112 goals! Who scored, and how, where and when

There was plenty to cheer for our men’s team in 2024/25 - on 112 occasions to be precise, as we netted another incredible haul of goals across the campaign.

Mikel Arteta’s men once again had their shooting boots on during the season, netting just one less than the 113 they registered the year before, which had been the most we’ve had bagged in a single season since 2016/17.

Here we break down who, how, when and where those goals went in:

Scorers

We had 20 different players net for us this season, a great haul seeing as we had 28 outfielders play for us in 2024/25.

13 of those got on the scoresheet during our run to the Champions League final, and only Borussia Dortmund (15 in 2016/17) and Real Madrid (14 in 2001/02) have ever had more in a single campaign, excluding own goals.

Kai Havertz led the way with 15 in all competitions, with Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard all reaching double figures as well. Havertz got nine to top our top-flight chart, with a raft of injuries across the meaning that for first time since 1923/24, we didn’t have someone score 10 or more league goals.

An honourable mention should also go to Mikel Merino who hit a career-best nine in all competitions, as did Declan Rice who has now scored more times for us (16 in 103 games) than he did for West Ham, despite playing 142 games fewer.

Gabriel Jesus registered our only hat-trick during 2024/25 when he grabbed the matchball from our League Cup quarter-final win over Crystal Palace in December.

Assists

On top of his 12 goals, Saka added another 13 assists to top this stat, and ensure it was the fourth consecutive season that he had more goal involvements than any other Gunner. He has now hit double figures for both goals and assists in each of the last three, making him our first player to achieve that since Alexis Sanchez in 2016/17.

11 of Bukayo’s assists came in the Premier League, all of which came in his first 12 appearances up until the end of November before his hamstring injury. Despite missing three months of the campaign, only Mohamed Salah, Jacob Murphy and Anthony Elanga contributed more across the division.

Martin Odegaard matched his total from last season by creating 11 goals for his teammates, while Rice got 10, but his goalscoring form saw him hit 19 goal involvements to put him only behind Saka for that particular metric.

Competition

While we struggled to come close to our record haul of 91 in the Premier League in 2023/24, 65 still arrived in the top-flight. However we scored 31 times in the Champions League to smash our previous best tally of 21 set in 2011/12.

That was boosted by thrashing Sporting Lisbon 5-1 in November, the first time we had scored five or more goals in a Champions League away game since October 2008 at Fenerbahce. Then 98 days later, we rewrote the history books again by destroying PSV Eindhoven 7-1 away from home, with six different players finding the net.

We had a different top scorer in each of the four competitions we played - Havertz grabbing nine in the Premier League, Saka hitting six in Europe while four of Jesus’ seven goals were in our run to the latter stages of the League Cup. Gabriel grabbed the only goal in the FA Cup as we were eliminated by Manchester United on penalties.

Method

We had a pretty even split between goals coming from players’ feet, with 44 being left-footed and 43 coming with the right. Martinelli and Rice both scored nine each with their right, while Saka and Ethan Nwaneri netted nine with their left.

20 were headers with Havertz, Gabriel and Merino all contributing four each, while two came off players’ midriffs - Havertz against Leicester City and William Saliba against Manchester United.

We benefited from three own goals, including one from Dominic Solanke in January’s north London derby success against Tottenham Hotspur.

However, only four of our 112 were scored from the penalty spot, with Saka netting two of them and Odegaard and Jorginho converting the others. This was the first Premier League season we haven’t been awarded a league penalty at Emirates Stadium since 2015/16.

Timings

We netted 52 times in the first half, while 60 arrived after the interval.

The earliest we scored was after 103 seconds when Odegaard opened the floodgates during our famous 5-1 win over Manchester City in February, pipping Rice’s strike against Dinamo Zagreb two weeks earlier by a single second.

Five goals came after the 90th minute, with two of those coming in our 4-2 success over Leicester including Havertz’s 99th-minute clincher - our latest goal of the campaign.

Venue

We were nearly as prolific on our travels as we were at Emirates Stadium, as we sent our home supporters into joy on 58 occasions in N5, while the other 54 goals came on the road. We scored in 17 of our 19 home league games, with only Everton and West Ham United leaving with a clean sheet.

Unsurprisingly, the ground we scored most at on our travels was the Philips Stadion in Eindhoven, the setting for our 7-1 success over PSV, while five more were scored at Selhurst Park, London Stadium and the Jose Avalade Stadium, home of Sporting Lisbon and the scene of our Women’s Champions League triumph.

Opponents

While two more were netted against PSV in the second leg to bring our total inflicted on them to nine, it’s actually Crystal Palace who suffered the most, conceding 10 at our expense during our three matches across the season.

Incredibly, previous title holders Manchester City picked the ball out of their net seven times against us, while Leicester were next on the list with six. Inter Milan were the only team not to concede against us all season.