| Legends |

THIERRY HENRY

Henry with the double

Position: Striker

Nationality: French

DOB: 17/08/1977

Height: 6 ft 2in

Appearances: 380

Goals: 226

Arsenal Career:  1999-2007

Thierry Henry is without doubt the greatest gunner of all time. He joined Arsenal in August 1999 from Juventus for £10.5m. He was bought as a replacement for Nicholas Anelka. He was at that time a winger but Arsene Wenger thought of him as a striker and swiftly carried out his conversion. The conversion could not have been more successful as the lethal striker became the second quickest player to reach a century of Premier League goals. He also surpassed Ian Wright’s tally of 185 goals to become the club’s all time leading scorer with 226 goals. He became the first player to score more than 20 goals for five consecutive seasons from 2002 to 2006. He also won the European Golden Boot in 2004 and 2005 and became the first player ever to retain the trophy. To add to that he has been the Barclays Premier League Player of the Season four times. He has also been nominated for the FIFA Player of the year two times during his time at Arsenal ending up runner-up two times. He was also voted PFA Player of the Year in 2003. He was also named by Pele in his list of 125 Greatest Living Footballers.

DENNIS BERGKAMP

Bergkamp with the Premier League Trophy

Position: Forward

Nationality : Dutch

DOB: 10/5/1969

Height: 6ft

Appearances: 423

Goals: 120

Arsenal Career: 1995-2006

Bergkamp was signed by Arsenal for £7.5m in June 1995 by then manager Bruce Rioch from Inter. He had trouble adapting to the Premier League and took 7 games to score his first goal. Slowly he started to grow as a player. He became a second striker behind Ian Wright. The two formed a lethal partnership which was one of the finest in the Premier League. He was voted the PFA Player of the Year in the season when Arsenal won the Double. In September 1997 he became the only player so far to come 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the Match of the Day’s Goal of the Month Competition for his hattrick against Leicester City. He scored 16 times that season but more than that he assisted a lot more. On April 15, 2006 he had a match theme dedicated to him for the match against West Brom. He ended up coming on as a substitute, set up Pires and then scored a curler himself. That goal proved to be his last goal of his football career. Apart from his 120 goals he has 166 assists to his name which is an all time Premier League record.

TONY ADAMS

Adams with the Premier League Trophy

Position: Defender

Nationality: English

DOB: 10/10/1966

Height: 6ft 3in

Appearances: 669

Goals: 48

Arsenal Career: 1983-2002

Tony Adams is one of the greatest players to ever play for Arsenal. He was always a fan favourite and earned the title Mr. Arsenal. He made his debut at the age of 17 and was a regular for the club since he was 19! He won the first major trophy at the club in 1987 winning the League Cup with a win over Liverpool at Wembley. He was a part of the ‘Famous Four’ Arsenal defence which was renowned for its use of the offside trap. He became the Arsenal captain at the age of just 21! He then captained Arsenal to the Premier League title in 1989 an 1991. In 1992-93 he won the League Cup and FA Cup double and next year the European Cup Winners Cup. In the coming years there were loads of controversies in Mr. Arsenal’s life because of drug and alcohol addiction. He even spent two months in jail but eventually he started seeking treatment for it and recieved quite some help from Arsene Wenger for it. He repaid the Arsenal manager by captaining Arsenal to two Premiership and FA Cup doubles in 1997-98 and 2001-02. He is the only player in English football history to have captained a title-winning team in three different decades! He eventually retired from football before the start of 2002-03 season after a career spanning nearly 20 years in which he was the captain for 14 years. in 2004, he was inducted to the English Football Hall of Fame for his brilliant contribution to English Football.

IAN WRIGHT

Ian Wright with the Premier League trophy

Position: Striker

Nationality: English

DOB: 3/11/1963

Height: 5ft 9in

Appearances: 288

Goals: 185

Arsenal Career: 1991-1998

Ian Wright signed for Arsenal in September 1991 for £2.5m from Crystal Palace. He scored on his debut in the League Cup and scored a hattrick on his League debut. He scored 29 goals (5 of these were at Crystal Palace) in his first season at Arsenal and won the Golden Boot. He was the club’s top scorer for a remarkable 6 seasons in a row. He won the FA Cup and League Cup double with Arsenal scoring in the FA Cup final and its replay against Sheffield Wednesday. He led Arsenal to the UEFA Cup Winners Cup in 1994 but had not played in the final due to suspension. He then scored in every round of the Cup Winners Cup next season except for the final. Then there were some tough times for Ian but later with the arrival of Arsene Wenger he started scoring freely once again, scoring 23 goals in the season and later on becoming the then all time leading top scorer, breaking the record with a hattrick! But then he injured his hamstring and after that he could never get into the same goalscoring form and moved to West Ham in 1998 ending his glittering career with Arsenal.

PATRICK VIERA

Viera with the Premier League trophy

Position: Midfielder

Nationality: French

DOB: 23/6/1976

Height: 6ft 3.5in

Appearances: 406

Goals: 33

Arsenal Career: 1996-2005

Patrick Viera was bought for £3.5m in 1996 as a relatively unknown. He had been asked to be bought by incoming manager Arsene Wenger before joining. He had on trouble settling in the Premier League and won the Premiership and FA Cup double in 1997-98 with Arsenal. He was known for his temper and was sent off in the first two matches of the 2000-01 season and in all received 9 red cards during his time at Arsenal. He was then in 2002 made club captain with the retirement of Tony Adams. He captained the club to an unbeated League season in 2003-04. Then later he won the FA Cup with Arsenal scoring the final spot kick that won the match and it proved to be the final kick of his Arsenal career. During his glittering career at Arsenal he was named in the PFA Team of the Year for six consecutive seasons.

ROBERT PIRES

Position: Midfielder

Nationality: French

DOB: 29/10/1973

Height: 6 ft 1.5 in

Appearances: 283

Goals: 84

Arsenal Career: 2000-2006

Robert Pires was bought by Arsene Wenger in July 2000 for £6 m from Marseille. The Frenchman was brought as a replacementfor Marc Overmars. He was a regular from the start buttook time to adapt to the Premier League so he had a dissapointing first season. It was next season that he started to shine. Scored 13 goals from the midfield including quite a few spectaculars. He was rewarded for his performances at the end of the season as he was awarded FWA Footballer of the Year and voted Arsenal’s Player of the Season. His performances led to Arsenal winning the League, but his season ended badly as he missed the last two months with an injury. He returned a couple of months into the next season and once he got back to form, he notched 16 goals including 14 from just 20 starts in the League. His performances played a vital role in getting Arsenal to win the FA Cup, scoring the winner in the final against Southampton. He had earlier scored a hat-trick against the same side on the final day of the League. Brilliant sesaon stats for a midfielder. Next season he helped Arsenal to an unbeaten League season, once again increasing his goals tally to 19. He ended up second top scorer and had the joint top assists. Next year he scored 14 goals and led Arsenal’s successful FA Cup campaign. Next season though he was not a first teamer anymore but still ended up the joint second top scorer. Finally in May 2006 he was sold to Villareal which brought to an end a glittering Arsenal career for one of the greatest Arsenal players.