July 2019 CM Yunus Musah Valencia Released Academy 28 July 2019 RW Xavier Amaechi Hamburger SV £2,250,000 Academy 2 August 2019 CB Krystian Bielik Derby County £10,000,000 Academy 4 August 2019 SS Takuma Asano Partizan Belgrade £900,000 First team 6 August 2019 CB Laurent Koscielny Bordeaux £4,600,000 First team 7 August 2019 RB Carl Jenkinson Nottingham Forest £2,000,000 First team 8 August 2019 LB Dominic Thompson Brentford £3,000,000 Academy LW Alex Iwobi Everton £28,000,000 First team 31 August 2019 LB Nacho Monreal Real Sociedad £250,000 First team 2 September 2019 AM Kelechi Nwakali SD Huesca Released Academy 27 January 2020 AM Stan Flaherty Newcastle United Released Academy 18 February 2020 CM Robbie Burton Dinamo Zagreb £800,000 Academy
Notes 1. Fee could rise to £35,000,000.
Loans out Date Position Name To End date Team Ref.1 July 2019RB Jordi Osei-Tutu VfL Bochum30 June 2020Academy3 July 2019CB Daniel Ballard Swindon Town16 August 2019Academy12 July 2019DM Ben Sheaf Doncaster Rovers30 June 2020Academy13 July 2019GK Dejan Iliev ŠKF Sereď14 January 2020Academy25 July 2019CB William Saliba Saint-Étienne30 June 2020First team8 August 2019CF Eddie Nketiah Leeds United1 January 2020First team13 August 2019GK Tom Smith SalisburySeptember 2019Academy31 August 2019DM Mohamed Elneny Beşiktaş30 June 2020First team2 September 2019AM Henrikh Mkhitaryan A.S. Roma30 June 2020First team10 January 2020CF Tyreece John-Jules Lincoln City30 June 2020Under-23s10 January 2020LM Emile Smith Rowe Huddersfield Town30 June 2020First team13 January 2020CB Konstantinos Mavropanos 1. FC Nürnberg30 June 2020First team14 January 2020GK Dejan Iliev Jagiellonia Bialystok30 June 2020Academy27 January 2020CM James Olayinka Northampton Town30 June 2020Academy13 February 2020CB Joseph Olowu Cork City1 November 2020Academy
Club Kits Adidas were announced as Arsenal's kit supplier as of the start of the season. This marked the first time since the 1993–94 season that Adidas have been the kit supplier to the club.
Supplier: Adidas / Sponsor: Emirates / Sleeve sponsor: Visit Rwanda
Squad statistics Appearances and goals
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |- ! rowspan="2" | ! rowspan="2" | ! rowspan="2" style="width:75px;" | ! rowspan="2" style="width:180px;" |Name ! colspan="2" style="width:87px;" |Premier League ! colspan="2" style="width:87px;" |FA Cup ! colspan="2" style="width:87px;" |EFL Cup ! colspan="2" style="width:87px;" |Europa League ! colspan="2" style="width:87px;" |Total |- ! !Goals ! !Goals ! !Goals ! !Goals ! !Goals |- |1 |GK | | scope="row" |Bernd Leno
|30 |0
|0 |0
|0 |0
|2 |0
!32 !0 |- |2 |DF | | scope="row" |Héctor Bellerín
|13(2) |1
|3 |0
|1(1) |0
|3 |0
!20(3) !1 |- |3 |DF | | scope="row" |Kieran Tierney
|12(3) |1
|3 |0
|1(1) |0
|4 |0
!20(4) !1 |- |5 |DF | | scope="row" |Sokratis Papastathopoulos
|19 |2
|3(2) |1
|0 |0
|4(1) |0
!26(3) !3 |- |8 |MF | | scope="row" |Dani Ceballos
|18(6) |0
|2(3) |1
|0(2) |0
|3(3) |1
!23(14) !2 |- |9 |FW | | scope="row" |Alexandre Lacazette
|22(8) |10
|4 |0
|0 |0
|4(1) |2
!30(9) !12 |- |10 |MF | | scope="row" |Mesut Özil
|18 |1
|1 |0
|2 |0
|1(1) |0
!22(1) !1 |- |11 |MF | | scope="row" |Lucas Torreira
|17(12) |1
|1(1) |0
|2 |1
|3(3) |0
!23(16) !2 |- |14 |FW | | scope="row" |Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
|35(1) |22
|2 |4
|0 |0
|4(2) |3
!41(3) !29 |- |15 |MF | | scope="row" |Ainsley Maitland-Niles
|15(5) |0
|3(2) |0
|1 |1
|4(2) |0
!23(9) !1 |- |16 |DF | | scope="row" |Rob Holding
|6(2) |0
|2(3) |0
|2 |1
|3 |0
!13(5) !1 |- |17 |DF | | scope="row" |Cédric
|3(2) |1
|0 |0
|0 |0
|0 |0
!3(2) !1 |- |19 |FW | | scope="row" |Nicolas Pépé
|22(9) |5
|5 |1
|0 |0
|2(4) |2
!29(13) !8 |- |20 |DF | | scope="row" |Shkodran Mustafi
|13(2) |0
|3 |0
|2 |0
|7 |1
!25(2) !1 |- |21 |DF | | scope="row" |Calum Chambers
|13(1) |1
|0 |0
|1 |0
|2(1) |0
!16(2) !1 |- |22 |DF | | scope="row" |Pablo Marí
|2 |0
|1 |0
|0 |0
|0 |0
!3 !0 |- |23 |DF | | scope="row" |David Luiz
|32(1) |2
|5 |0
|0 |0
|5 |0
!42(1) !2 |- |24 |FW | | scope="row" |Reiss Nelson
|7(10) |1
|2 |1
|1 |1
|2 |0
!12(10) !3 |- |26 |GK | | scope="row" |Emiliano Martínez
|8(1) |0
|6 |0
|2 |0
|6 |0
!22(1) !0 |- |28 |MF | | scope="row" |Joe Willock
|8(21) |1
|3(2) |0
|2 |2
|7(1) |2
!20(24) !5 |- |29 |MF | | scope="row" |Matteo Guendouzi
|19(5) |0
|3 |0
|0(1) |0
|2(4) |0
!24(10) !0 |- |30 |FW | | scope="row" | Eddie Nketiah
|7(6) |2
|2(2) |2
|0 |0
|0 |0
!9(8) !4 |- |31 |DF | | scope="row" |Sead Kolašinac
|19(7) |0
|2(2) |0
|1 |0
|1 |0
!23(9) !0 |- |33 |GK | | scope="row" |Matt Macey
|0 |0
|0 |0
|0 |0
|0 |0
!0 !0 |- |34 |MF | | scope="row" |Granit Xhaka
|30(1) |1
|5(1) |0
|0 |0
|4 |0
!39(2) !1 |- |35 |FW | | scope="row" |Gabriel Martinelli
|6(8) |3
|2(1) |0
|2 |4
|5(2) |3
!15(11) !10 |- |77 |FW | | scope="row" |Bukayo Saka
|19(7) |1
|3(1) |1
|1(1) |0
|6 |2
!29(9) !4 |- !colspan="16"|Players loaned out but featured this season |- |7 |MF | | scope="row" |Henrikh Mkhitaryan
|1(2) |0
|0 |0
|0 |0
|0 |0
!1(2) !0 |- |27 |DF | | scope="row" |Konstantinos Mavropanos
|0 |0
|0 |0
|0 |0
|1 |0
!1 !0 |- |32 |MF | | scope="row" |Emile Smith Rowe
|1(1) |0
|0 |0
|1 |0
|3 |0
!5(1) !0 |- !colspan="16"|Players sold but featured this season |- |18 |DF | | scope="row" |Nacho Monreal
|3 |0
|0 |0
|0 |0
|0 |0
!3 !0
Goalscorers
RankPositionNamePremier LeagueFA CupEFL CupEuropa LeagueTotal1FW22403292FW10002123FW3043104FW510285MF102256FW22004FW110248FW11103DF2100310MF01012DF20002MF1010213DF10001DF10001DF10001DF00101MF00101DF00011MF10001MF10001DF10001Total5611101693
Assists As of 1 August 2020 RankPositionNamePremier LeagueFA CupEFL CupEuropa LeagueTotal1FW Bukayo Saka5115122MF Nicolas Pépé6202103DF10304FW Alexandre Lacazette40004FW Gabriel Martinelli01034FW Reiss Nelson02114DF Kieran Tierney110247MF Mesut Özil20103FW Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang300039MF20002MF Matteo Guendouzi10102DF Sead Kolašinac20002MF Ainsley Maitland-Niles20002MF Granit Xhaka2000214DF Héctor Bellerín00101DF David Luiz10001DF Shkodran Mustafi10001MF Lucas Torreira10001MF Joe Willock10001Total33481358
Disciplinary record