Today marks a very special anniversary; the start of the single most extraordinary achievement in English football. On 7th May, 2003, Arsenal trounced Southampton 6-1 at Highbury to kick-off their barn-storming unbeaten run that included the entire following season - a feat that will surely never be repeated. I'm looking back at some of the highlights of that run and why they are England's best team ever.
As Robert Pires deliciously chipped goal no. 6 over poor Paul Jones from 30-plus yards that evening a decade ago, not even someone as great as he was could either predict or be prepared for what the next 48 league games were about to behold. But what he and his teammates created over the next year and a half was an unrivalled period of English football never to be forgotten.
You can have your late-90s United squads, your Mourinho-era Chelsea teams - not to mention Arsene Wenger's first double winning side - which was arguably a better team, man-for-man, but none of them can ever say they surpassed this particular group of players in terms of achievement.
A main component in the immortal '49' squad was of course, Thierry Henry. However, as Arsenal teams have shown with the likes of Robin Van Persie and Cesc Fabregas in more recent times, you need to put a bit of quality around your best players to make a team successful - and that's exactly what Arsenal did.
Thierry Henry was the best player on the planet during that time and was agonisingly beaten to the top player's prize by Zidane and Ronaldinho in consecutive years. A shoo-in on every single teamsheet. Patrick Vieira was captain of club and country while Dave Seaman's replacement Jens Lehmann was proving to be a very decent acquisition indeed. As well having BIg Sol at the back and Gilberto Silva in the middle, Arsenal had the perfect combination of muscle, attitude, passion and talent at their disposal.
Another strength that Arsenal could use to their advantage was their spirit and dedication. There was none of this 'doing it for the money' business (although Ashley Cole would soon have his way) or 'still in talks over my contract' nonsense. That team were performing with each other, for each other - something you don't see in enough teams nowadays.
There were many defining matches during what was a monumental achievement even for Arsenal. They were already one of the most feared teams in the land and yet they raised their bar so, so, high. Winning the title at Tottenham will take some beating as the top highlight, but there was also doing the double over a new-look Chelsea and the best double hat-trick I've ever seen from Henry against Liverpool and Leeds in consecutive games.
As for the greatest moments, the most controversial one had to be the Battle of Manchester (i.e. the prequel to Pizzagate) as Van Nistelrooy did all he could to get Patrick Vieira sent off before a crashing a contentious penalty off the crossbar to the delight of the now-absent mean machine that was Arsenal. Cue half of the Arsenal team getting their own back on RVN as an end-of-game fracas ignited what was, in truth, a boring game. What I'd give to have some of that brutal mentality back in this Arsenal team. That's what made them different.
My other personal favourite moments were Thierry Henry's infamous piss-taking of Danny Mills, Bobby's gorgeous curler at Anfield, Kolo's celebratory back-flips, and not forgetting actually sealing the title and a place in history on a sun-kissed May afternoon at Highbury. That team had it all. That season had it all. It was an absolute privilege to live through it. No other team could produce such an accomplishment.
It seems quite sad, looking back on it now, to think that Arsenal are yet to build on that team's great successes in the league since - just when dominance seemed assured, not one league title has come our way - which can partly be down to Chelsea's sugar daddy rescuing them from the threat of financial turmoil and giving them quite the opposite - with a fair few trophies, too. But Arsenal's side that becomes a decade old today will never be forgotten.
Come On You Reds!
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