
Arsenal Football Club is an English professionalassociation football club based inHolloway, London. The club was formed inWoolwich in 1886 as Royal Arsenal before it was renamed Woolwich Arsenal in 1893.[1] They became the firstsouthern member admitted intothe Football League in 1893, having spent their first four seasons solely participating in cup tournaments andfriendlies.[2] The club's name was shortened to Arsenal in 1914, a year after moving toHighbury.[3] In spite of finishing fifth in theSecond Division in 1915, Arsenal rejoined theFirst Division at the expense of local rivalsTottenham Hotspur when football resumed after the First World War.[4] Since that time, they have not fallen below the first tier of theEnglish football league system and hold the record for the longest uninterrupted period in the top flight.[5] The club remained in the Football League until 1992, when its First Division was superseded as English football's top level by the newly formedPremier League, of which they were an inaugural member.[6] In2003–04, Arsenal completed a league season without a single defeat, something achieved only once before in English football, byPreston North End in1888–89.[7]
Arsenal'sfirst team have competed in a number of national, and in the early part of the club's history, regionally contested leagues such as the United League, the Southern District Combination and theLondon League Premier Division. Their record against each club faced in these discontinued competitions, in addition to the Football League and Premier League is listed below. Arsenal's first Football League match was againstNewcastle United,[8] and they met their 85th and most recent different league opponent,Bournemouth, for the first time in the2015–16 Premier League season. The team that Arsenal have played most in league competition isManchester United, who they first met in the1894–95 Football League season; the 83 defeats from 204 meetings is more than they have lost against any other club.Liverpool have drawn 52 league encounters with Arsenal, more than any other club. Arsenal have recorded more league victories againstEverton than against any other club, having beaten them 100 times out of 202 attempts and becoming the first team in English history to attain a century of wins against another club.
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