The Invincibles (football)

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In English football, "The Invincibles" has been used to refer to the Preston North End team of the 1880s managed by William Sudell,[1][2] and the Arsenal team of the 2003–04 season managed by Arsène Wenger.[3] Both teams earned the nickname after completing an English league campaign unbeaten, the Preston team also remaining unbeaten in cup competition during the same season.

Contents

Preston North End [edit]

Preston North End became football's first "Invincibles" when they won the inaugural English football league competition, completing the season unbeaten in both the League and FA Cup, which also made them the first team to achieve the English "Double". Preston's league record was 18 wins, 4 draws and 0 losses, out of 22 games played, while their cup record was 5 wins out of 5 rounds played. Preston also won the Cup without conceding a goal.

Of the seven teams to have completed the Double in England, Preston remain the only one to have done so unbeaten.

In 2008, Preston opened a new 5,000 seater stand at their Deepdale stadium, named the Invincibles Pavilion in honour of the unbeaten 1880s team that had also played their home matches at the same site.[4]

Starting XI [edit]

The team that won the 1889 FA Cup Final at the Kennington Oval, beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-0, was as follows:

GK Wales Robert Mills-Roberts
DF England Bob Howarth
DF England Bob Holmes
MF Scotland George Drummond
MF Scotland David Russell
MF Scotland Johnny Graham
FR Scotland Jack Gordon
FW Scotland Jimmy Ross
FW England John Goodall
FW England Fred Dewhurst (c)
FL Scotland Sam Thomson

Arsenal [edit]

Main article: 2003–04 Arsenal F.C. season

Arsenal completed the 2003–04 FA Premier League campaign unbeaten. Their league record was 26 wins, 12 draws and 0 losses, over 38 games in total.[5]

The Premier League commissioned a special gold version of the Premier League trophy to commemorate Arsenal's achievement.[6]

Continuing into the 2004-05 season, Arsenal eventually went 49 Premier League games unbeaten, which was a new record for the most consecutive league games without defeat, the sequence coming to an end with a controversial 2–0 defeat to Manchester United.[7][8]

Starting XI [edit]

Below is the 2003–04 Arsenal team that earned the nickname "The Invincibles":[9]

No.
 Pos
 Nat
 Name
 MS Notes
1 GK  GER Lehmann 38
12 RB  CMR Lauren 32
23 CB  ENG Campbell 35
28 CB  CIV Touré 37
3 LB  ENG Cole 32
8 RW  SWE Ljungberg 30
4 CM  FRA Vieira 29
19 CM  BRA Gilberto 32
7 LM  FRA Pirès 36
10 SS  NED Bergkamp 28
14 ST  FRA Henry 37

References [edit]

  1. ^ "The History of Preston North End". Preston North End official website. 
  2. ^ Taw, Thomas (2006). Football's Twelve Apostles: The Making of The League 1886–1889. p. 17. ISBN 1-905328-09-5. 
  3. ^ Hughes, Ian (2004-05-15). "Arsenal the Invincibles". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2010-05-25. 
  4. ^ "Deepdale". Preston North End FC. 15 February 2012. 
  5. ^ The Unbeaten Record | Club Records | History | Arsenal.com
  6. ^ http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/51204716/Getty-Images-Sport
  7. ^ Dickinson, Matt (2004-10-25). "Rooney topples the invincibles". The Times (London). 
  8. ^ Custis, Shaun (2010-01-30). "Well never forget Roo". The Sun (London). 
  9. ^ "Arsenal 2003-2004 Statistics". arseweb.com. Retrieved 21 July 2011. 
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