By SFB
There may be speculation surrounding Arsene Wenger, his future and several of the current Arsenal team with their season hanging in the balance as Chelsea steam ahead in the title race, but the current crop of players have the chance to be part of something special and end the title trophy drought that has evaded us since the famed Invincible’s Era.
The Invincibles
The Invincibles of the 2003/04 season stunned the footballing world as they managed to go the whole season without losing a game. Finishing with a total of 90 points, the Gunners won the league with ease, a whole 11 points ahead of second placed Chelsea.
In total, the run spanned 49 games, starting in May the prior season and finishing in October nearly a season and a half later.
The most common line-up of the Invincibles started with the charismatic Jens Lehmann in goal with Ashley Cole at left-back, Lauren at right-back, Kolo Toure and Sol Campbell in centre defence, Robert Pires on the left of midfield, Freddie Ljungberg on the right, Patrick Viera and Gilberto Silva occupied the middle of the park.
Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp led the front line and the team was interpreted as lining up in a 4-4-2 formation, their playing style was more reminiscent of 4-4-1-1.
The sheer amount of strength Wenger’s side possessed on the left of the pitch was frightening, Cole, Pires and Henry were a nightmare for the opposition to contain and because of this, Lauren and Ljungberg were afforded more space to deliver killer balls.
Though of course, no matter how hard teams tried to contain Henry, more often than not, their efforts were wasted. The Frenchman scored 30 out of Arsenal’s impressive 73 goal haul and wrote himself into Arsenal folklore, so much that he now has a statue outside of the Emirates. Whilst Highbury was an absolute fortress for the Gunners and the one place no team wanted to visit – they won fourteen of their nineteen league games there that season and drew just five – they were also a handful on the road.
Wenger’s men were frightening on the counter, with their 4-1 win at Leeds a great example of that. The Whites were also stunned by the Invincibles at Highbury as a five goal rout helped to put one of the final nails in the Leeds United Premier League coffin.
Henry was on fire that day and scored an incredible four goals with Pires opening the scoring early on.
As well as their fantastic 2003/04 league success, the Invincibles secured the 2003 FA Cup. The Gunners saw off Oxford United, Farnborough Town, Manchester United, Chelsea and Sheffield United to make it to the final, scoring a total of 14 goals on their journey to the final.
David Seaman was between the sticks as opposed to Lehmann, Martin Keown and Oleg Luzhny lined up at the back rather than Toure and Campbell and Ray Parlour took charge of Viera’s midfield duties at the Millennium Stadium.
A single first-half strike from Pires was enough to seal it for Arsenal and Henry scooped the Man of the Match award.
Often comparisons are drawn between current talisman Alexis Sanchez and the record goalscorer Henry. Both started their careers at the club on the wing, both transitioned to a centre forward role with their pace and trickery making a mockery of defences throughout the country.
As brilliant as Alexis is and as impressive as his 42 league goals for the North London club are, he has a long way to go before he can reach the lofty heights of Henry.
Henry scored a momentous 174 goals in 254 league appearances for Wenger and is the man any Arsenal striker should aspire to. Alexis’ performance in the two London derbies against West Ham United and Chelsea were particularly promising, and he will hope to be reinstated up front in the coming weeks despite the form of Olivier Giroud.
With the looming Chelsea tie in February, there will be a chance for the current crop to really make a name for themselves and gain some ground on the league leaders. For up to date odds and team talk on the grudge match, be sure to regularly check SBAT’s __football bet of the day – should they be favourable towards one team or another, you could make a healthy profit, no matter what the result is.
The Invincible era seems like an age ago, but this current crop of Arsenal stars need to channel the passion, strength and tenacity of their predecessors to have any hope of climbing back into the title race.
COYG!!