The 5 best Arsenal players of the Wenger era | OneFootball

Today is Arsene Wenger’s 70th birthday so it seems a good time to look back at some of his best players.

David Seaman

Arsenal has a trophy cabinet full of football’s highest honours and holds the record for the longest consecutive streak of top division football in English history.

Of course, all those accolades wouldn’t have been possible without playing host to some of the best managers and players in the world.

As Arsene Wenger was recently honoured with Laureus Lifetime Achievement award, this article will look at some of the players who have helped keep the Gunners at the top of world football under his tenure.

It might seem odd to start this list with a goalkeeper, but, while strikers might get most of the camera time, a top goalkeeper is the core of any great team—and they don’t come much greater than David.

In his time guarding the Arsenal net, Seaman won three league championships, four FA Cups, the League Cup in 1993 and the European Cup Winners Cup in 1994. He was also the second most-capped English goalkeeper of all time, providing a rock-steady defensive presence for his country and his team.

His last-minute save in the semi-finals of the 2003 FA Cup has to go down as one of the greatest reflex saves of all time, making him an inspiration to budding goalkeepers everywhere.

Patrick Vieira

A name synonymous with footballing success at Arsenal, Patrick Vieira is arguably one of the greatest footballers of all time, and he did his best work in a Gunner’s shirt.

So important was he to the team that, when he took over from Tony Adams as Arsenal’s defensive coordinator, the Gunner’s embarked on a run of 49 games without a loss, bringing home nine trophies for the club in nine years.

When he eventually did leave for Juventus, his loss was so irreparable that the Gunners didn’t win another trophy for nine years.

Thierry Henry

Author of some of the most beautiful goals (and Renault averts) in Arsenal history, Henry brought a touch of French flair and coolness to the Emirates and won two premier league titles, three FA Cups, five Player of the Year awards, four Golden Boots and a total goal tally of 228.

Even Henry’s transition from player to manager had his customary flair. Rather than start small, as most new managers do, Henry built his experience as the assistant coach of the Belgium national team. He then went on to become the manager of Monaco, which is a place synonymous with high-profile sport, from the Monaco Grand Prix to the most glamorous stop on the EPT (European Poker Tour).

Dennis Bergkamp

Where Henry was all flair and long-legged style, our next entrant, Dennis Bergkamp, is rightly famed for his ice-cool control, beautiful positioning and fantastic footballing technique. To his natural talents, he added a workmanlike attitude that always kept him in the thick of the action.

Arsenal through and through, Bergkamp ended his career with his testimonial being the first game ever played at the new Emirates Stadium—a fitting end for a player who’s 120 goals for the club cemented his reputation as one of the Gunners’ best.

Tony Adams

No list of the best and the brightest of the Gunners would be complete without “Mr. Arsenal” himself, Tony Adams. An English centre back in the classic sense, Adams racked up 669 appearances, 10 major titles and 48 goals in his time with Arsenal, and he also captained both his league team and his national one.

“Big Tone” (as he was affectionately called by the fans off the pitch) struggled with alcohol abuse, but he eventually conquered that with the same sheer determination that saw him overcome some of the best strikers in the game.

In 2011 Arsenal unveiled a statue of Adams at the Emirates Stadium—a fitting honour to one of the best players ever to have worn the shirt.