Ton-up Gunners

This week our statistician looks at a century of Gunners goals.

Arsenal scored their 100th goal of the season on Saturday, the 17th time in the Club's history they have brought up three figures.

The century came from 51 games, at a rate of 1.96 goals per game, with 18 different players (not including own goals) contributing.

Two thirds (67) of the goals came in the Premier League with 14 in the Capital One Cup, 13 in the Champions League and six in the FA Cup.

After two scoreless draws to kick off the season, Arsenal's first goal of 2012/13 arrived 211 minutes into the campaign, scored by Lukas Podolski in the 2-0 win at Anfield.

The Gunners then followed that up by blasting six past Southampton in the next game - which was one of seven occasions so far this term Arsenal have scored five or more in a single game.

Arsène Wenger's men have scored in all but nine matches this season, and found the net once every 46 and a half minutes on average.

Walcott's goal after 20 seconds against Fulham was the earliest of the 100, and was typical of the Gunners' goals this season in that it was scored right-footed (42 per cent) and from inside the area (86 per cent).

It was the 44th goal scored away from home, and helped Arsenal bring up their fourth consecutive Premier League victory on the road, for the first time since 2010.

It was also the 12th victory in a row for Saturday league fixtures, a run stretching back to December.

Walcott has scored one fifth of all Arsenal's goals this term, and it's the 14th time in the Arsène Wenger era that a player has reached 20 goals in a season.

Olivier Giroud is next with 17, while Lukas Podolksi (14) and Santi Cazorla (12) have also reached double figures in their debut seasons.

Five of the 100 goals were penalties (all converted by Mikel Arteta) and there were three own goals (all scored by Southampton).

Of the 18 Arsenal scorers, six (Podolski, Cazorla, Giroud, Miquel, Mertesacker and Monreal) celebrated their first goals for the Club this season.

Walcott also leads the way in terms of assists, with 16 in all competitions, and in fact the top four scorers this season are also the top four assist makers for the Gunners.

Overall, 20 different players have assisted goals in the century this season.

Ten (59 per cent) of Arsenal's centuries have come during Wenger's reign, compared to seven centuries in the previous 91 campaigns.

The first time Arsenal ever reached 100 was also their highest ever scoring season - 1930/31. Herbert Chapman's Gunners fired 135 goals in 46 matches at 2.93 goals per game that year - also the highest strike rate in the Club's history.

That was the first ever title-winning season, and the team scored in all but one of its 46 matches, hitting four or more on 17 occasions - including a 9-1 win.

The fewest goals Arsenal have scored in a single season was the relegation year of 1912/13, when the Gunners managed just 29 goals in 41 matches. That remains the only time Arsenal averaged less than a goal a game for an entire campaign.

They finished bottom of Division One (the only time they have been relegated), failed to score in 16 of the games, and only scored more than once three times.

Throughout history Arsenal have scored an average of 81.2 goals per season - the team have mustered above that average in each of Arsène Wenger's full seasons.

In fact, looking purely at the 15 full seasons of Wenger's tenure so far, the team averages more than 100 (106.9) per season.

All stats correct as at May 9, 2013