Worst Arsenal XI of the Emirates Era – Who Makes Your Team?

As part of our celebration of the Emirates’ 20th birthday, I recently picked my greatest Arsenal XI of the Emirates era.

It’s only correct that I also look at things the other way round and ask: which players are the worst to have played at the venue?

This, of course, is subjective.

To avoid simply adding names who played in the occasional cup tie or featured off the bench a couple of times, my criteria is that any pick must have started at least 10 fixtures as a Gunner during the Emirates era…

Manuel Almunia – GK

That the Spaniard played 175 times for the Gunners goes down as one of Mr Wenger’s biggest mistakes.

Good shot-stopping was undermined by a lack of physicality and presence, which are kind of important credentials when you’re a goalkeeper.

It was like the bigger the occasion or pressure, the more he got bullied at set pieces.

Fabianski had the same flaws at this time, but the Pole was eight years younger.

Stephan Lichtsteiner – RB

It’s zero disgrace for a 34-year-old to arrive in England and realise he simply no longer had the physicality or pace for the Premiership.

Many players earn the right to prove it’s a season too many at the highest level, and given what he did in Italy, the defender deserved to die on his sword.

In truth, Unai Emery let the former Switzerland captain down. Instead of accentuating the positives and hiding the negatives, the Spaniard did the opposite. The manager wanted his defence to play out from the back and press high up the pitch.

You can’t expect a veteran of 17 years to suddenly learn a whole new way of defending.

Mikael Silvestre – CB

I would love to say Sir Alex Ferguson sanctioned the transfer of his defender to the Emirates out of respect for what the Frenchman had done for Man United in nearly a decade, accepting his request to remain playing at the highest level in England.

In reality, you sense the manager knew the Frenchman had lost the pace he once showed at Old Trafford.

To be fair to Mr Wenger, the plan was to use his countryman’s experience to help a young dressing room. Injuries meant he played more than originally planned, and it was just sad to see someone so painfully past his prime. He didn’t even possess positional awareness anymore.

His starting at the Nou Camp against Messi was a mismatch.

Sebastien Squillaci – CB

Thirty years old when he arrived at the Emirates, the Frenchman on paper should have given a young squad leadership they badly had been missing.

This was an experienced defender who had won trophies in France and Spain and played in a Champions League Final.

The centre-back has been critical of Mr Wenger’s tactics, not comfortable with how often he would be left isolated with little protection.

You can name other Gunners who made errors but who also had great games. Not Squillaci.

Santos – LB

It took an 8-2 humiliation at Old Trafford to convince our board that maybe they needed to spend some of the money they recouped by selling Nasri and Fabregas in the same transfer window.

So, on deadline day, Trolley Dash Arsenal famously had a scattergun approach.

One of them was Santos, who won’t be the first Brazilian defender who was better going forward than he was defensively.

He’s since admitted that it’s only when he moved to England that he learnt the importance of defending, which tells you everything.

All of this might have been forgiven had he not swapped shirts with Van Persie at half-time at Old Trafford.

To highlight the lack of leadership in our dressing room, Gooners gutted that our best player had jumped ship to United and had just scored against us watched as our left-back was more interested in collecting a souvenir.

It would never happen today.

Guendouzi – CM

This pick isn’t based on talent; if it were, the Frenchman wouldn’t get anywhere near this list.

Yet in terms of behaviour and attitude, few players talked their way out of the Emirates more than the 27-year-old.

If he’s not careful, that will be the legacy of his own career.

When returning to the club as manager, Mikel Arteta spoke about non-negotiable principles and not tolerating anyone who wouldn’t adhere to his principles.

It’s believed the midfielder already had a couple of warnings regarding his conduct.

When his response to a Brighton defeat was to boast to his opponents about how much more money he made, he never played for us again.

Fabio Vieira – CM

One of the worst signings Mikel Arteta has made as manager?

We gave Porto approx. £34 million for their midfielder, only to let them have him back for a season two years later.

We finally got the 26-year-old off our wage bill this summer, accepting a near £25 million loss.

As he’s shown in Portugal and Germany, it’s not that technically he’s not a good player. He’s just a classic example of a younger man who moved to England too soon and physically and mentally couldn’t handle the physicality of the Prem.

I was waiting for that one pre-season where he returned to training bulked up, but it never happened.

In hindsight, he should have been loaned to the Championship to get battle-hardened, but you sense very quickly our manager had lost faith in him.

Gervinho – LM

Given how the Ivorian played before and after his time in England, you are left assuming that the weight of the Arsenal shirt was too big for him?

The 39-year-old has since said he would have been better at the Emirates had he played more as a central striker, but most Gooners who watched his end product would disagree.

You could rely on his pace to beat his man, but after that it was hit and hope. At times he looked terrified in the final third, passing when he should have shot and never looking like he wanted a teammate to square him the ball out of a fear of failing.

Mr Wenger hinted the player was sensitive, especially in home fixtures when the crowd got restless. Hence why I think North London was too big a stage.

Willian – RM

The Brazilian was a free agent who was at the Emirates for a year, so for him to make this list tells you it must have been bad.

The 38-year-old has since hinted that there were reasons he just couldn’t settle at the Emirates, and many Gooners respect him for cancelling his contract when others would have been paid to sit on the bench.

COVID meant he didn’t get to play in front of his new fanbase, but I have always assumed he struggled joining a youthful dressing room that didn’t, at the time, have the standards he was used to at Stamford Bridge.

Whatever the reasons why he wasn’t happy in North London, he played like a man unhappy.

Eddie Nketiah – Striker

All supporters want one of their own to succeed, and because he graduated from our academy, Gooners afforded Eddie Nketiah a lot more patience than they gave others.

He scored 19 goals in 116 league games for Arsenal, which is not a great enough return to mask his shortcomings.

The 27-year-old is an old-fashioned striker in terms of needing service to do his best work in the penalty area. For years now, most forwards have had to offer more than that, meaning if you don’t, you need to have a strong record which makes up for it.

His contribution as a sub was often running into people.

How his agents got their client £100,000 a week is a mystery.

Chamakh – Striker

I remember thinking this at the time, but I have rarely seen a Gunner whose confidence evaporated and never came back quite like the Moroccan.

The striker started his Arsenal career with 11 goals in 22 games, but once Van Persie recovered from a long-term injury, Chamakh lost his mojo.

Which is strange, as he must have known he would be back-up once the Dutchman was fit?

He went on a huge scoring drought and never found his spark again.

Let me know your worst Emirates-era XI in the comments, peeps. Who have I been too harsh on, and who have I missed?

Dan Smith
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