It’s been a great week for Arsenal.After ending one long wait by winning a first Premier League title in 22 years, they aim to end another when they play their first Champions League final since 2006.Arsenal fans have had some pretty good teams to watch along the way — and some pretty bad ones. So where do they all rank?Well, The Athletic decided to give it a go, ranking Arsenal sides over the last 20 years from worst to best…21. 2017-18 Wenger’s final team was his worst. While the era of financial constraints was largely over, the age of star players wanting to leave wasn’t. Alexis Sanchez got his wish and moved to Manchester United, and while the signings of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan to replace him were exciting, they failed to address this teams’s huge defensive flaws.An awful league campaign featuring just three away wins and tepid loss to Atletico Madrid in the Europa League semi-finals summed up the limited capabilities of this squad.Arsenal fell short in the Europa League semi-finals in 2017-18 (Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)20. 2011-12 This season is remembered for the infamous trolley dash that brought Mikel Arteta, then an experienced midfielder, and Per Mertesacker to the club. And while that paid dividends in the long run, in the short term, they were part of a team that produced some truly awful football.There were some bright sparks but it’s hard to look past the fact that Samir Nasri was replaced with Gervinho. Were it not for the brilliance of Robin van Persie, they would have been nowhere near their third-placed finish in the Premier League.19. 2020-21 This squad was somehow simultaneously so big that players couldn’t be registered but so thin that there was barely a creative presence in it. This led to a run of two open-play goals in 10 league games and, at one point, left Arsenal genuinely looking over their shoulders at the relegation zone.The emergence of Emile Smith Rowe and January loan signing of Martin Odegaard saved the season in many respects, but Arsenal’s covid year is the stuff of legend for all the wrong reasons.18. 2016-17 Granit Xhaka aside, summer 2016 may be Arsenal’s worst transfer window of all time. The big money arrivals of Lucas Perez and Shkodran Mustafi served only to weaken a side that should have won the league the season before.They did win an FA Cup against Chelsea to slightly salvage things but a 10-2 aggregate loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League was proof of just how far off the pace this group were.Arsenal 2016-17 vintage beat Chelsea 2-1 in the FA Cup final (Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)17. 2015-16 Although this group came second in the league, history has shown them to be huge underachievers.With every traditional title-contender falling away and Mesut Ozil having the season of his life, they really should have won the Premier League. Instead, they floundered and opened the door for Leicester’s miracle.Not a terrible team but missing such a huge opportunity bumps them down a few places.16. 2012-13 After Robin van Persie’s departure, the signings of Olivier Giroud, Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla did a decent job of steadying the ship.Still, the 2012-13 season was a largely forgettable one. But hey, a second 5-2 win over Spurs in as many seasons was fun.15. 2018-19 After years outside the Champions League under Arsene Wenger, there was hope Unai Emery could fire Arsenal back to the big time. Summer signings like Lucas Torreira and Bernd Leno only added to that feeling.But, the group ultimately failed on two counts — choking in the league to finish fifth and collapsing to Chelsea in the Europa League final. The image of Mustafi pointing to his temples after a mistake in a crucial home loss to Crystal Palace, meanwhile, is still enough to haunt most Arsenal fans’ nightmares.14. 2019-20This team did win an FA Cup and the second half of the season under Arteta definitely lifted spirits, but the first half under Emery was truly turgid.The mood around the squad was so bad that many fans had stopped turning up at the Emirates Stadium long before covid prevented them from doing so.13. 2014-15 With six No 10s and just three orthodox centre-backs to start the season, the make-up of this squad was peak late Wenger-era Arsenal. Throw in the arrival of Sanchez from Barcelona and the emergence of players like Hector Bellerin and Francis Coquelin, and there’s a lot to like. They even won an FA Cup!So why are they so low on the list? Well, the inexcusable Champions League round-of-16 exit to Monaco, that’s why.The 2014-15 Arsenal team exited the Champions League at the hands of Monaco (Bertrand Langlois/AFP via Getty Images)12. 2006-07 The first team at the Emirates and the first to properly embrace ‘project youth’. The 2006-07 Arsena’s young age is perhaps why they aren’t a bit lower than they maybe should be on this list.Reaching the Carling Cup final showed their potential but an indisciplined loss to Chelsea showed their obvious flaws. An early Champions League exit to PSV only hammered these home further.11. 2008-09 They had challenged for the league the season prior but with the departures of key players like Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb, this group suffered from the financial constraints of the Emirates move. Andrey Arshavin’s four goals at Anfield were a highlight but they were way off it in the league.In Europe they reached the Champions League semi-finals, but benefited partly from a kind draw, and were well beaten by a superior Manchester United side.10. 2009-10 With Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure’s departures to an up-and-coming Manchester City, and Aaron Ramsey’s traumatic leg-break at Stoke, this was a team you wanted to root for.For a long time, it looked as though they may be able to challenge for an unlikely title but their April collapse was typical of Wenger’s teams at the time. A four-goal humbling at the hands of Lionel Messi showed just how far off they were in the Champions League too.Lionel Messi scored four goals against Arsenal at the Camp Nou in 2009-10 (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)9. 2024-25This may seem harsh given that, if it weren’t for devastating injuries, this squad may well have won the league, but there were huge areas of weakness that left them massively exposed.The Champions League brought highlights, including a 5-1 aggregate victory over Real Madrid, ut the decision to sign Raheem Sterling as back-up to Buakyo Saka was a disaster and a 15-point drop off in the league was hugely disappointing.8. 2007-08 There’s something about glorious failure that makes a team really likeable.Wenger’s young side were cobbled together on a shoestring budget but played arguably the best football in the country in 2007-08. With a win over reigning Champions League holders AC Milan, they looked ready to challenge both domestically and in Europe.But their quarter-final defeat to Liverpool showed their naivety and William Gallas’ meltdown at Birmingham exposed their desperate lack of leadership. With a bit more experience, things might have been different but this squad will always hold a special place in the heart of most Arsenal fans.7. 2010-11 This was a rare summer at the time where Arsenal didn’t lose a big player but the ones they bought in — namely Marouane Chamakh and Sebastien Squillaci — were pretty terrible.Still, Arsenal were able to produce some magic moments including an unforgettable 2-1 win over peak Pep Guardiola-era Barcelona in the last 16. The emergence of Jack Wilshere gets them points for sentimentality but the calamitous Carling Cup final defeat to Birmingham City bumps them down the list.Arsenal secured a memorable first-leg last-16 win over Barcelona in the Champions League in 2010-11 (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)6. 2021-22 This was such a likeable team.After years of failing, older, big money signings, Arsenal invested in youth and it brought the good times back to the Emirates.Spearheaded by academy duo Bukayo Saka and Smith Rowe, and six summer signings under the age of 23, this was the year when fans truly started to trust Arteta’s process, even if Arsenal fell short at the last and missed out on Champions League qualification.5. 2013-14 People forget this now but it was a big deal that Arsenal hadn’t won a trophy in almost a decade by the mid-2010s.This was the squad that ended that run with a dramatic 3-2 FA Cup fina; comeback against Hull, so although they were responsible for a 6-0 defeat to Chelsea in Wenger’s 1000th game, a 5-1 loss to Liverpool and a 6-3 loss to Manchester City, they’re relatively high up this list.The hype around the addition of Ozil earns them a few bonus points, too.4. 2005-06 Looking back on this squad is slightly baffling. A back four of Emmanuel Eboue, Kolo Toure, Phillipe Senderos and Mathieu Flamini succeeded where its legendary predecessors had failed by reaching the Champions League final without conceding a goal.That bumps them up massively because their league form was awful. Were it not for some allegedly questionable lasagne, they may not even have qualified for the Champions League, and the 11 Premier League losses in that season is the most Wenger managed until his final season in charge.3. 2022-23The first title race under Arteta was probably the most fun, and this squad were responsible for that.The signings of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko changed the mentality, while the integration of William Saliba after several loan spells brought a defensive solidity that served as a platform for a title push that no one saw coming.Some costly injuries meant they couldn’t quite get things over the line but with moments like Reiss Nelson’s last-gasp goal against Bournemouth or Jorginho’s late strike at Aston Villa that led to an Emi Martinez own goal, this is a team few will forget.Reiss Nelson’s late winner in a 3-2 win over Bournemouth was one of the highlights of 202-23 (John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)2. 2025-26Built on a superb defensive platform with players like Declan Rice, Gabriel, Saliba and David Raya, they weren’t necessarily the toast of the neutrals, but they’re a group who achieved something none of their predecessors could — winning the Premier League title.This is probably the deepest squad Arsenal have had in their history, and they will almost certainly jump up a spot if they win the Champions League…1. 2023-24For now though, the 2023-24 group remains pretty hard to top. They achieved more points than the current crop, while scoring 20 more goals and conceding just two less.It’s an opinion that people will almost certainly disagree with but were it not for an incredible Manchester City side, this team would be remembered as one of the best Premier League champions ever seen. A Champions League victory may well bump the 2025-26 vintage into top spot, but the 2023-24 team are the best squad that Arsenal have had in the last 20 years.