Stats: How successful are we on the opening day?

The first day of the league season is one that gets every Gooner’s blood pumping, as the anticipation and excitement ahead of a new campaign build to a crescendo, ending on the sounds of the referee’s whistle to get the opening game, and the 2025/26 season underway.

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But how have we traditionally fared in our first fixture? We’ve leafed through the record books to uncover some facts and stats:

• This will be our 122nd league season, and in the previous 121 opening games, we have a record of 57 wins, 23 draws and 41 losses. We have never won the league after losing the opening game of the season.
   
• We have won our opening Premier League match in each of the last three seasons, beating Crystal Palace in 2022/23, Nottingham Forest in 2023/24 and Wolves last season. We last started our season with a win in four seasons in a row between 2002 and 2005 when we won five in a row.

• After we netted twice against Wolves 12 months ago, we are two goals shy of netting 200 in total in game number one, having conceded 169 across the same period.
   
• We have started a season at home much more often than not, with 69 home fixtures as opposed to 52 away.
   
• This will be the 34th Premier League season, and as we are ever-presents in the division, we have played 33 times on the competition’s opening weekend, winning 19 and drawing six of those games. We average 1.91 points (using three points for a win) since the division’s creation in 1992, higher than our all-time average of 1.58.

• We haven’t drawn on the opening day in 13 years since we played out a goalless draw with Sunderland at Emirates Stadium.

• Statistically, a draw on the opening day has seen us go on to enjoy good campaigns. In the six Premier League seasons we began with a stalemate, we have recorded an average finishing position of 3.5 in the table, ahead of the 3.9 when we won, and 4.6 when we lost.

• We have scored 58 goals on the opening day of a Premier League season, including six in August 2009 when we thrashed Everton 6-1 at Goodison Park to record the biggest opening day win of our history. The Toffees are one of three teams we have faced the most on the opening day in our history, alongside their neighbours Liverpool and Newcastle United on eight occasions each.
   
• Ted Drake leads the way when it comes to our most goals netted on the first day of the season, with six. Our top scorer in Premier League openers is Dennis Bergkamp, who has five strikes to his name.

• Drake's tally includes a hat-trick against Everton at Goodison Park back in 1937. He is one of only two Gunners to bag a treble on the opening day, with Alan Smith being the other in a 5-1 win at Wimbledon in 1988.
   
• Bergkamp and Cesc Fabregas are the only players to have netted twice for us on day one in the Premier League era. The Dutchman’s came in a 4-0 win over Middlesbrough in 2001, while Fabregas recorded his brace in that 2009 win at Everton.

• After netting against Nottingham Forest and Wolves, Bukayo Saka could become just the third player in our history to score on matchday one in three successive league campaigns after Geoff Strong (1962/63, 1963/64, 1964/65) and Thierry Henry (2001/02, 2002/03, 2003/04).

• Steve Bould scored our first-ever Premier League goal, which came in the 28th minute of a 4-2 defeat to Norwich City back in August 1992. The centre-back headed in a Nigel Winterburn free-kick, before Kevin Campbell added a second before the Canaries staged a second-half comeback.
   

• Alexandre Lacazette’s two opening-day strikes for us were both the first goals of the entire Premier League season - he is the only player in history to have achieved that feat

   

Manchester United v Arsenal Opening Day Facts

With Manchester United confirmed as the opening day of the season for 2025/26, we've also crunched some numbers for our trip to Old Trafford on Sunday, August 17, at 4.30pm, live on Sky Sports.

• This is the first time we will meet Manchester United in their opening game of a league season since 1989-90, David Rocastle scored in a 4-1 defeat.

   

• We will start a Premier League campaign away from home for a fifth time in the last seven seasons, while Manchester United are beginning a league campaign with a home game for the ninth successive season, the longest such run in English top-flight history.

   

• We have won their opening league game in five of the last six seasons, including each of the last three. We last did so in more consecutive campaigns between 2001-02 and 2005-06 (5).

   

• We have lost just two of their last 14 Premier League games against Manchester United (W8 D4), going unbeaten in our last five (W4 D1). We've won two of their last 18 visits to Old Trafford in the league (D6 L10), coming in November 2020 and May 2024.

   

• Bukayo Saka could become just the second player to score on MD1 in three consecutive Premier League seasons for us after Thierry Henry (2001/02, 2002/03, 2003/04).

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