London city trip · Football history
The History of Arsenal: A London City Trip Guide for Premier League Fans
From a Woolwich munitions works team in 1886 to Highbury, the Invincibles, the Emirates Stadium and the 2025/26 Premier League title, the story of Arsenal, and how to plan a London city trip around a Gunners matchday in Islington.
Few clubs carry the weight of history quite like Arsenal. Founded by workers in a south-east London munitions factory, refined into a north London powerhouse by one of football's first great managers, and reborn under Arsène Wenger as the most stylish team of the Premier League era, the Gunners are woven into the story of English football. In 2025/26 they finally added a new chapter that fans had waited 22 years for: a Premier League title. For visitors planning a London city trip around football, Arsenal is one of the most rewarding clubs to build a weekend around.
Here's the story of how a Woolwich works team became one of the world's biggest clubs, and why a matchday at the Emirates Stadium belongs at the top of your Premier League itinerary.
Born in Woolwich: the munitions works team of 1886
Arsenal was founded in 1886 by workers at the Royal Arsenal munitions factory in Woolwich, south-east London. The club went through a couple of early names (Dial Square, then Royal Arsenal, then Woolwich Arsenal) before settling on Arsenal in 1914. That military origin is the reason the club is still called "the Gunners" and why a cannon sits at the heart of the crest more than a century later.
In 1913, struggling financially in Woolwich, the club did something that still defines the London football map today: it crossed the river and moved to Highbury in north London. That decision created a brand new rivalry with their new neighbours up the road, Tottenham Hotspur, and the North London Derby was born.
The Highbury years and Herbert Chapman
From 1913 until 2006, Arsenal played at Highbury, officially Arsenal Stadium, a beautiful Art Deco ground tucked into the streets of N5. The famous East and West Stands, with their marble halls and clock above the South Stand, became one of the most iconic grounds in English football. Even today, the old stadium lives on as Highbury Square, a residential development that preserved the facade and pitch outline.
The Highbury era was where Arsenal became Arsenal. In the 1930s, under the visionary manager Herbert Chapman, the club won five league titles and two FA Cups, introduced the WM formation, pushed for floodlights and shirt numbers, and even helped get the local Underground station renamed from Gillespie Road to Arsenal in 1932. To this day, Arsenal is the only football club in the world with a London Underground station named after it.
The Wenger revolution and the Invincibles
In 1996, Arsenal appointed an unknown Frenchman called Arsène Wenger and changed English football forever. Diet, training, scouting, style of play, foreign signings: almost every modern habit of a Premier League club can be traced back to what Wenger built in north London. Three Premier League titles followed (1997/98, 2001/02, 2003/04), along with seven FA Cups across his time at the club.
The peak was the 2003/04 season, when Arsenal went the entire 38-game Premier League campaign unbeaten. They are still the only club to have done it in the Premier League era, and the squad is still known simply as the Invincibles. Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pirès, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole and Jens Lehmann are names that any travelling fan visiting the Emirates will still see on the side of the stadium.
From Highbury to the Emirates Stadium
In 2006 Arsenal left Highbury and moved a few hundred metres up the road to the Emirates Stadium, a 60,000-seater bowl that gave the club the matchday revenue to compete with Europe's biggest names. The trade-off was a long, expensive transition period, but the location stayed loyal to its roots: this is still very much a north London club, anchored to Islington and the streets around Drayton Park.
The Emirates today is one of the most accessible grounds in the Premier League and a brilliant ninety minutes for a first-time visitor. Statues of Herbert Chapman, Tony Adams, Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp sit outside the stadium, and the bridge over the railway line gives you one of the best stadium approaches in English football.
Recent history: champions again in 2025/26
Under Mikel Arteta, who took over in late 2019, Arsenal slowly rebuilt into a genuine title contender. After two heartbreaking second-place finishes, the breakthrough finally came in the 2025/26 season: Arsenal were crowned Premier League champions for the first time in 22 years, the club's 14th English league title. For a generation of fans who grew up hearing about the Invincibles, this was their own title to celebrate.
The same season also brought the deepest European run in the club's modern history. Arsenal reached the Champions League final, only to lose to Paris Saint-Germain on penalties after a goalless 120 minutes in the Allianz Arena. It is the kind of near miss that gives a season its edge: a long-awaited domestic title in one hand, the most painful European night in years in the other.
Planning your London city trip around an Arsenal matchday
Arsenal's location in Islington is one of the strongest matchday setups in London. You're a few minutes from one of the city's best high streets, a short walk from the canal, and on a direct Tube line from the centre.
Getting there
The closest station is Arsenal on the Piccadilly line, almost literally next to the stadium and the only Tube stop in the world named after a football club. Finsbury Park (Piccadilly, Victoria, National Rail) is a 10-minute walk and gives you more space on the way out. Highbury and Islington (Victoria line, Overground) is the other strong option and drops you straight onto Upper Street.
Where to base yourself
Islington is one of the best neighbourhoods in London to stay in for a football weekend: lively, walkable and well connected. Upper Street and Camden Passage are full of restaurants and pubs, and the area is on the Victoria and Piccadilly lines, so the rest of the city is easy to reach. King's Cross is one stop south for fast trains in and out of the city.
Make a day of it
Walk in via Highbury Square to see the preserved facade of the old Highbury stadium, then loop past the statues of Henry, Bergkamp, Adams and Chapman outside the Emirates before kick-off. After the game, head south to Upper Street for dinner, or walk down to Regent's Canal in Angel for a quieter pint by the water.
Beyond the football
Islington flows naturally into the rest of north and east London. Camden is a short ride west, the British Museum and Bloomsbury are 15 minutes south, and the food and drink scene around Exmouth Market and Clerkenwell is some of the best in the city. An Arsenal matchday slots into a wider London city trip without ever feeling out of the way.
The bottom line
Arsenal is a club built on style and substance: on Chapman's pioneering teams, on Wenger's Invincibles, on a modern stadium that pulls in fans from every corner of the world, and on a fresh Premier League title that finally matches the size of the club. From a Woolwich munitions team in 1886 to champions of England in 2025/26 and a Champions League final in the same season, the Gunners offer history, big nights and one of the best matchday locations in London.
Build your next London city trip around a matchday at Arsenal. Come on you Gunners.