Since the turn of the century the Premier League has had some truly remarkable teams. We all remember Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ or Jose Mourinho’s first Chelsea team that set a record for most points in a season. How about Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United team that won the league and Champions League in 2008? But there have also been some great sides that didn’t end up winning the league; and when teams don’t win the league, we tend to forget about them.
Here are some of the best teams over the last 16 years of the Premier League that don’t get enough credit.
5) 2009/10 and 2011/12 Manchester United
I’m lumping them together because they were essentially the same team. Following the 2009 season United lost both Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez. To replace all those goals they signed… Antonio Valencia. In 2012 their premier signing was Ashley Young. Nevertheless both those teams managed to keep winning despite many pundits thinking that Sir Alex Ferguson had failed to address many needs in the squad.
Both seasons came right down to the wire with United in the driving seat late. 2010 turned with a loss to Chelsea on a goal where Didier Drogba was about three yards offside. That game didn’t put Chelsea in the lead, it was the following weak when they played a 1-1 draw with Blackburn that did it. United would lose the title by a single point. 2012 was more agonizing for United fans. United held an eight point lead over Manchester City with six games to play. They lead would slowly disappear and the season culminated with United finishing the season tied with City on points, only losing the title on goal differential.
When you factor in United’s titles in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2013, United were just one point, and goal differential away from winning seven straight league titles.
4) 2004/05 Arsenal
When you look back at the squads assembled by Arsene Wenger perhaps the biggest indictment is that he only won two trophies with his 2004 and 2005 Invicibles squad. Coming off an undefeated season, Arsenal returned a team that was loaded with talent. Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, and Fredrik Ljungberg combined for 49 league goals and 61 goals overall. Robin van Persie broke into the first team to add 10 goals to the team. After going undefeated over an entire season this team should have won more, but Jose Mourinho’s record setting Chelsea team relegated them to a second place finish and a victory over Manchester United on penalties in the FA Cup final.
3) 2008/09 Liverpool
No Liverpool fans, we’re not bringing up “The Slip” here simply because no one has actually forgotten about Steven Gerrard’s infamous slip. For as good as Liverpool’s 2014 team was, the 2009 version was likely the club’s best team in the Premier League era. Captain Steven Gerrard scored 24 goals. Up front they had Fernando Torres back when he was a goal scoring machine before Chelsea ruined him. Supporting him was Dutchman Dirk Kuyt who always seemed to score big goals and holding it all together in the middle of the park was Xabi Alonso.
On the field Liverpool made another run to the quarterfinals of the Champions League before losing to Chelsea for the second year in a row. They pulled the double over eventual champions Manchester United which included a 4-1 thrashing at Old Trafford. Liverpool ended up finishing the season four points behind United. That summer they lost Xabi Alonso, Alvaro Arbeloa, and Sami Hyypia. They failed to make it out of the group stage in the Champions League the following year and finished outside of the top four, starting a downward spiral that the club has never fully been able to recover from.
2) 2007/08 Arsenal
By the time the 2007/08 season rolled around the players that made up the “Invicibles” squad were all gone and Arsene Wenger was under severe financial restrictions thanks to Arsenal building a new stadium.However that didn’t stop him from assembling not just a good squad, but a great one. While his name is now only mentioned as the butt of jokes, in 2008 Emmanuel Adebayor had a 30 goal season for Arsenal. Cesc Fabregas added 13 from the midfield. Robin van Persie battled injuries all season but still scored seven times in 13 league games. They were eliminated in the quaterfinals of the Champions League by Liverpool, but the following year the same squad went all the way to the semifinals. In the league they amassed 83 points but amazingly they only finished third in the league, and weren’t even the most forgotten team of that season.
1) 2007/08 Chelsea
How much must Chelsea fans hate Manchester United for this period? Between 2006-2011 it was United and Chelsea at the top of English soccer, but it was the 2007/08 period where the two teams were also on top of Europe. After losing out on a third straight Premier League title to United in 2007 and falling just short of the 2007 Champions League final (they lost to Liverpool in the semifinal on penalties) Chelsea were out for blood in 2008. A poor start saw Jose Mourinho leave the club for the first time, but the team rebounded and rolled through England.
Chelsea rolled through their Premier League campaign collecting 85 points and pushing Manchester United to the final day of the season. More importantly they got their revenge on Liverpool, defeating them in the Champions League semifinal, advancing to the 2008 final in Moscow where they came up against… Manchester United. 120 minutes couldn’t separate the two, and United eventually prevailed on penalties.
Throughout the entire season it was clear that United and Chelsea were the two best teams not only in England but in all of Europe. United went on to win the double and have gone down as one of the best teams of all time. Chelsea came away with nothing that season and have now gone down as the best team in Europe that no one remembers.
