Chelsea icon John Terry says the 2004-05 Premier League season under Jose Mourinho was as good as Arsenal’s invincible campaign the year before.
The Gunners possess a famous gold-coated trophy for their achievement under Arsene Wenger which saw them win the league without losing a single game.
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It is a remarkable feat that only three other teams in Europe – AC Milan, Juventus and Celtic – have managed to achieve.
But Terry, who won the title five times with the Blues, believes Chelsea were just as good under ‘the special one’ as their rivals were under Wenger.
John Terry believes that Chelsea’s 2004/05 Premier League season was just as impressive as Arsenal’s Invincibles 🗣️
The Blues only conceded 15 goals the entire season while amassing 95 points 🏆 pic.twitter.com/dA6USMknuS
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 22, 2024
Speaking after being inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame, he said: “I’m going to upset a couple of people here, but I think that season (2004-05) was as good as the Invincibles season for Arsenal.
“They drew an awful lot of games. We only lost once away to Man City, Paulo Ferreira gave away a penalty early on in the game and we should have come back and won the game.
“When you look at the goals we conceded that year, we conceded against sides you wouldn’t expect if I’m honest and that’s no disrespect to them.
“Looking back today, that could have maybe been nine or 10 goals conceded.
“I don’t think it’s a record that’s ever going to be beaten if I’m honest.
“I certainly hope it’s not and I’m very proud of what we did defensively.
“That’s what we were paid to do, keep the ball out the net. It obviously helped with players around me like Petr Cech, Ashley Cole and Ricky Carvalho, so I’m very thankful for that.”
The numbers do provide an argument to suggest that Terry is making a valid point when comparing Chelsea to Arsenal as the Blues finished their campaign with five more points than the Gunners.
The West Londoners also won 29 games compared to their rivals’ 26 and conceded just 15 goals – Arsenal shipped 26.
Only one player in history has lifted the Premier League trophy as captain on as many as five occasions.
The #PLHallOfFame‘s newest member, John Terry. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/BD2vgbUdVw
— Premier League (@premierleague) April 22, 2024
So while Arsenal can always claim the honour of being unbeaten, Terry is being not completely out of line when measuring the two.
Bayer Leverkusen are currently on course to become the fifth European club to finish the season without losing, although they are yet to lose in any competition under Xabi Alonso, whereas Arsenal did stutter in the cup competitions in 2003-04.
