Who Is The Best Arsenal Right Winger?
The eighth in a series of articles on all of the best modern Arsenal players in every position.

Ok, now we’re onto the front four, starting with the wings, then the two forwards. So to start off the forward players, here are the options for the right wing.

George Armstrong

1961 - 1977

621 appearances (68 goals)

League Championship Winners Medal, FA Cup Winners Medal, Fairs Cup Winners Medal.

Over the years many people have been called Mr Arsenal, but very few can hope to compete with ‘Geordie Armstrong’. An apprentice electrician, he signed for Arsenal (firstly as an amateur) in 1961 after being turned down by Newcastle and Grimsby and apart from a brief spell away was an employee of Arsenal until his sad and untimely death in 2000.

As a player Geordie was perpetual motion. Equally likely to turn up on the left as the right his pin point crossing provided many goals as he went on to break the (then) appearance record for Arsenal.

Universally popular at the club, Geordie sadly collapsed and died playing on a pitch at the training ground, minutes after Arsene Wenger had commented on how good a player he must have been in his prime.

David Rocastle

1982 - 1992

277 appearances (34 goals)

2 Championship Winners Medals, League Cup Winners Medal, 14 England caps.

If it hadn’t been for injuries and health problems there would have been no end to what Rocky could have achieved. One of Don Howe’s youngsters that Graham was to benefit from, Rocky was originally a central midfielder but played mainly on the right for the first team.

With enough skill to beat defenders for fun, and enough guts to go head to head with the toughest left-backs, Rocky’s excellent performances for Graham’s ‘young guns’ led to England caps and wide press acclaim. Unfortunately a long-standing knee injury saw him lose his place in the side and eventually be sold to Leeds.

With hindsight we all know the sad reasons for his decline, but at the time the transfer was shocking for both fans and player (who cried when told he was being sold). He never repeated his success with Arsenal and tragically died when he seemed to be in remission. Sadly missed.

Perry Groves

1986 - 1992

203 appearances (28 goals)

2 Championship Winners Medals, League Cup Winners Medal.

Number 1 is Perry Groves…

I think Perry may be the first to admit that in terms of god given skills he can’t compete with some of the other names on this list, but there is a reason Tin-Tin was so popular with the fans and became a cult (with an ‘L’ as he would say!).

George Graham’s first signing for Arsenal didn’t exactly excite the copy writers or the fans (despite him being related to Vic Groves); not exactly the ‘big’ signing expected, especially as it seemed he’d be competing with Charlie Nicholas for a place.

What you did get with Perry was 100%. Every game. And fans notice that. Whatever position he was played he ran his heart out, and sometimes remembered to take the ball with him. Joking apart, his high point for Arsenal was coming on as sub against Liverpool in the ’87 League Cup Final (when it was still a big pot to win) at the same time as Kenny Dalgleish, and setting up the winner for Nicholas. He had started that season at Colchester United!

Paul Merson

1985 - 1997

427 appearances (99 goals)

2 Championship Winners Medals, FA Cup Winners Medal, League Cup Winners Medal, UEFA Cup Winners Cup Winners Medal, 21 England caps (3 goals).

Magic Man burst onto the scene in the late ‘80s like a breath of fresh air. With his soul boy haircut and his gap teeth he looked like someone who had jumped out of the crowd, and his extra curricular activities wouldn’t have been out of place amongst terrace folk either!

Merse’s problems have been well documented, but the sad fact is that he threw away a career that could have reached great heights. Supremely skilful, and able to ride a tackle he appeared the perfect foil for Alan Smith until the emergence of Kevin Campbell and the signing of Ian Wright relegated him to the wing.

Frustratingly inconsistent, there was just something about him that meant the fans never quite lost faith in him, right up to when he left the club for Middlesboro after the arrival of Arsene Wenger.

Ray Parlour

1991 - 2004

468 appearances (32 goals)

3 Championship Winners Medals, 4 FA Cup Winners Medals, League Cup Winners Medal, UEFA Cup Winners Cup Winners Medal, 10 England caps.

Ray Parlour was a George Graham era wide player. Came through from the youths just too late to win the title under Graham, but early enough to feature in the cup triumphs of Graham’s later years. When Arsene arrived with his more expansive style of play it was obvious to everyone that after one season Ray’s days were numbered. But no one bothered to tell the player!

Wenger bought Boa Morte and Overmars to be his wide men, but has since admitted that Ray’s performances in pre-season (97/98) changed his plans. In fact Ray had such a good season (including player of the match in the FA Cup Final) that it was a travesty he didn’t go the World Cup in the summer.

Ever the joker, in the pre-World Cup training camp Glenn Hoddle’s ‘trainer’ Eileen Drury (apparently) went round laying hands on the player’s heads and asking what they really wanted. A dangerous question to ask footballers at the best of times, she was probably fortunate that the reply she got from Ray was ‘Short back and sides, love’.

Sylvain Wiltord

2000 - 2004

200 appearances (49 goals)

2 Championship Winners Medals, FA Cup Winners Medal, 84 French Caps (26 goals).

Spinner never achieved the popularity he deserved at Arsenal. Unable to usurp the Bergkamp/Henry partnership up front he was pushed wide to supply chances for them, but did a lot more than that.

Quite simply Wiltord played at the ‘artisan’ in attack, doing the graft for the ‘artists’. Always moving, always available, there were very few attacking moves that didn’t involve him playing a pass and drawing the defence.

Will always be remembered by Arsenal fans for the Championship sealing goal at Old Trafford in 2002, but left in the summer of 2004 after a strange ‘injury’.

Freddie Ljungberg

1998 – Present

302 appearances (70 goals)

2 Championship Winners Medals, 3 FA Cup Winners Medals, 61 Swedish caps (13 goals).

‘We love you Freddie, because you’ve got red hair’ people still sing; even though he’s got no hair now! A relative unknown when signed, he was given Ian Wright’s vacated number 8 shirt because he was a ‘different’ sort of player, according to Wenger. His debut was as a sub against Manchester United at Highbury where he came on, got booked, and scored. Ahem.

2001/02 was Freddie’s dream season, especially the last few months when his goals and drive were a major impact on the title run in and the FA Cup triumph.

Whilst Freddie’s best years may be behind him, he remains a dynamic figure on the pitch and his experience could prove vital. One last point on Freddie – I’ve often heard people say that his goals were down to Bergkamp’s service. It’s not that simple. Whilst it’s true no one slips a ball through like DB10, in his time at Highbury no one has read those balls as well as Freddie.

Well, there you go. Have a think (or not!) then vote in the poll for the next member of our ‘Best of’ team.

The Best Keeper, Back Four and Central Midfielder Articles are Here...