In February 2012 as he faced up to seven seasons without a major trophy, Arsene Wenger made one of his most infamous statements as Arsenal manager.
"The first trophy is to finish in the top four," he said, with the Gunners 4-0 down in a Champions League tie against AC Milan and having been dumped out of the FA Cup by Sunderland.
His words attracted plenty of derision but given the huge financial advantage Champions League qualification handed to Premier League teams, not to mention the monetary demands attached to the Gunners’ move to Emirates Stadium, he unquestionably had a point.
Silverware returned in 2014 as Wenger’s men won the FA Cup and they retained the trophy the following season. Despite a few close shaves, they kept getting into the Champions League.
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The 2015/16 season ultimately felt like a missed opportunity as Arsenal finished second behind surprise package Leicester City in the title race. But when Mikel Arteta bade farewell to his playing days on the final day of the season. Wenger’s side remained secure among Europe’s elite.
And then they weren’t. From 2017 up until this season’s Group B opener against PSV, the Champions League existed for six seasons without Arsenal in it.
Arsenal's last involvement in the competition came in 2016-17, meaning they went six years without competing in UEFA's top-tier club tournament.
Here’s how those years unfolded and how they finally made it back.
Arsenal 2016/17 season
There is a strong argument to be made that, after Arsenal turned in a bravura performance in the 2017 FA Cup final to deny Antonio Conte’s Chelsea a double, Wenger should have rode off into the sunset. It was a glorious end to a season that had tailed off after the turn of the year.
The Gunners were partially victims of a season where several teams amassed big points hauls. Their 75 points were four more than they got as runners-up 12 months earlier but yielded fifth place, the first time they had been outside the top four since 1995/96 — the campaign that preceded Wenger’s historic tenure.
Arsenal 2017/18 season
The win over Chelsea persuaded Wenger to stay on for a troubled final season. Star attacker Alexis Sanchez was heavily linked to Manchester City in August and joined Manchester United in January, an eventual transfer that ended up benefitting neither party.
A section of the Arsenal support continued to vocally protest against Wenger staying in his post and there was a clear regression from a talented squad. They finished sixth with 63 points, 12 shy of Liverpool in fourth. A couple of deep cup runs meant it could have been a golden farewell, but City swatted the Gunners aside 3-0 in the Carabao Cup final and Atletico Madrid beat them 2-1 on aggregate in the Europa League semifinals.
Arsenal 2018/19 season
Unai Emery was the man who followed the man. Buoyant early season form — not to mention those "we’ve got our Arsenal back" chants — subsided. They were still well-placed heading into the run-in but a slump of four Premier League games without a win proved decisive. Defeats to Crystal Palace, Wolves and Leicester City preceded a draw against Brighton. By the time Arsenal beat Burnley on the final day, it was too late and Tottenham claimed fourth by a point.
Still, there was one more chance to seal a Champions League return after Emery’s side reached the Europa League final. But the Gunners were walloped 4-1 by Chelsea in Baku. Emery’s reign never really recovered.
Arsenal 2019/20 season
A winless run of seven games culminating in a 2-1 Europa League defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt ended Emery’s tenure after 18 months in charge. Matters did not improve under caretaker boss Freddie Ljungberg, who oversaw a dispiriting 3-0 home loss to Manchester City before the Arsenal hierarchy made their move for a man on the opposition bench.
Arteta had won numerous admirers for his work as Pep Guardiola’s assistant and was in the frame around the time of Emery’s appointment. He returned to his former club to begin the work of a painstaking overhaul. Arsenal finished the pandemic-interrupted season in eighth position but beat City in the semis and Chelsea in the final to lift the FA Cup.
Arsenal 2020/21 season
Arteta’s men got the campaign underway with victory over Liverpool in the Community Shield. It would end up being a highlight as they once again limped to eighth.
This time there was no consolation of European football as Emery’s Villarreal knocked out the Londoners in the semifinals en route to Europa League glory. However, a promising run in that competition did at least help to quell some of the mid-season questions over Arteta's future.
Arsenal 2021/22 season
Having one game per week to focus on was no bad thing for Arteta as he shaped the squad in his own image. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang followed Matteo Guendouzi and Mesut Ozil out of the door and a team with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli to the fore began to flourish, with Martin Odegaard and Aaron Ramsdale quickly looking like very shrewd additions.
Three successive defeats to start the campaign were banished as Arteta’s team truly hit their stride after the turn of the year. However, a run of four defeats in five games spanning March and April left their Champions League hopes teetering. On a raucous night at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Spurs delighted in dealing the final blow as they ran out 3-0 winners to take fourth at Arsenal’s expense.
Arsenal 2022/23 season
It turns out the best way to qualify for the Champions League is to take any doubts over qualifying completely out of the equation. A team bolstered by returning loanee Wiliam Saliba and the canny acquisitions of Manchester City duo Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus flew out of the blocks to lead the table before the World Cup break.
Arsenal were never in a race for the top four; they were in a race for the title. Although they ultimately came up short against City, Arteta finished second and eased back into the Champions League, the competition where his old boss Wenger famously found a long-term home for Arsenal.
