5. Arsenal (post- Invincibles era)
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Arsenal have been one of England’s finest clubs over the years. However, their most successful era came during the late 90s and mid-2000s courtesy of the appointment of Arsene Wenger as their manager in 1996. Wenger, who has been Arsenal’s manager for nearly two decades fortified the Arsenal squad by bringing in a wide variety of foreign players like Patrick Vieira, Jens Lehmann, Thierry Henry, Freddie Ljungberg, Robert Pires, etc.
A number of these players alongside the likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole were the forefront of perhaps the greatest team ever in Arsenal and arguably Premier League history.
Arsenal were in a great run of form through the late 90s as they won a League and FA Cup double during the 1997-98 season and this was followed by three runner-up finishes in the League before they won it in again in 2002. In the 2002-03 season, a 3-2 home defeat to Leeds ensured that Manchester United would win the title.
Little did Arsenal realise that that heart-breaking loss would be their last defeat in the league for over a year as they would go the next season undefeated. This legendary side of the 2003-04 season came to be known as “The Invincibles”. Thierry Henry ended up being the top goal scorer of the league. A lot of players from this team were instrumental in Arsenal reaching the 2005-06 Champions League Final where they lost to Barcelona.
However, after the 2003-04 season, The Invincibles slowly began to fall apart with the departure of many players. It began with club captain Patrick Vieira’s departure in 2005, followed by the retirement of Bergkamp a year later and by 2007, most of the Invincibles team had left Arsenal.
Although Arsenal’s performances haven’t diminished much, they have never come close to reaching the heights of the 2003-04 season. The 2003-04 League title would be also turn out to be their last league title as they have failed to win the League ever since. Their performance in European competitions has also been far from convincing as their best performance since 2006 has been reaching the semifinals during the 2008-09 season.
