Arsenal's top 5 most memorable wins over French clubs

To date, Arsenal have met French opposition 33 times in UEFA competition, winning 18 of these matches and losing only seven. Of course, the most-recent of these was the most consequential, defeated on penalties in May's Champions League Final by PSG at the Puskás Aréna.

Looking forward though, ahead of LOSC Lille's visit to North London, we look back at five memorable wins over Ligue 1 sides.

5) Arsenal 6-0 Lens - 2023

When Arsenal first returned to the Champions League in 2023, they still did not really feel as though they belonged. Well, a blistering group stage campaign, winning all three home matches, scoring 12 unanswered goals, helped change that zeitgeist.

This included demolishing Lens 6-0. Having actually lost 2-1 at Stade Bollaert-Delelis a few weeks earlier, Mikel Arteta's team were out for revenge. Well, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Ødegaard and Jorginho were all on target as les Sang et Or left London shell-shocked.

4) Arsenal 2-0 Paris Saint-Germain - 2024

The following season, the Gunners were still searching for a statement victory over a Champions League heavyweight. This though came when they overcame Paris Saint-Germain 2-0. Havertz's stooping header opened the scoring, beating Gianluigi Donnarumma to the ball, before Saka's floaty free-kick evaded everybody and found the bottom corner.

Of course, six months later, PSG would shatter Arsenal's Champions League dreams in the semi-finals, but this was still an important step towards re-establishing the club at the highest level.

3) Arsenal 3-0 Stade Rennais - 2019

Going back to when Thursday night football was more common place in N5, having appointed Unai Emery, everyone was full of belief that the Europa League King was going to do it again and bring the trophy to North London. Well, that season, the Gunners cruised through to the round of 16, before the first bump in the road.

Despite taking a fourth minute lead through Alex Iwobi, Arsenal were beaten 3-1 in the first leg at Roazhon Park. Sokratis Papastathopoulos was sent off, mere moments before a jaw-dropping strike from Benjamin Bourigeaud, with Emery's team falling apart on a miserable night in Brittany.

However, a week later, a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang brace saw Arsenal turn it all around, progressing 4-3 on aggregate, en route to the final in Baku. The less said about what happened there the better.

2) Lens 1-2 Arsenal - 2000

Heading back to 2000, Arsenal are en route to a first European final under Arsène Wenger. Having dropped out of the Champions League, they have eliminated Nantes, Deportivo La Coruña and Werder Bremen to reach the UEFA Cup semi-finals, drawn against Lens.

Les Sang et Or had beaten Arsenal at Wembley a year earlier, so this was never going to be easy. Nevertheless, Dennis Bergkamp was the only scorer at Highbury, before Thierry Henry broke the deadlock with this stunner in Northern France, and then Nwankwo Kanu secured victory late on. At the same time, Galatasaray ousted Leeds United at Elland Road, with the İstanbul giants then defeating Arsenal on penalties at Parken to capture the trophy.

1) Arsenal 1-0 Paris Saint-Germain - 1994

On a similar note, we are looking back to a semi-final success that did result in glory for Arsenal. Having won the domestic cup double the year before, George Graham was really prioritising UEFA Cup Winners' Cup glory in 1993/94. His team took on PSG in the semi-finals, going ahead at Parc des Princes through Ian Wright, before David Ginola equalised for les Rouge-et-Bleu soon after.

A fortnight later at Highbury, the late Kevin Campbell headed home the only goal of the night to book the Gunners' place in the final. However, all everyone was talking about was Wright's yellow card, ruling him out of the final suspended. In the end, Alan Smith would prove the hero in a 1-0 victory over Parma in Copenhagen, the club's most-recent European title.

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