Throughout the summer transfer window, Arsenal completed the signings of forwards
Gabriel Martinelli and club-record signing
Nicolas Pepe; midfielder
Dani Ceballos on a one-year loan; and defenders
Kieran Tierney,
David Luiz, and
William Saliba, the latter of which was sent back to former club
AS Saint-Etienne on a one-year loan. What the Arsenal fanbase viewed as lack of budget and ambition from owner
Stan Kroenke led many to protest his ownership with the social media hashtag "#WeCareDoYou". Arsenal released first-team players
Stephan Lichtsteiner,
Aaron Ramsey, and
Danny Welbeck, sold
David Ospina,
Takuma Asano,
Laurent Koscielny,
Carl Jenkinson,
Alex Iwobi, and
Nacho Monreal, and loaned out
Eddie Nketiah,
Mohamed Elneny,
Henrikh Mkhitaryan,
Emile Smith Rowe, and
Konstantinos Mavropanos. During the preseason, Arsenal competed in the
International Champions Cup, finishing 3rd, and the
Emirates Cup and
Joan Gamper Trophy finals, losing both. Arsenal started the
Premier League with a 1–0 win against
Newcastle United, and continued a consistent form of results, standing third at the table at the time of the October international break, as well as advancing to the fourth round of the
EFL Cup. However, their results began to deteriorate, losing to
Liverpool in the fourth round of the EFL Cup and winning only once in 9 games since the end of the international break. As a result, head coach
Unai Emery was sacked on 29 November, and former player
Freddie Ljungberg took over as caretaker manager. He led Arsenal to the round of 32 in the
Europa League, but had only won once in 5 games, and was replaced on 20 December by
Manchester City assistant coach and former captain
Mikel Arteta. New boss Arteta named his coaching staff on 24 December, with assistants
Albert Stuivenberg and
Steve Round, and goalkeeping coach
Iñaki Caña joining the club. Ljungberg remained as assistant coach, and goalkeeping coach
Sal Bibbo stayed to work with Caña. Results showed an improvement following Arteta's third game in charge against
Manchester United, which Arsenal had won 2–0, and Arteta had signed defenders
Pablo Mari and
Cedric Soares on loans with options to buy in the winter transfer window. Arsenal beat
Leeds United and
Bournemouth to move to the fifth round of the
FA Cup, and remained undefeated in all competitions in 2020 until 27 February, when Greek club
Olympiacos knocked them out of the round of 32 of the Europa League on away goals by winning 2–1 at the Emirates. Arsenal remained consistent domestically, advancing to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup after defeating
Portsmouth but remaining in roughly the same mid-table position in the Premier League. The
COVID-19 pandemic caused all competitions to be suspended from March until 17 June, when Arsenal played Manchester City in a game originally scheduled to take place on 11 March, and lost 3–0. Further defeats to
Brighton,
Tottenham Hotspur and
Aston Villa condemned Arsenal to an eighth-place finish, far from a European qualification spot and with the worst points return over a 38-game Premier League season. However, victories in the FA Cup against
Sheffield United in the quarter-finals and Manchester City in the semi-finals put Arsenal in the
final, where they beat
Chelsea 2–1 on 1 August to win their only silverware of the season and gain qualification to the
Europa League. ==First-team coaching staff==