#1 The Invincibles – 2003/04
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When Arsene Wenger said that it was possible for a team to go unbeaten in a league season, nobody took him seriously. The press mocked him and the fans ridiculed him. Two years later, his dream came true as the Gunners went an entire season unbeaten.
“I learned that you can achieve things that you think are not achievable,” Wenger said, silencing his critics once and for all. In an era where Sir Alex Ferguson was winning titles by the half-dozen, Wenger had dared to challenge the status quo and had followed up his 2001/02 double with England’s most historic domestic triumph.
Preston North End had achieved it in 1889 but had played only 22 games back then. Wenger’s Gunners played 38, won 26 and drew 12 to take home not just the trophy but also immortality.
Led by Henry and Bergkamp, Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg to support them on either side, Patrick Vieira and Gilberto in the middle of the park to hold them all together in front of a defence led by Sol Campbell and “mad Jens” Lehmann in goal, half the battle was won when the teams lined up in the tunnel before the game.
No opponent seemed worthy. No comeback was deemed impossible. No hurdle insurmountable. And they topped it off by clinching the league title in their feisty neighbour’s backyard – White Hart Lane; the mightiest of body blows to the north London club’s derby rivals.
The Gunners would go on to extend that run to a total of 49 games and the chant of ‘49 Unbeaten’ is now heard in the terraces wherever they play – home or away.
