Arsenal fans have been enjoying the Easter weekend more than most, having all but secured a top four place with a convincing 4-1 victory over Liverpool at the Emirates on Saturday.
Arsene Wenger’s side moved nine points clear of the fifth placed Reds following the win, and will also fancy their chances of retaining the FA Cup this season, with Brendan Rodgers side considered to be their biggest remaining threat in the competition.
Had it not been for a slow start and an injury which kept Olivier Giroud out of action for almost three months, Arsenal may well have been genuine title challengers.
Next season Arsene Wenger knows he has to mount a serious challenge for either the Premier League or the Champions League, and his summer transfer business will be crucial.
Wenger cannot afford to make some of the transfer mistakes he has made in recent times, many of which feature in what we have identified as the worst Arsenal XI of all time.
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Click on Arsene Wenger to reveal the worst Arsenal XI of all time
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Richard Wright
Signed in the summer of 2001 from Ipswich for £6million, Richard Wright was tipped to be a future England number one.
Wenger signed him with the hope of him succeeding David Seaman as the Gunners long term goalkeeper, but Wright never settled in north London, and made a few high profile errors during his debut season.
He managed just 22 appearances for Arsenal before Wenger shipped him out to Everton for a fee of just £3million.
Oleg Luzhny
The Ukraine international was signed as competition for Lee Dixon in 1999, but was never able to break into the first XI on a consistent basis.
Luzhny lacked any sort of pace, as well as any sort of ability going forward, yet he still managed 110 appearances for the club, as well as a Premier League and two FA Cup winners medals, before eventually moving onto Wolverhampton Wanderers- where he managed six league appearances in a season in which they were relegated.
Gilles Grimandi
Arsene Wenger made a habit of signing some of the best players France had to offer during the late nineties and early 2000’s.
Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires… Gilles Grimandi.
Perhaps the defender was unfortunate he was at the club at the same time as the likes of Tony Adams, Martin Keown and Steve Bould, whilst he will also point to the fact he won two league and cup doubles in north London.
His defensive skills left plenty to be desired however.
He is still at the club now, working as a scout. Wonder if he had anything to do with some of the other names on this list?
Sebastian Squillaci
Sebastian Squillaci earns himself a place on the list ahead of fellow countrymen Pascal Cygan and Mikael Silvestere, but in truth it could have been any of them.
But as the most expensive, it is Squillaci who makes the list.
Signed for £5 million from Sevilla, the centre back became the latest ageing Frenchman to be added to the ranks by Wenger.
He arrived at the same time as Laurent Koscielny, and was chucked into first team action straight away following an injury to Thomas Vermaelen – and like his predecessors he struggled.
He left the club on a free transfer in the summer at the age of 33, having played 23 league games in three years.
Andre Santos
Having sold Gael Clichy to Manchester City the same summer, Brazilian Andre Santos arrived as a late replacement in 2011.
He was a liability almost from the word go, with a goal in the 5-3 win at Chelsea perhaps the only positive thing he contributed during his time at the Emirates Stadium.
He will be remembered more for swapping shirts with none other than Robin van Persie at HALF TIME of a routine defeat at Old Trafford – where of course the Dutchman had already scored.
Gervinho
Despite his reputation as something of a cult figure at the Emirates Stadium, the harsh truth is that Gervinho was simply not good enough for the Gunners.
Whether deployed wide or as a central striker, the Ivorian often struggled.
He proved to be a figure of constant frustration for the Gunners supporters, scoring a wonder goal one moment before falling flat on his face the next.
David Bentley
The man hailed as the new David Beckham, burst onto the scene whilst on the books of Arsenal.
His first goal for the club got everyone hyped, as he jinked past two players before chipping Mark Schwarzer from the edge of box in Dennis Bergkamp like fashion during an FA Cup tie with Middlesbrough.
Everyone thought Arsenal had a special talent on their books, and for a long time it looked as though the Gunners had made a mistake in allowing the Englishman to leave for Blackburn Rovers.
But the way in which his career ultimately unfolded, left Arsenal and their supporters relieved they allowed Bentley to leave at the time in which he did.
Denilson
Signed in 2006, the Brazilian was unfortunate he was arriving at the club at a time in which the Gunners were trying to replace Patrick Vieira.
He was picked up from Sao Paulo for £3.4 million in what was a surprise transfer with Tostao – a Brazilian World Cup winner, saying he hadn’t even heard of him in Brazil.
After a few decent displays, his form went off the boil, and seemed to always struggle with being compared to the likes of Vieira and his fellow countryman Gilberto Silva – when he clearly wasn’t in the same league.
Andrey Arshavin
Arsenal fans were delighted with the capture of Andrey Arshavin in January 2009, with the Russian having been one of the stars of Euro 2008.
His first half a season at the Emirates Stadium showed he was worth the Gunners breaking their club transfer record to bring him to North London with his four superb goals in an incredible 4-4 draw against Liverpool at Anfield proving a highlight.
But it wasn’t long before Arshavin faded and soon became seen as a lazy luxury player.
Despite a series of underwhelming performances, it wasn’t until 2013 that Arshavin left the Emirates, to the relief of all Gunners fans.
Francis Jeffers
The infamous ‘fox-in-the-box’ was signed for £8 million in 2001 as the next big goal scoring striking sensation that Arsenal fans had been so desperate to see and the eventual successor to Ian Wright.
However it was to go down as a complete disaster for Wenger and three years later after only 13 starts his Arsenal career ended when he was dismissed in the 2003 Community Shield.
Jeffers has since played for Rangers, Blackburn, Charlton, Ipswich, Newcastle Jets in Australia, and even Accrington Stanley amongst others – and he’s made an impression nowhere.
Nicklas Bendtner
Who else could lead the line for the worst Arsenal XI of all time than Lord Bendtner himself?
The Dane only finally left Arsenal last summer – however not for Real Madrid or Barcelona as he had once famously predicted.
Everyone could plainly see Bendtner wasn’t good enough for the Gunners, besides perhaps Arsene Wenger and certainly the player himself.
Poor attitude, poor work rate, poor finisher – great fun to laugh at unless you are an Arsenal supporter.
