5 May 2021

Arsenal invincibles: everything you need to know

The word "invincibles" isn't easily dealt out to football teams but in the 2003/04 Premier League season Arsenal made history by becoming the only Premier League team to go unbeaten all season with 49 wins, earning the Premier League title and a place in history as the "Arsenal invincibles"!! Here's everything you need to know about this insane achievement and the "Arsenal invincibles"!!

The Arsenal invincibles

Arsenal invincibles: everything you need to knowPhoto from Arsenal.com

Table of Contents

When did Arsenal last win the Premier League?

The term "The Arsenal invincibles" was given to the 2003/04 Arsenal Premier League winning squad who became the first Premier League team to go 49 games unbeaten and remain unbeaten for the whole season.

This is the longest unbeaten run in top flight English football with the only other top flight team to achieve this are Preston North End in 1888/89 before the Premier League was formed.

This 2003/04 Premier League season was the last time Arsenal won the Premier League title having secured the title on April 25, 2004 with a 2-2 draw against London rivals Spurs.

Arsenals 49 game unbeaten run began in May 2003 with a thumping 6-1 victory over Southampton at the end of the 2002/3 season. They may have let the title slip to Manchester United that season but no one could imagine they would now go all the way to October 2004 before loosing another game!

Who broke Arsenal's invincible run?

It was Manchester United who ended the invincibles unbeaten run in a heated 2-0 victory which was later known as "pizzagate" after alleged clashes in the tunnel involving slices of pizza!! No joke!

How many points did Arsenal invincibles get?

"The Arsenal invincibles" finished the 2003/04 season with 26 wins, 12 draws and no defeats, scoring 73 and racking up 90 points, 11 points more than 2nd placed Chelsea!

Who were the Invincibles team Arsenal?

Looking back at this Arsenal squad you realise just how talented and well gelled they were with Arsène Wenger as the manager they didn't just win, they won in style, playing amazing flowing football!! Check these top 10 Arsenal goals from the 2003/04 season:

The Arsenal invincibles squad boasted so many star names if we list the star players we'll pretty much list the whole squad!!! Here's the full Arsenal invincibles squad members list:

Arsenal invincibles Forwards:

  • Adam Birchall
  • Dennis Bergkamp
  • Francis Jeffers
  • Jeremie Aliadiere
  • Jose Antonio Reyes
  • Michal Papadopulos
  • Nwankwo Kanu
  • Quincy Owusu-Abeyie
  • Robin van Persie
  • Sylvain Wiltord
  • Thierry Henry

Talk about firepower!! Thierry Henry & Dennis Bergkamp secure their legendary Arsenal status with 34 goals & 18 assists in 65 appearances between them during the season!

Arsenal invincibles Midfielders

  • Gilberto Silva
  • Edu
  • David Bentley
  • Etame-Mayer Lauren - listed as midfielder but played mainly at right back
  • Francesc Fabregas
  • Fredrik Ljungberg
  • Giovanni van Bronckhorst
  • Jermaine Pennant
  • Jerome Thomas
  • John Spicer
  • Olafur Skulason
  • Patrick Cregg
  • Patrick Vieira
  • Ray Parlour
  • Robert Pires

Flare from Edu, Cesc Fabregas, Robert Pires & Fredrik Ljungberg back up by a brickwall in the form of Patrick Vieira, Ray Parlour & Gilberto Silva!

Arsenal invincibles Defenders

  • Ashley Cole
  • Efstathios Tavlaridis
  • Frank Simek
  • Gael Clichy
  • Justin Hoyte
  • Kolo Toure
  • Liam Chilvers
  • Martin Keown
  • Moritz Volz
  • Nicky Nicolau
  • Pascal Cygan
  • Philippe Senderos
  • Ryan Garry
  • Sol Campbell

Brickwall layer number 2 with Sol Campbell & Kolo Toure the preferred centre backs & pace & attacking flare on the flanks from Ashley Cole & Lauren.

Arsenal invincibles goalkeepers

  • Graham Stack
  • Jens Lehmann
  • Rami Shaaban
  • Stuart Taylor

We've listed all the squad goalkeepers but Jens Lehmann played all 38 Premier League fixtures during the 2003/04 season and was immense throughout!

The Arsenal invincibles favourite formation

As you can see from the squad, Arsenal had great depth in all areas and were able to play a consistent line up with 10 players making over 30 starting appearances each.

Arsenals favoured formation was based around flare upfront & down the flanks with a rock solid centre midfield & defence.

The Arsenal invincibles favoured formationImage from Goal.com

The Arsenal invincibles squad most appearances

Jens Lehmann Arsenal invincibles

Arsenal used a squad of 27 different players during the 2003/04 season with Jens Lehmann playing all 38 matches and Thierry Henry & Kolo Toure playing 37 matches each!

The Arsenal invincibles top goal scorer

Thierry Henry Arsenal invincibles

Thierry Henry racked up a huge 30 goals during the 2003/04 Premier League season with Robert Pires backing him up with 14 goals for the season. Henry was unstoppable that season claiming both the Golden Boot and the Player Of The Year Award as well as contributing 9 assists as well.

The Arsenal invincibles squad nationalities

Arsenals squad was made up of 11 different nationalities with Arsène Wenger choosing to build him team around a core of 7 Frenchmen & 5 Englishmen.

  • France: 7
  • England: 5
  • Brazil: 2
  • Nigeria: 1
  • Cote d'Ivoire: 1
  • Cameroon: 1
  • Netherlands: 1
  • Sweden: 1
  • Spain: 1
  • Germany: 1
  • Trinidad and Tobago: 1

The Arsenal invincibles player with most assists

While Henry may have stolen the headlines with his 30 goals & 9 assists the attacking flare from the midfield in the form of Pires & Bergkamp racked up 11 & 9 assists respectively.

The Arsenal invincibles results

Spread over 3 Premier League seasons, here's a full list of the Arsenal invincibles 49 game unbeaten run!

2002/2003 Season

    1. Arsenal 6-1 Southampton 07-05-2003
    1. Sunderland 0-4 Arsenal 11-05-2003

2003/2004 Season

    1. Arsenal 2-1 Everton 16-08-2003
    1. Middlesbrough 0-4 Arsenal 24-08-2003
    1. Arsenal 2-0 Aston Villa 27-08-2003
    1. Man City 1-2 Arsenal 31-08-2003
    1. Arsenal 1-1 Portsmouth 13-09-2003
    1. Man Utd 0-0 Arsenal 21-09-2003
    1. Arsenal 3-2 Newcastle 26-09-2003
    1. Liverpool 1-2 Arsenal 04-10-2003
    1. Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea 18-10-2003
    1. Charlton 1-1 Arsenal 26-10-2003
    1. Leeds 1-4 Arsenal 01-11-2003
    1. Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham 08-11-2003
    1. Birmingham 0-3 Arsenal 22-11-2003
    1. Arsenal 0-0 Fulham 30-11-2003
    1. Leicester 1-1 Arsenal 06-12-2003
    1. Arsenal 1-0 Blackburn 14-12-2003
    1. Bolton 1-1 Arsenal 20-12-2003
    1. Arsenal 3-0 Wolves 26-12-2003
    1. Southampton 0-1 Arsenal 29-12-2003
    1. Everton 1-1 Arsenal 07-01-2004
    1. Arsenal 4-1 Middlesbrough 10-01-2004
    1. Aston Villa 0-2 Arsenal 18-01-2004
    1. Arsenal 2-1 Man City 01-02-2004
    1. Wolves 1-3 Arsenal 07-02-2004
    1. Arsenal 2-0 Southampton 10-02-2004
    1. Chelsea 1-2 Arsenal 21-02-2004
    1. Arsenal 2-1 Charlton 28-02-2004
    1. Blackburn 0-2 Arsenal 13-03-2004
    1. Arsenal 2-1 Bolton 20-03-2004
    1. Arsenal 1-1 Man Utd 28-03-2004
    1. Arsenal 4-2 Liverpool 09-04-2004
    1. Newcastle 0-0 Arsenal 11-04-2004
    1. Arsenal 5-0 Leeds 16-04-2004
    1. Tottenham 2-2 Arsenal 25-04-2004
    1. Arsenal 0-0 Birmingham 01-05-2004
    1. Portsmouth 1-1 Arsenal 04-05-2004
    1. Fulham 0-1 Arsenal 09-05-2004
    1. Arsenal 2-1 Leicester 15-05-2004

2004/2005 Season

    1. Everton 1-4 Arsenal 15-08-2004
    1. Arsenal 5-3 Middlesbrough 22-08-2004
    1. Arsenal 3-0 Blackburn 25-08-2004
    1. Norwich 1-4 Arsenal 28-08-2004
    1. Fulham 0-3 Arsenal 11-09-2004
    1. Arsenal 2-2 Bolton 18-09-2004
    1. Man City 0-1 Arsenal 25-09-2004
    1. Arsenal 4-0 Charlton 02-10-2004
    1. Arsenal 3-1 Aston Villa 16-10-2004

The Arsenal invincibles stats & premier league 2003/04 table

Played: 49
Won: 36
Draws: 13
Lost: 0
Goals for: 112
Goals against: 35

Impressive stats!

The final premier league 2003/04 table winning season looked like this:

premier league 2003/04 table
premier league 2003/04 table

What happen after the Arsenal invincibles season

In the 2004/05 season Arsenal finished second in the EPL behind a highly impressive Chelsea side which contained the likes of Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Arjen Robben, Claude Makelele & John Terry to name but a few.

Since the 2003/04 season Arsenal haven't managed to reclaim the Premier League title and slipped a number of 3rd & 4th place finished.

How many times have arsenal won the premier league?

Including the invincibles season Arsenal have won the Premier League 3 times all under the management of Arsene Wenger: the 1997-98 season, the 2001-02 season and of course the 2003/04 season

Summary

The Arsenal invincibles may never be better with only Manchester City looking able to put together a squad with such depth all in positions. The Arsenal invincibles were a true golden generation lead by one of the best managers in Premier League history in Arsène Wenger the likes of which we might never see again!