Season 2002/03

Third straight FA Cup final

Manchester United took back the Premiership title after an impressive finish to the season — just like we had last year. Arsenal scored 85 goals in the league (11 more than United) but the defence wasn't as tight as we're used to. 42 goals against is a bit too much if you want to win the league. But, as mentioned, we scored quite a lot of goals, and this was the season when Thierry Henry as well as Dennis Bergkamp passed the 100-goal mark at Arsenal — well done, boys! So we didn't retain the league trophy, and our Champions League campaign once again ended prematurely, meaning that the FA Cup was our last chance to win something this season. We reached our third consecutive final after beating, amongst others, Manchester United and Chelsea along the way. Freddie Ljungberg had the chance to write himself into the history books by becoming the first player to score in three consecutive FA Cup finals. Freddie failed to score in the final, but Robert Pires secured the win by scoring the only goal of the game against a struggling Southampton side who never gave up. So despite everything, the season ended with joy as Arsenal lifted the FA Cup for the ninth time.

Summary of Arsenal's performance

Click on a competition name to view results and match facts from Arsenal's matches.

Competition	P	W	D	L	F	A
Premier League	38	23	9	6	85	42	2nd place
FA Cup	7	6	1	0	16	4	Winners
Worthington (League) Cup	1	0	0	1	2	3	3rd round exit
Champions League	12	4	5	3	15	9	2nd phase exit
Community Shield	1	1	0	0	1	0	Winners
All competitions	59	34	15	10	119	58

Arsenal player appearances

Manager: Arsène Wenger (7th season)

			League		FA Cup		FL Cup		UCL		Com.Shld		Total
No	Player	Position	App	Gls	App	Gls	App	Gls	App	Gls	App	Gls	App	Gls
1	David Seaman	G	28	-	5	-	-	-	9	-	1	-	43	-
3	Ashley Cole	D L	30+1	1	3	-	-	-	9	-	1	-	43+1	1
4	Patrick Vieira	DM C	24	3	5	-	-	-	12	1	1	-	42	4
5	Martin Keown	D C	22+2	-	5	-	-	-	4+1	-	1	-	32+3	-
7	Robert Pires	AM RL	21+5	14	5+1	1	1	1	8+1	-	-	-	35+7	16
8	Fredrik Ljungberg	AM RL	19+1	6	3+1	1	-	-	7+1	2	-	-	29+3	9
9	Francis Jeffers	F C	2+14	2	6	3	1	1	1+4	-	-	-	10+18	6
10	Dennis Bergkamp	F/AM C	23+6	4	2+2	2	-	-	6+1	1	1	-	32+9	7
11	Sylvain Wiltord	F RC	27+7	10	3+4	2	-	-	10+2	1	1	-	41+13	13
12	Lauren	D R	27	2	6	2	-	-	9+1	-	1	-	43+1	4
13	Stuart Taylor	G	7+1	-	2	-	1	-	1+1	-	-	-	11+2	-
14	Thierry Henry	F C	37	24	2+3	1	-	-	12	7	1	-	52+3	32
15	Ray Parlour	M RC	14+5	-	6	-	-	-	0+2	-	1	-	21+7	-
16	Giovanni van Bronckhorst	DM/D LC	9+11	1	3+2	-	1	-	2+2	-	-	-	15+15	1
17	Edu	DM LC	12+6	2	5+1	1	-	-	1+3	-	1	-	19+10	3
18	Pascal Cygan	D C	16+2	1	2	-	-	-	9+2	-	-	-	27+4	1
19	Gilberto Silva	DM C	32+3	-	1+2	-	-	-	10+1	2	0+1	1	43+7	3
20	Matthew Upson*	D C	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-
20	Guillaume Warmuz*	G	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
21	Jermaine Pennant	AM R	1+4	3	-	-	1	-	0+1	-	-	-	2+5	3
22	Oleg Luzhny	D RC	11+6	-	2	-	1	-	3+1	-	-	-	17+7	-
23	Sol Campbell	D C	33	2	5	1	-	-	10	-	1	-	49	3
24	Rami Shaaban	G	3	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	5	-
25	Nwankwo Kanu	F/AM C	10+6	5	1	-	1	-	2+6	1	-	-	14+12	6
26	Igors Stepanovs	D C	2	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	4	-
27	Stathis Tavlaridis	D C	0+1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	1+1	-
28	Kolo Touré	DM/D RLC	9+17	2	3+2	-	1	-	3+4	-	0+1	-	16+24	2
29	Moritz Volz	D R	-	-	-	-	0+1	-	-	-	-	-	0+1	-
30	Jérémie Aliadière	F C	0+3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0+3	1
31	Sebastian Svärd	D LC	-	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	2	-
35	David Bentley	F C	-	-	0+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0+1	-
40	Ryan Garry	D RC	1	-	-	-	0+1	-	-	-	-	-	1+1	-
42	Justin Hoyte	D RC	0+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0+1	-

*Matthew Upson was sold to Birmingham on 22 January 2003.
Guillaume Warmuz signed for Arsenal on 31 January 2003 and was given the number 20 shirt that Upson had left.

Previous season: 2001/02 | Next season: 2003/04