The Premier League has reigned supreme for decades and featured some outstanding teams.
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00:00It's been 20 years since Arsenal's famous Invincibles team. To this day
00:05they're still the only side to go unbeaten in a Premier League season, but
00:10can they still be considered the very best in the division's history? Or have
00:14there been other teams of equal excellence?
00:21Hello and welcome to Football Now. In May 2004, Arsenal became the first team ever
00:28to go unbeaten for an entire Premier League season. It's an achievement that
00:33has never been matched since, and that legendary Invincibles team will live
00:37long in the memory for generations to come.
00:40Fortunately for me, it was my first sort of season that I truly, truly remember. So I was perfectly aged for the season.
00:47We just had world-class players in every position, which I still think it doesn't happen as much these days.
00:53You know, you do have world-class teams, but we literally probably had the best player in the world in every position.
00:58for that Invincibles team. And yes, they drew 12, and yes, the points tallies weren't as good as other teams, and maybe they conceded more or scored less, but they did not lose a single game, which is just extraordinary.
01:09That Arsenal team achieved something no others could. But are they the best Premier League team of all time?
01:16Well, some would argue that the 2004-05 Chelsea side could be an equal match, as they hold the best defensive record the league has ever seen.
01:25They conceded an impressive 15 goals in 38 games, and it was all thanks to the mastermind of the special one, Jose Mourinho, in what was his first ever season at Stamford Bridge.
01:37I don't see that record being broken. I think 15 goals in a season is pretty obscene.
01:42When you came up against those Chelsea sides, it wasn't so much like, oh, how are we going to get a win? It was how are we going to score a goal?
01:47Breaking us down was such a big thing, as well as the outlets that we had going forward.
01:51Defensively, it was just so astute, like John Terry and Riccardo Cavalli at the back with Cech.
01:55McAlealy sat in front of them. Having Drogba be that focal guy, hold it up, bring those wingers inside, and with Robben, Duff, or Joe Carwile beside them.
02:03It was just, yeah, it was electric to watch, for me, at least.
02:08We did get a lot of criticism, but even games like the 4-2 against Barcelona in that season, we were a side capable of scoring goals, a real variety of goals.
02:16Like I said, from out wide, strikers, but set pieces. I mean, John Terry was scoring for fun, really, that season.
02:21We were very blessed. Like I said, we had nice options.
02:24From the best defensive record to the team with the highest points tally now, Manchester City's Centurions scored 100 points back in 2018, winning a record 32 of their 38 league games.
02:38There have been many great versions of Pep Guardiola's team since he arrived at City eight years ago,
02:44but are the Centurions the greatest of them all?
02:47I probably would say that the Manchester City 17-18 side, if I was to rank them by one metric, I'd probably say they're the most entertaining Premier League side of all time.
02:56I think the way that they played, the style, the flair, the goals, the new ideas that the Premier League had never seen before.
03:02This was the season where Guardiola's sort of false eights really broke through, where De Bruyne and David Silva really found themselves ahead of Filippo Filippino,
03:11as this incredibly dynamic and exciting midfield three, with Silva and De Bruyne above classic tens, playing a little bit deeper, more box to box.
03:19It was ridiculous. And of course, when you added that to the pace and the skill and the just ingenuity of Sterling and Sarne, with Aguero's brilliance through the middle, it was an astonishingly fun team to watch.
03:29I do think in terms of pure footballing brilliance, you could argue that that Manchester City side is definitely the most entertaining Premier League side in history.
03:37Staying in Manchester and in 1999, it was Man United who won the treble and became the first team in English football history to win the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League all in one season.
03:50Again, there were plenty of great Manchester United teams under the legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson, but the likes of David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Roy Keane and Oli Gunnar Solskjaer made that treble winning side extra special.
04:03I think they're the benchmark. I think when teams look at what you can achieve, what you aspire to, you hang back to the team, the first team to win the treble, the manner in which we won it, the teams that we faced to win that treble.
04:17Every sort of game, towards the latter stages of the cup competitions or in the league, you're up against some iconic, some great teams.
04:24Anyone who's in this conversation for being the greatest Premier League team of all time has some legendary players and some of the greatest players you'll ever see, but that treble winning team had everything.
04:33Not just the skill and the panache of the likes of Ryan Giggs and Scholes and Paul and York and players like that, also the grip and the strength and the determination of players like Roy Keane, like Jaap Stam.
04:46You don't get players like that in the modern era. I just don't think you did. There was a mixture there. It was such a great mix and it worked so well.
04:54Ferguson's genius developed another generation of great United teams from 2007 to 2009.
05:01They won three Premier League titles in a row in those years and the likes of Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and a certain Cristiano Ronaldo all won the Champions League too in 2008.
05:12Jurgen Klopp's 2020 Premier League win with Liverpool was a season like no other.
05:17They won 26 of their first 27 games before football was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
05:24They went on to tally up 99 points that season, one short of Man City's record.
05:29And how about the most unlikely league win of all time? That feat belongs to none other than Leicester City.
05:35They may well have only won it once, but their miraculous story in 2016 will live long in the memory of every football fan.
05:43Some great teams there from over the years, but who is the best Premier League team of all time?
05:49You can let us know who you think it is using the hashtag footballnowgreatestplteam.
05:54That's all we have time for from our studio here in Doha. We'll see you next time. Bye for now.