Manchester City’s 32 match unbeaten run in the Premier League came to an end recently, away to Bournemouth in November.
And just like London buses, when you’ve spent an age waiting for one, another one comes along straight away and City promptly lost to Brighton and Hove Albion last weekend. The Premier League 2024 betting odds have shifted slightly away from Manchester and towards Merseyside as, under new manager Arne Slot, Liverpool’s Premier League 2024 results have been nothing short of sensational with nine wins, one draw and one truly shock defeat, 1-0 at home to Nottingham Forest.
So, after 11 games, not one team remains unbeaten in the English top flight though, a couple of weeks ago, the Sky Blues may well have expected a longer run. And that got us thinking, here at SBOTOP, about the longest ever unbeaten runs in the Premier League and to ask the question: ‘Will any team ever beat Arsene Wenger’s Invincibles of 2003/2004.’
The Gunners title winning side won 26 games and had 12 draws and they remain the proud holder of the longest run in Premier League history, totalling 49 games between May 2003 and October 2004. And this was a team of stellar talent, playing a brand of total football never seen before in the UK, tutored by their highly intelligent tactician of a manager.
Wenger assembled a team of ball players, led by the colossus Patrick Vieira in midfield. The 6ft 4in France star was balletic in his movement and vision, but with a granite core, and he had some of the best midfield duels in history, with Manchester United’s firebrand enforcer Roy Keane. With Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehman at one end of the pitch and the legendary Thierry Henry at the other this was a side of world class players from 1 to 11. Dutch master Dennis Bergkamp sat just behind Henry and his footwork, distribution and finishing skills combined were second to none. And, with Robert Pires on one wing and Freddie Ljungberg on the other, this front four was a joy to watch…unless of course you were a Tottenham Hotspur fan!
Arsenal’s run came to an end, one short of the half century, with a controversial 2-0 loss to arch rivals Manchester United as Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney scored for the hosts. The on-pitch anger spilled over into the players’ tunnel and sparked the infamous ‘Battle of the Buffet’ as United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was allegedly hit by a slice of pizza!
No-one yet knows who threw the Italian snack in the direction of the Red Devils’ manager, well nobody who wasn’t there… and the secret seems destined to remain tightly guarded by both clubs.
This current Arsenal side is certainly easy on the eye and they have been Manchester City’s closest rivals in recent seasons…but they have a long way to go to reach the heights of the class of 2004.
Liverpool and Chelsea came close
Two other clubs have reached the 40 unbeaten mark but both fell short of Arsenal’s 49. Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool racked up a hugely impressive 44 games unbeaten in a 13 month period between January 2019 and February 2020. The Reds’ run came to an end in dramatic fashion as they lost 3-0 to Watford at Vicarage Road. Klopp’s team headed to North London on the back of 18 successive victories and they recovered to win the 2020 league title with seven games remaining to interrupt Manchester City’s dominance.
During the run Liverpool dropped just ten points from 132 and the Arsenal Invincibles must have feared they were about to be caught.
Chelsea threatened to take the mantle on the arrival of a young Jose Mourinho, when they went on a 40 match unbeaten run between October 2004 and October 2005. The Blues racked up the third longest unbeaten run in Premier League history for the last 29 matches of the 2004/2025 campaign and the first 11 of the following season. Like the current Liverpool side, Mourinho’s Chelsea won nine of the opening 11 games, a record at the time. And, like Arsenal’s 2004 team, the long unbeaten run eventually fell to Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.
The Blues won 33 of their 40 unbeaten games, scoring 93 goals and conceding just 19 as Mourinho justified his self proclaimed title of ‘The Special One’. The charismatic Portuguese boss is still a hero at the Bridge.
So those are the three longest runs in Premier League history; but while Manchester City’s recent run was ended with a jolt at the beginning of the month, at the other end of the table there were plenty of relieved smiles in Southampton, as the Saints ended a winless run of 20 matches by beating Everton 1-0. They were still 12 short of the 32 accumulated by the worst team in the Premier League annals, Derby County, who earned just 11 points all season in 2007/2008; and, yes, the Rams were relegated by March!
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