Arsenal

Arsenal's greatest ever players by number

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 18 April 2020

Sports Mole takes an alternative look at Arsenal's greatest ever players, listing the best to have worn each shirt number at the club from Thierry Henry to Nicklas Bendtner.

Only Manchester United and Liverpool have won more top-flight English titles than Arsenal, with the bulk of their success coming in the 1930s and more recently during the Arsene Wenger era.

Some of the greatest players to have ever graced English football have plied their trade for the Gunners, although they have also had a number of players the supporters would rather forget about.

Here, Sports Mole takes an alternative look at an all-time greatest Arsenal list, identifying the best ever players to have worn each shirt number for the club.

It is a greatest-ever list with a difference - including the likes of Emmanuel Eboue, Emmanuel Frimpong and Nicklas Bendtner (twice).

Of course, the true Arsenal legends also make an appearance, while some miss out by virtue of having worn the same number as other all-time Gunners greats.

The club's best goalkeepers naturally vie for the number one jersey, Patrick Vieira and Cesc Fabregas go head to head for number four, while Dennis Bergkamp takes the title for the number 10 ahead of Paul Merson and Charlie George.

Other battles are less prestigious, though - Bendtner beats Igor Stepanovs for number 26, Eboue holds off the challenge of Gervinho for number 27 while Gavin Hoyte's closest rival for number 41 is Arturo Lupoli.

Thierry Henry - arguably the greatest of the lot - stands clear of current top-scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for the number 14 shirt, but other legendary names such as Liam Brady, Freddie Ljungberg and George Armstrong have to play second fiddle.

See below for our full list of Arsenal's best players by number, with other contenders in brackets.

Arsenal's greatest ever players by number

1. David Seaman (Bob Wilson, Pat Jennings, Jens Lehmann)
2. Lee Dixon (Pat Rice)
3. Ashley Cole (Nigel Winterburn, Kenny Sansom)
4. Patrick Vieira (Cesc Fabregas, Peter Storey)
5. David O'Leary (Martin Keown, Steve Bould, Frank McLintock)
6. Tony Adams (Peter Simpson, Laurent Koscielny)
7. Robert Pires (Liam Brady, David Rocastle, George Armstrong)
8. Ian Wright (Freddie Ljungberg, Alan Sunderland, Alan Ball)
9. Alan Smith (John Radford, Charlie Nicholas, Frank Stapleton)
10. Dennis Bergkamp (Paul Merson, Charlie George)
11. Robin van Persie (George Graham, Marc Overmars, Mesut Ozil)
12. Lauren (Olivier Giroud)
13. Aleksandr Hleb
14. Thierry Henry (Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Theo Walcott)
15. Ray Parlour (Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain)
16. Aaron Ramsey
17. Emmanuel Petit (Alexis Sanchez, Edu, Alex Song)
18. Nacho Monreal (Gilles Grimandi, Pascal Cygan)
19. Gilberto Silva (Santi Cazorla)
20. Mathieu Flamini (Johan Djourou, Shkodran Mustafi)
21. Calum Chambers (Lukasz Fabianski, Luis Boa Morte)
22. Gael Clichy
23. Sol Campbell (Andrey Arshavin)
24. Hector Bellerin (Manuel Almunia)
25. Nwankwo Kanu (Emmanuel Adebayor)
26. Nicklas Bendtner (Igor Stepanovs)
27. Emmanuel Eboue (Gervinho)
28. Kolo Toure
29. Granit Xhaka (Matteo Guendouzi)
30. Jeremie Aliadiere
31. Sead Kolasinac
32. Theo Walcott
33. Petr Cech
34. Granit Xhaka
35. Mohamed Elneny (Gabriel Martinelli, Francis Coquelin)
36. Johan Djourou
37. David Bentley
38. Chuba Akpom
39. Hector Bellerin
40. Hector Bellerin (Kieran Gibbs)
41. Gavin Hoyte (Arturo Lupoli)
42. Quincy Owusu-Abeyie (Henri Lansbury)
43. Fran Merida
44. Serge Gnabry
45. Alex Iwobi
46. Henri Lansbury
47. Serge Gnabry
48. Mark Randall
49. Eddie Nketiah
50. Emiliano Martinez
51. Ignasi Miquel
52. Nicklas Bendtner
53. Wojciech Szczesny
54. Jeff Reine-Adelaide
55. Ainsley Maitland-Niles
56. Emmanuel Frimpong
57. Cesc Fabregas
58. Gedion Zelalem
59. Joe Willock
60. Alex Iwobi
61. Reiss Nelson
62. Eddie Nketiah
63. Jordi Osei-Tutu
64. Nico Yennaris
65. Ben Sheaf
66. N/A
67. Chuba Akpom
68. Chris Willock
69. Joe Willock
70. Ainsley Maitland-Niles
71. N/A
72. Tyreece John-Jules
73. Stefan O'Connor
74. N/A
75. N/A
76. N/A
77. Bukayo Saka (Henrikh Mkhitaryan)
78. N/A
79. N/A
80. N/A
81. N/A
82. N/A
83. N/A
84. N/A
85. N/A
86. N/A
87. Bukayo Saka