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Do Arsenal Have A Trophy Curse?
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Do Arsenal Have A Trophy Curse?

Do Arsenal Have A Trophy Curse?

As we come to the end of the 2024/25 campaign, it marks the fifth full season in which Arsenal last won a major trophy. The 2020 FA Cup in a 2-1 victory over Chelsea at Wembley behind closed doors. Despite only winning one major trophy, Mikel Arteta’s reign at The Emirates has been very successful. He has steered his squad to be comfortably second-best in each of the last three seasons. On top of this, he also guided the Gunners to the top 4 of this season’s Champions League, however, is yet to make another final since 2020 (this is disregarding the Community Shield).



Of course, he is not amongst the Herbert Chapman’s or Arsenal Wenger’s in Arsenal managers, but he can be seen as unlucky to not see any more success since. The Arsenal era’s under Chapman and Wenger were perhaps Arsenal’s most successful historically, with Chapman winning the clubs first trophies- an FA Cup and two First Division title within three years, as well as runners up in the league and FA Cup in the year in-between.

Wenger of course was the mastermind behind The Gunners invincible season which even Sir Alex Ferguson described as more impressive than his 13 league titles. In his tenure at The Emirates, Wenger won three Premier League titles, seven FA Cups, and seven Community Shields during his reign. Now that we have briefed you upon Arsenal’s trophy struggles in recent years, fans might be concerned that a certain trophy curse is upon them. In this piece, we will take you through some players in this trophy-less period who have left the club and found success, some with immediate effect, who have enjoyed their career success much more since making the move from The Emirates.



Is The Grass Always Greener On The Other Side?

There are countless players who have been part of Arteta’s tenure who have gone on to make a move away and as you may find, this usually ends in success while their former club continues to struggle to add to the trophy cabinet.


Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Aubameyang is the first player on this list, he had a relatively successful time with Arsenal, winning two trophies and also two runners-up medals- one unfortunately for him being a Europa League Final defeat to Chelsea, a club he later went on to join.

Since his time at Arsenal, the Gabon forward has struggled elsewhere in all honesty, however, did manage to add a La Liga title to his personal trophy cabinet after a successful first half to the season. He unfortunately did not get to play a full season at Camp Nou, as he soon left for Stamford Bridge, but did play enough to earn a winners medal.


Eddie Nketiah

A very recent addition to this list, as he has only spent one season away from Arsenal since leaving The Emirates permanently. Against what anyone would have expected, his first season Selhurst Park proved a great success. Although the number 9 has struggled, scoring five and registering just three assists in 35 appearances in all competitions, a trophy at Wembley against Manchester City was the last thing Nketiah would have expected to happen.



This victory ended Crystal Palace’s own trophy-less drought as their 31-year curse without a major trophy was broken. He will now be playing in Europe for the Eagles too next season, so what may have been thought as a backwards step in his career, is much more a sideward step after their Wembley success.


Granit Xhaka

Perhaps the greatest success after leaving Arsenal, is their former club captain Granit Xhaka. The Swiss international was always caught up in the drama at The Emirates and despite many willing him on to cement himself as a legend with Arsenal, a move closer to home was what he preferred, and what a choice he made to do so.

A long-servant of Arsenal for seven years, winning two FA Cups and two Community Shields, he went on to almost match those four trophies in just one year with Bayer Leverkusen. Or shall we say Bayer Neverlusen? They went invincible in his first season to win the club’s first Bundesliga, with a DFB Pokal and DFL Supercup win over German juggernaut Bayern Munich which followed ended an extremely successful season, while his old club can still not quite get over the line in any competition. He almost put a cherry on top to complete a full, unbeaten season in all competitions, however, they fell short in the Europa League final against Atalanta thanks to a Ademola Lookman hat-trick.



Hector Bellerin

The final player on our list Spanish full-back Hector Bellerin. He made the move to The Emirates at just 16-years-old, being fully integrated in to the senior set-up two years on. He then spent a further nine years in North London, which saw him win both three FA Cups and three Commnuity Shields. In his final year with Arsenal, he went on loan to Real Betis where he already had more success than The Gunners, winning the Copa del Rey in 2022. Following his departure, he returned to Barcelona, where he spent time in La Masia before moving to Arsenal, where he went on to win La Liga in his only season back in Catalonia.



Bellerin is now in his second stint at Real Betis, in his second season where he has the potential to add even more silverware since leaving Arsenal, as his side face Chelsea in the Conference League final in Wroclaw, Poland next Wednesday.

Benji Kosartiyer
Journalist
Ben Growdon

Content Writer

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